In His Own Eyes

Before Israel entered the promised land, Moses warned them of the importance of following God’s instructions:

Unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come. …
Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.

Deuteronomy 12:5, 8

Apparently some variation of worship procedures was tolerated in the wilderness but would no longer be acceptable in the promised land. The tabernacle would be in a fixed location, and the people were expected to make their offerings in that location, not to do things in their own way.

Unfortunately, the people failed to heed Moses’s warning. Only a few generations later, the author of Judges report, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25).

Of course we are all capable of sensing right or wrong. Furthermore, we should all be willing to accommodate one another’s preferences when possible. But neither of these facts precludes the existence of universal truths and divine commandments to which we must adhere. Commenting on these verses, Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught:

If there were no eternal truths, to what principles would mortals look for guidance? If not accountable to God, to whom are we ultimately accountable? Furthermore, if nothing is ever really wrong, then no one is ever really responsible. If there are no fixed boundaries, then there cannot be any excesses. Why should we be surprised, then, at so many disturbing outcomes, including the lack of community, when every man does that which is “right in his own eyes?”

“Take Especial Care of Your Family,” April 1994 General Conference

A group of Lamanite parents in the Book of Mormon observed this same kind of toxic individualism among their children. Mormon reported that although the parents were righteous…

They had many children who did grow up and began to wax strong in years, that they became for themselves, and were led away by some who were Zoramites, by their lyings and their flattering words, to join those Gadianton robbers.
And thus were the Lamanites afflicted also, and began to decrease as to their faith and righteousness, because of the wickedness of the rising generation.

3 Nephi 1:29-30

Mormon’s diagnosis that these young people “became for themselves” is similar to the biblical observation that people did what was right “in their own eyes.” In both cases, extreme individualism led to poor decisions. In the case of the Lamanites, they were easily recruited by the Gadianton robbers. In Judges, it led to adoption of Canaanite behaviors, which in turn led to contention and even all-out civil war.

Today, I will resist the temptation to do things my way. I will strive to understand God’s expectations and to act according to His instructions.