Pleasing and Praising God

Today I read Revelation 15 which talks about angels having 7 plagues to torment mankind. However, the chapter also talks about praising God and giving Him all glory. It got me thinking about giving praise to God and how it is best accomplished. It honestly reminds me of a clueless husband and his wife. The stereotypical scenario is that no matter what hints the wife drops or gives her husband, he never gives her something that she wants for a gift which causes friction and tension in the marriage. But from the husbands point of view, he is following things his wife said she needed, not necessarily what she wanted. He is trying to please her without listening to what she tells him.

The same is true of all of us and God. Except unlike the wife in our analogy, God has told us exactly what we need to do in order to please Him. But like the well meaning husband, we don't take the hints or straight answers we are given and instead try and come up with something on our own. And the result is almost always a disaster. Unlike the wife who may be able to look past her bumbling husband's attempts to please her, God has specified how we will please Him and no matter what we tell ourselves and try and convince ourselves otherwise, that is the only way to please Him.

It drives me crazy when I hear people talk about pleasing God in their own way. Or about doing what's right for them. They think that somehow they are an exception to what God has said. It's he same principle as those young men who get up and talk about how they agonized over whether serving a mission was right for them when they have had their answer for over 20 years! The prophets have said that every worthy young man should serve a mission. Why do so many young men then have to find out if the prophet meant him in particular when he said EVERY young man? It makes no sense to me. I will freely admit that in the beginning the only reason I served a mission was because it was a commandment of God. I did not want to go at all. But I knew it was a commandment from God's appointed servants here on the earth so I went. After about 3 months into my mission my whole attitude changed and I am so very glad I went, but yeah I had to force myself to do it in the beginning and it only happened because it was a commandment.

But when I hear people talk about how the commandments don't apply to them or they will live this commandment but not that one, it makes me want to yell at them and ask if they have ever read the scriptures and declare like Alma that if they have read them then they do not understand them. God cannot recall back the words He has spoken, therefore they are still in effect just as when He first spoke them through His son, Jesus Christ. Paul said that without faith it is impossible to please God. I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. We have to have faith that God has told us what we need to do in order to please Him, and that is to follow that commandments as He told us through His Son. That is how we show Him we love Him. Nothing else will suffice. And like the clueless husband in our analogy, why wouldn't we take the advice if it was offered? Until tomorrow.