Episode 26 Doctrine and Covenants 81–83 Where “Much Is Given Much Is Required”

Doctrine and Covenants 81–83

Where “Much Is Given Much Is Required”

This episode is about, “Where much is given, much is required.” And I also talk about the Lord being bound when we do what He says. 

From the manual:

In March 1832, the Lord called Jesse Gause to be a counselor to Joseph Smith in the Presidency of the High Priesthood (now called the First Presidency). Doctrine and Covenants 81is a revelation to Brother Gause, instructing him in his new calling and promising him blessings for serving faithfully. But Jesse Gause did not serve faithfully. So Frederick G. Williams was called to replace him, and Brother Gause’s name was replaced with Brother Williams’s name in the revelation.

That may seem like a minor detail, but it implies a significant truth: Most of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants are addressed to specific people, but we can always seek ways to apply them to ourselves (see 1 Nephi 19:23). The Lord’s counsel to Frederick G. Williams to “strengthen the feeble knees” can turn our minds to the people we might strengthen (Doctrine and Covenants 81:5). The Lord’s counsel for members of the United Firm to “bind yourselves by this covenant” in order to meet the Church’s temporal needs can turn our minds to our own covenants. And the Lord’s promise that He would be “bound when ye do what I say” can remind us of His promises to us when we obey (Doctrine and Covenants 82:10, 15). That’s as it should be, for the Lord also declared, “What I say unto one I say unto all” (verse 5).

See “Newel K. Whitney and the United Firm,” “Jesse Gause: Counselor to the Prophet,” Revelations in Context, 142–47, 155–57.