"A certain nobleman had a spot of land, very choice; and he said unto his servants: Go ye unto my vineyard, even upon this very choice piece of land, and plant twelve olive trees;
And set watchmen round about them, and build a tower, that one may overlook the land round about, to be a watchman upon the tower, that mine olive trees may not be broken down when the enemy shall come to spoil and take upon themselves the fruit of my vineyard.
Now, the servants of the nobleman went and did as their lord commanded them, and planted the olive trees, and built a hedge round about, and set watchmen, and began to build a tower.
And while they were yet laying the foundation thereof, they began to say among themselves: And what need hath my lord of this tower?"
Doctrine and Covenants 101:44-47
This is the beginning of the parable of the nobleman and the olive trees. I think this last verse is the point in the parable at which we should realize something is wrong... whenever we start double-thinking what God asks of us. Just like the servants in the parable, there is no way for us to know for certain the reason that the Lord asks what he does. Noah building an ark on dry ground probably seemed insane too, just like in these verses building a tower to watch over some olive trees may have seemed pointless to these servants. Maybe that is part of our humility lesson today... to realize that God can see farther and better than we can. Reconsidering his commandments is never going to come out in our favor. The Lord knows what is coming, and how we need to prepare. He builds his lessons into our lives, preparing us in advance to be able to face the things that we need to face. When we ignore him or think that we have a better plan, we're not seeing the whole picture. He *always* is.
Today, if God asks us to build a tower, let's build it. And whatever else he asks us, let's do it. Let's stop wondering what good it is going to do and trust God that it *will* do some good. We can't always see the details of God's plan, but as we have faith, everything will work together for good.
And set watchmen round about them, and build a tower, that one may overlook the land round about, to be a watchman upon the tower, that mine olive trees may not be broken down when the enemy shall come to spoil and take upon themselves the fruit of my vineyard.
Now, the servants of the nobleman went and did as their lord commanded them, and planted the olive trees, and built a hedge round about, and set watchmen, and began to build a tower.
And while they were yet laying the foundation thereof, they began to say among themselves: And what need hath my lord of this tower?"
Doctrine and Covenants 101:44-47
This is the beginning of the parable of the nobleman and the olive trees. I think this last verse is the point in the parable at which we should realize something is wrong... whenever we start double-thinking what God asks of us. Just like the servants in the parable, there is no way for us to know for certain the reason that the Lord asks what he does. Noah building an ark on dry ground probably seemed insane too, just like in these verses building a tower to watch over some olive trees may have seemed pointless to these servants. Maybe that is part of our humility lesson today... to realize that God can see farther and better than we can. Reconsidering his commandments is never going to come out in our favor. The Lord knows what is coming, and how we need to prepare. He builds his lessons into our lives, preparing us in advance to be able to face the things that we need to face. When we ignore him or think that we have a better plan, we're not seeing the whole picture. He *always* is.
Today, if God asks us to build a tower, let's build it. And whatever else he asks us, let's do it. Let's stop wondering what good it is going to do and trust God that it *will* do some good. We can't always see the details of God's plan, but as we have faith, everything will work together for good.
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