“His Sacrifice Shall Be More Sacred unto Me than His Increase”
Doctrine and Covenants 117:12–15
12 And again, I say unto you, I remember my servant Oliver Granger; behold, verily I say unto him that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord.
13 Therefore, let him contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church, saith the Lord; and when he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord.
14 Therefore, let him come up hither speedily, unto the land of Zion; and in the due time he shall be made a merchant unto my name, saith the Lord, for the benefit of my people.
15 Therefore let no man despise my servant Oliver Granger, but let the blessings of my people be on him forever and ever.
President Boyd K. Packer said:
“There is a message for Latter-day Saints in a seldom quoted revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1838. ‘I remember my servant Oliver Granger; behold, verily I say unto him that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord’ (D&C 117:12).
“Oliver Granger was a very ordinary man. He was mostly blind having ‘lost his sight by cold and exposure’ (History of the Church, 4:408). The First Presidency described him as ‘a man of the most strict integrity and moral virtue; and in fine, to be a man of God’ (History of the Church, 3:350).
“When the Saints were driven from Kirtland, Ohio, in a scene that would be repeated in Independence, Far West, and in Nauvoo, Oliver was left behind to sell their properties for what little he could. There was not much chance that he could succeed. And, really, he did not succeed!
“But the Lord said, ‘Let him contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church, saith the Lord; and when he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord’ (D&C 117:13). . . .
“What did Oliver Granger do that his name should be held in sacred remembrance? Nothing much, really. It was not so much what he did as what he was. . . .
“Oliver died at age 47, leaving [his wife] Lydia to look after their children.
“The Lord did not expect Oliver to be perfect, perhaps not even to succeed. ‘When he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord’ (D&C 117:13).
“We cannot always expect to succeed, but we should try the best we can. . . .
“The Lord did not say of Oliver, ‘[If] he falls,’ but ‘When he falls he shall rise again’ (D&C 117:13; emphasis added). . . .
“Today we fulfill the prophecy ‘that [Oliver Granger’s] name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever’ (D&C 117:12). He was not a great man in terms of the world. Nevertheless, the Lord said, ‘Let no man despise my servant Oliver Granger, but let the blessings . . . be on him forever and ever’ (D&C 117:15).”
(“The Least of These,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2004, 86, 87, 88.)
