Go and Do with Trust in God

By President Henry B. Eyring

Second Counselor in the First Presidency

From an October 2010 general conference address.

The young Nephi in the Book of Mormon stirs in us a desire to develop trust in the Lord to obey His commandments. Nephi faced danger and possible death when he said these words of trust that we can and must feel steadily in our hearts: “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1 Nephi 3:7).

That trust comes from knowing God. More than any other people on earth, we have, through the glorious events of the Restoration of the gospel, felt gratitude for what God has revealed about Himself that we might trust Him.

For me it began in 1820 with a young boy in a grove of trees on a farm in the state of New York. The boy, Joseph Smith Jr., walked to a secluded spot and knelt to pray with complete trust that God would answer. Each time I read his account, my trust in God and His servants expands:

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

“… When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Joseph Smith—History 1:16–17).

The Father revealed to us that He lives, that Jesus Christ is His Beloved Son, and that He loved us enough to send that Son to save us. And because I have a testimony that He called that boy as a prophet, I trust His apostles and prophets today and those they call to serve God.

You show your trust in God when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks. If you trust God enough to listen for His messages of encouragement, correction, and direction from His servants, you will find them. And if you then go and do what He would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you.