Isaiah opens his book by diagnosing Israel’s core problem as a failure to recognize God.
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isaiah 1:2-3
In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin offers some guidance to help his people avoid that same fate. “How knoweth a man the master whom he has not served,” Benjamin asks, “and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” He continues:
And again, doth a man take an ass which belongeth to his neighbor, and keep him? I say unto you, Nay; he will not even suffer that he shall feed among his flocks, but will drive him away, and cast him out. I say unto you, that even so shall it be among you if ye know not the name by which ye are called.
Mosiah 5:14
Those who are part of God’s flocks know Him. Why? Because they have served Him and because they think about Him regularly with the desire to follow Him.
Later in Isaiah’s introductory chapter, he lists some of the kinds of service God desires. Rejecting empty ritual, he prescribes charity: “Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17). Benjamin similarly explains that serving God includes “[succoring] those that stand in need of [our] succor” and “[administering] of [our] substance unto him that standeth in need” (Mosiah 4:16).
Today, I will strive to know Jesus Christ better by serving as He served, delighting in His word, and meditating on the truths I have learned from Him.
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