“No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 4:540.) Joseph Smith made it pretty clear that no unhallowed hand could stop the work of the Lord, but what about hallowed hands? How often are we called on to do a great work, set apart by priesthood power, with our hearts and our hands blessed and hallowed to do some special work, and yet we fail to consecrate all of our time and energy and even our whole souls to carrying out the work of the Lord? We often are impatient at the progress of the work of God and wish to see more progress than we are used to but we have to carefully examine our own part in this delay. No unallowed hand can stop the work of the Lord, but every hallowed hand that allows itself to get distracted or slackens in anyway does cause delays and setbacks. We are not given callings merely to make us feel useful or important or because we need some kind of hobby to occupy our time. This is serious business with eternal consequences. When we hold ourselves back, we are doing what all of those persecutions and mobs and armies and calumnies with their unhallowed hands couldn't do - we are stopping the work from progressing. However, the opposite is also true. Every time we listen and give heed to the promptings of the Spirit, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant the task to which the Holy Ghost prompts us, we are hastening God's work and are directly responsible for it going forth boldly, nobly and independent. I hope that if we are privileged enough to be called to labor in God's vineyard with hallowed hands, we take that calling and that privilege seriously and appreciate that our efforts can be directly responsible for slowing down or speeding up God's work.
