When I was engaged to the lovely Mrs. Cornell – back when she was Miss Non-Cornell – I kept praying to receive some kind of spiritual witness that she was The One I Should Marry. Mormons, in case you didn’t know, are big believers in personal revelation, and I figured that if any decision in my life merited confirmation from the Almighty as to whether or not it was correct, this was it.

So I prayed. A lot.

And I got nothing. Nothing at all.

This was more than a little disconcerting, but with no divine direction one way or the other, I decided to follow my best judgment. And then, as I faced her at the altar, I received a very powerful feeling that the Lord was pleased with what I was doing, and all was well.

And I thought to myself, “You know, this really would have been helpful a couple of weeks ago!”

I can’t speak for anyone else, but this is essentially how the Lord deals with me. He expects me to muddle through and do the best I can, and he usually confirms the rightness or wrongness of my actions after the fact. If you consider the fundamental principle of agency as one of the central doctrines of the gospel, then this shouldn’t come as a surprise. We’re expected to choose for ourselves, to make decisions, and to live with the consequences. If all we had to do was wait for God to hand us our daily instructions, then all we’d all be living a paint-by-numbers sort of meaningless life.

Please don’t misunderstand. I’ve had very specific promptings on more occasions than I can count, but usually they’re spurs to service or insight I need to help someone else. I can’t think of a single instance where the Lord has made a major life decision for me. Like it or not, I’m supposed to make my own choices.

I bring all this up because I’ve spent some time with a politician who began our conversation by saying that he’s convinced that the Lord has told him he should run, and that he’s going to win.

This, folks, is not a good sign.

There have been oodles of politicians in this state who run on a mandate from heaven, and, more often than not, they lose. I recently heard the story of a man who, after having felt prompted to run, became very despondent when he was crushed at the ballot box. And then he received an impression that said to him, “I only told you to run. I never said you would win.” You have to wonder what the Lord had against this guy.

There’s another element to this. Personal revelation is just that – personal. There have been plenty of instances in my life that are far too sacred to relate on a public blog for the world to see. I’m firmly convinced that those who treat lightly the things they receive from heaven are far less likely to receive them in the future. And those who boast of a direct conduit into the mind of God are generally talking out of their tuckuses.

On a similar note, the fastest way to scare me away from any business venture is when one part of the equation starts to boast of their church credentials. Just because you’re the High Priest Group Leader of the Bumblefrap Ward doesn’t mean diddlysquat, and if you’re boasting of your church status in a professional setting, chances are you’re either unethical, unskilled, or both.

No wonder so many of those guys run for office.