Prophet George Albert Smith taught the following about why the Lord gives us commandments:
“When I was a child I recognized, or thought I did, that the
commandments of the Lord were His laws and regulations for my guidance. I
thought I recognized in the disobedience to those laws that punishment would
follow. … But as I grew older I have learned the lesson from another viewpoint,
and now to me the laws of the Lord … are but the sweet music of the voice of
our Father in heaven in His mercy to us. They are but the advice and counsel of
a loving parent, who is more concerned in our welfare than earthly parents can
be, and consequently that which at one time seemed to bear the harsh name of
law to me is now the loving and tender advice of an all-wise Heavenly Father.
And so I say it is not hard for me to believe that it is best for me to keep
the commandments of God” (President George Albert Smith. Teachings of
Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith [2011], 193–94).
