”And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” (KJV Matthew 19:16-22)
The example of the young rich man can probably be related to each of us at some point or at various stages of life. Things can be going relatively well as we strive to keep the commandments and do what we know to be right. Having all these things in place, there is still something lacking or something getting in the way of making even greater progress. We may sense that something greater is available but don’t really know what is holding us back.
At such a moment we may offer a similar question to the Lord, “What am I lacking?”
The response to that question, if it is done with real intent, can be like it was for the young rich man, which may bring a painful response.
What made it so difficult for this young man is that by all of the commandments he had been taught from his youth, growing up in a faithful Jewish community, he was doing everything right. The fact that he was rich and had great possessions, was not seen as a sin. Many of the Jewish leaders were men of great wealth and notoriety. The idea that riches could be a real problem was never a serious consideration, especially since the Jewish leaders were often very rich. His whole experience growing up among a faithful, god fearing community, not only said that riches were not sinful of themselves, but that such temporal blessings could be viewed as a sign of God’s favor upon a person. It had never entered into his heart that something that was often regarded as a sign of righteousness, could actually be the thing that was holding him back.
The point here is not about riches, per se. For some people, the problem might be riches. But for others, what is lacking could be something else. Whatever it is, we are often blind to the real problem because it can be something that we would never think could be a problem. In fact we may think it has been a real blessing from God in our lives, so how could it be a problem?
If we really want to open up to hear the real answer to “what lack I yet”, we may want to buckle up and prepare to hear something we may not want to hear. The truth may be something unexpected and wish wasn’t true. It may cost something that could be very painful to give. It could be something we had never considered could be a bad thing. It may be something we thought was really good.
If the answer is something completely unexpected, will we dismiss it? Will we turn away from the answer and assume that the source of that answer really wasn’t right?
We’d like to generally think that whenever we get something from God, it will come in a way that we’ll feel good about it. But could we be like this young man, and be sorrowful at the response?
When Daniel received a vision from God, his reaction to what he saw was that, ”I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.” (KJV Daniel 7:15). We’d like to think that we’d have a positive feeling about anything that comes from God, but that isn’t always the case.
Likewise, after Nephi saw a grand vision, he describes his feelings this way, “O the pain, and the anguish of my soul for the loss of the slain of my people! For I, Nephi, have seen it, and it well nigh consumeth me before the presence of the Lord; but I must cry unto my God: Thy ways are just” (LDS 2 Nephi 26:7). What Nephi saw, wasn’t what he wanted to see. It was something he hoped would not be true. But he wasn’t spared suffering pain and anguish as a result of the truth that God showed him.
It would be great if we could always eagerly accept any answer that comes from God. While we may fancy ourselves as being the kind that would always do this, we might cautiously remember that even Peter, who responded enthusiastically that he would follow the Lord to death, ended up turning away sorrowful after he denied him and realized that he wasn’t as strong and able to bear all that he thought he could at that point in his life. We may not be much better.
C.S. Lewis described the difference between the relatively small work we might think we need done and the actual work that needs to be done within ourselves in this illustration:
Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.
It takes faith to genuinely ask, “what lack I yet?” It also requires faith to receive whatever answer God gives to that sincere question.