“A Highly Favored People of the Lord”

D. Kelly Ogden, Andrew C. Skinner

Does God favor some people? The people of Ammon were a “highly favored people of the Lord,” as were others (Alma 13:23; 48:20); some “having been favored above every other nation, kindred, tongue, or people” (Alma 9:20). Nephi said he was “highly favored of the Lord in all [his] days” (1 Nephi 1:1); he was favored of the Lord because he was “faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord” (Mosiah 10:13). The brother of Jared was also “a man highly favored of the Lord” (Ether 1:34). The Lord explains in simplicity how his kind of “favoritism” works: “he that is righteous is favored of God” (1 Nephi 17:35). God’s favors are blessings, and “there is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven … upon which all blessings are predicated—and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:20–21). The law is clear: God favors, or blesses, those who obey him. He does not arbitrarily play favorites.

Verse by Verse: The Book of Mormon: Vol. 1

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