Revelation for Alma
by Autumn Dickson
In the chapters for this week, we read about Alma and Amulek attempting to convert the hard-hearted people of Ammonihah. In the beginning, we observe Alma as he originally goes into the city to preach to the people. They spit on him and revile him, and he leaves the city with much sorrow. As he is journeying, an angel comes and uplifts him and shares this message.
Alma 8:16 And behold, I am sent to command thee that thou return to the city of Ammonihah, and preach again unto the people of the city; yea, preach unto them. Yea, say unto them, except they repent the Lord God will destroy them.
Alma takes this message and hurries right back to the city to try again.
Now why was this the order of things? Why did Alma leave and come back? The angel could have easily delivered his message before Alma left, comforting him and encouraging him to continue on his work. Is there a reason for it or is it simply a detail of how the story unfolded that doesn’t matter?
Maybe it didn’t really matter, and that’s totally fine. Maybe Amulek needed an extra day of heart-preparation before he was ready for the angel to come and talk to him and prepare him to receive Alma. Maybe Alma needed some time to grieve before the angel came in and encouraged him. And once again, maybe it didn’t really matter.
There isn’t really an answer, so why is it important? I believe it’s important because despite whether there’s a reason for this turn of events or not, it can teach us about the process of revelation in our own lives. It can help us have the faith we need to do two things: grow in the way the Lord would have us grow and trust that revelation will come as needed.
Understanding the purposes of the Lord
I believe that in order to understand why and how revelation comes to us, we have to understand the reasoning of the Lord. What is He truly trying to accomplish with us? I think sometimes it’s easy to believe that the Lord is just trying to keep us on a perfect path with as little interference as possible, and even if we don’t believe that consciously, we often act like that’s His entire purpose. Surely, He wants us to follow Him, but His true purpose isn’t avoiding missteps; His true purpose is our growth, and that is essential to understand (even in the context of revelation).
For example, we often become paralyzed as we’re trying to make decisions about what to do in our lives because we don’t want to misstep. We really, really, really want to do what the Lord would have us do and so we wait and wait and wait for an answer that may never come rather than acting. I don’t believe the desire to do what the Lord wants us to do is bad (obviously), but I do believe that the fear that sometimes accompanies missteps stems from incomplete understanding about the purposes of revelation.
So what is the Lord’s true purpose for us? To put it in incredibly simple terms, He wants us to be like Him. He wants us to make purposeful decisions based on wisdom like He does. He wants us to create the kind of life we desire. He wants us to create goodness without someone pulling us along to do so.
What does this mean for revelation? Everything. It explains why the Lord answers in specific ways.
For example, let’s look at a college student who is trying to choose a major. If you were in the Lord’s shoes, and you wanted this student to become brave and bold in their decisions, how would you respond to them? Would you simply give them the answer whenever they asked for it? Surely, they could potentially avoid some mistakes and anxiety, but what are you truly wanting for them?
There are appropriate times that the Lord gives us an answer directly and quickly. Sometimes He allows us to sink deeper into our faith so we’re prepared to receive more important answers. Sometimes, He is totally silent. Sometimes, He answers and turns us around after we’ve started acting. All of these responses are crafted carefully so that we can be given the tailor-made opportunities to step into His shoes and become like Him.
In the context of Alma
Let’s look at it in the context of Alma. Now one of the difficulties in the scriptures is the fact that they were abridged. We don’t necessarily have the entire story. We might be missing some details about how Alma decided to leave Ammonihah, but let’s just take the story at face value.
Alma was doing the Lord’s work, but we don’t see Alma on his knees for any length of time praying for an answer about whether he should leave Ammonihah and move on to another city that would be more prepared for the work. All we see is that Alma recognized that the people had hard hearts, and he made an extremely logical decision to go find someone who was prepared for the word of God. In missionary work, this is actually tremendously important. Dropping unprepared people in faith is critical because it shows the Lord that we believe in His ability to lead us to...
14 июн 2024
