Obtaining blessings

"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated – and when we obtain any blessings from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."
-- D&C 130:20 – 21

There are two different kinds of trials: those that come from living in a fallen, wicked world; and those that are result of our own wickedness, mistakes, or lack of repentance. Both of these types help to refine and perfect us and lead us back to Christ if we humble ourselves and soften our hearts. But the second type is entirely avoidable if we will be obedient and faithful.

We have a prevailing myth in our church that we can somehow, through our own obedience and righteousness avoid the first set of trials. We mistakenly believe that we have it in our power to have a perfect, tribulation free life if we do everything just right. We want to see it as a recipe in which if you put in all the proper ingredients you'll get the expected result. The scripture above is used to support this myth, saying that if you want a certain blessing all you have to do is obey the right principle or "law." This makes it sound so easy!

And then life happens, and people are crushed when they perceive God as not holding up his end of the bargain. "But I'm doing everything right!" they say. "Why isn't he saving me? Why isn't he blessing me?"

Oh, the shortsightedness and closed mindedness of men… First of all, one law is referred to. Only one. So when we receive any of many blessings, it is because we are obeying that one law. I'm trying to better understand what that law is.

Another scripture commonly referenced to support this myth is D&C 82:10. The Lord is bound when we do as he says. Yes, but bound to give us exactly what we want in the timeframe we request? No.

First, we must remember that though obeying certain principles does allow us a certain degree of control over the outcomes of our life, it does not guarantee complete control.

Second, God will bless us when we are obedient and faithful but he will do so in his own way. We could be in the situation of Job in terms of everything going wrong and everything being taken from us, but we would still be blessed with spirit and with gratitude. We must not cheapen the value of spiritual blessings by expecting or demanding physical/temporal blessings for all that we do.

Third, God's timeframe is different than ours. We may go years dealing with a certain hardship, having it affect every aspect of our lives, before finally God rains down the blessings we have prayed for and desired. He knows the end from the beginning and if you are, as you say, doing everything "right," then you are being blessed spiritually and you will see the rewards in God's time. We are being refined, purified in this life. We must experience some things to become all that God knows we can be.

Fourth, we must not assume that we will receive a particular blessing for a particular act just because someone else did. God doesn't work like that, no matter how that scripture has been read for years. He has to work in each of our lives in personal and unique ways. He will give us what we need, and sometimes he will give us what we want.

We must trust him, his knowledge, wisdom, and foresight. If we can truly trust him and give the Gospel our all, we can be at peace.