D&C 58 — Anxiously Engaged, Agency, and the Law of the Land
I was building a cabinet last winter, following a plan I had drawn up on graph paper. Every measurement was on the page. Every joint was accounted for. But somewhere around the third drawer, I stopped looking at the plan and started trusting my hands. The dovetails came out better than the drawing. Not because I ignored the plan but because the plan had done its job and I knew what the wood wanted.
D&C 58 is a revelation about the difference between people who need a plan for everything and people who have learned to trust their hands. It was given in the middle of practical concerns about land purchases in Missouri, the storehouse, and who was called to do what. But underneath the administrative detail is something more durable.
What Does It Mean to Be Anxiously Engaged in D&C 58
The Lord says something I have been turning over for years. He says it is not expedient that He should command in all things. If someone is compelled in all things, that person is slothful and not a wise servant.
Think about that. The slothful servant is not the one who does nothing. The slothful servant is the one who only does what he is told. That flips the normal understanding of obedience on its head. You can follow every commandment and still miss the point if you never act on your own.
The phrase anxiously engaged is the key. It does not mean anxious in the sense of worried. It means earnest diligence, being proactive in doing good without waiting for instructions.
Therefore, he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. — D&C 58:26
My daughter learned to make bread last year. The first few loaves required the recipe open on the counter, every ingredient measured to the gram. Now she looks at what is in the pantry and adjusts. That is anxiously engaged in action. Not abandoning the recipe but knowing it well enough to work beyond it.
LDS Meaning of Keep the Laws of the Land D&C 58
The revelation also addresses how Saints should relate to the civil government around them. The principle is straightforward.
Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land. — D&C 58:21
The logic is simple. If you are keeping the laws of God, you will naturally be a good citizen. You will not need to break civil laws because the higher law already covers what matters. The two are not in tension. They reinforce each other.
This was a relevant instruction for the early Saints who had been driven from place to place. It would have been easy to develop a posture of suspicion toward civil authority. The revelation tells them something different. Be subject to the powers that be. Build order and respect the framework that makes community possible.
I think about this when I see the way people talk about government now. There is a difference between being subject to authority and being afraid of it, much like D&C 56 taught about the contrite heart as a prerequisite for receiving direction. One is a choice. The other is a posture that eats away at you.
Difference Between a Wise Servant and a Slothful Servant
Verse 29 drives the contrast home. The Lord says that if someone who is slothful waits for a command to do good, then that person is damned.
That is a strong word, and it is worth sitting with. It means the person is stopped, blocked, not moving forward. Not because they are doing something wrong but because they are doing only what they are told. Initiative is so central to discipleship that its absence is a kind of damnation.
The wise servant does not wait. They see a need and move. They do not need a revelation to help a neighbor or to serve in the church or to speak up when something is wrong. The general command to love God and neighbor is already in place. The specific application is their job to figure out.
I have spent plenty of time in the slothful category. Waiting for a prompting to do something I already knew I should do. It is comfortable to wait. It lets you off the hook if things go wrong. But comfort is not the goal.
How to Apply D&C 58 Agency to Daily Life
The practical question is what this looks like on a Tuesday. I think it looks like noticing the small things that need doing and doing them without being asked. It looks like offering help before someone has to ask for it. It looks like taking responsibility for the things in front of you without checking whether they are in your job description.
The revelation also says that men should be agents unto themselves. That means the capacity to act is a gift, not a burden. God gave us agency so we could use it, not so we could sit on it waiting for instructions.
In my shop, I keep a jar of beeswax finish on the shelf. It was a gift from a friend who noticed I was using a cheap commercial finish. He did not wait for me to complain. He just brought me something better, and that is anxiously engaged in action. That is a wise servant.
Teaching D&C 58 to Youth About Agency
When I think about what I want my kids to learn from this chapter, the main idea is not the specific rules. It is about the muscle of initiative. I want them to see something broken and fix it. To see someone struggling and help. To see a need and fill it without being told.
The section teaches that agency is not just about choosing between right and wrong. It is about choosing to act at all. The worst choice is not the wrong choice but the choice not to choose.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to be anxiously engaged in a good cause?
It means pursuing good works with earnestness and diligence because you want to, not because someone told you to. The phrase does not mean anxiety or worry. It means being proactively invested in doing good of your own free will.
Does D&C 58 say we should always obey the law of the land?
Generally yes. The Lord teaches that those who follow His laws will be good citizens. But the higher principle is that God's laws take precedence. If a civil law directly contradicts a divine commandment, the higher law wins. Short of that, the command is clear.
Why is someone who only obeys when commanded called slothful?
Because relying solely on explicit commands ignores the gift of agency. A wise servant uses their heart and mind to seek out ways to do good. A slothful servant waits to be pushed. The absence of initiative is a spiritual failure, not a sign of caution.
How does D&C 58 connect to the previous chapter?
This revelation follows D&C 57, which established Independence, Missouri as the center place of Zion. Chapter 58 picks up with practical details about how to build that community and expands into the deeper principles of agency and initiative that would define the Saints as a people.
What is a wise servant according to D&C 58?
A wise servant does not wait for specific commands for every action. They use their agency to identify good causes and pursue them. They are anxiously engaged, not compelled. And they understand that the general commandments already cover most of what needs to be done.
I finished that cabinet and gave it to a friend who had been using a plastic shelving unit for years. He did not ask for a cabinet. I just saw that he needed one. That is what this chapter makes me want to do. Not to wait for permission to be useful.
-- D.