The Lord Challenges the Elders

Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 67. This revelation always amuses me when I read it. It probably should not, but I am fallible as are all men and women and prone to mistakes. The reason this section always amuses me is because it is the Lord's challenge to the elders of the church.

This section is just before they published the revelations prior to this one that they had received. However, according to the preface, some of the elders were a little harsh in regards to the language used and were critical of Joseph Smith. So the Lord challenges them. He throws down the gauntlet if you will.

He tells them to take the wisest among them and see if they can come up with anything even close to the "least of these" meaning the revelations. I'm not sure what criteria is used to determine what the least of the revelations is by any means. But I think it's really funny that the Lord really puts them in their place with this revelation. But I can also understand how the Lord is probably feeling when the people complain about the revelations He has given them. I'm sure most of you have actually had a similar experience where someone of your acquaintance was criticizing something you did and you felt like, or maybe did, tell them, "Can you do it better? No? Then be quiet!" I know I have. I'm not very tolerant of such people, which is maybe why I keep running into them now that I think about it.

But there is another phrase that I found interesting in this section. The Lord tells them that as they currently are they are not able to abide the presence of God, nor are they worthy of the ministering of angels at this time. I find that really strange since I wasn't aware there was a worthiness requirement for the ministering of angels since in the scriptures I can name an instance or two where unworthy men were visited by an angel. Alma the Younger immediately springs to mind. However, it occurs to me that perhaps the Lord is referring to use of the priesthood in regards to the ministering of angels. After all, the ministering of angels is a function of the Aaronic Priesthood so perhaps the Lord is referring to the need for worthiness in regards to the ministering of angels in the capacity of the Aaronic Priesthood. It was interesting to me to think about though.

So if there is anything this section has taught me is to not criticize the Lord because the answer is a big, emphatic, NO, I cannot do it better than He can. I can't believe there are people who are dumb enough to directly criticize what the Lord has done anyway, but the world has all kinds of people I suppose. I just know that of myself, I am thankful we have these revelations and glad that Joseph Smith was diligent in the task the Lord set him and faithful to the end. Until tomorrow.