You can see the Lord laying the foundation for the
missionaries that were coming in another generation as Amulon and the other
priests taught the people to understand the Nephite language. I am sure to the
Nephites then it didn’t look like spiritual progress, just as, to me, it looks
like there is no progress on the gospel going to all the world. But I am sure
there is, the Lord’s ways are not my ways and His time is not my time. I feel
like in our struggles lately the Lord has told me that great things are coming.
Part of having faith in that promise is that things are working together now
for the greater good, even when it looks like no progress at all. I just need
to be more patient
.
Why did Alma believing Abinidi still make Amulon mad? Why do
people who are making worldly choices always feel mad about spiritual ones?
I’ve always found the contrast between this story and Daniel
in the Lion’s Den interesting. Why did Daniel need to pray out loud but it was
okay for Alma and his people to pray in their hearts? I get the pray in the
hearts more than I get that Daniel needed to pray out loud. But I guess the
stories are very different, because Daniel’s prayer softened the king’s heart,
and helped a whole nation of believers. It seems unlikely that Amulon’s heart
would have been similarly softened. I guess it all goes back to, again, needing
to be able to hear and follow the Spirit rather than relying on pre-set rules
in life.
Sometimes I feel like a whiner, but I desire to be the
person that submits patiently and cheerfully to the all the will of the Lord.
The Lord was able to deliver them because of their faith. I
am sure it took a lot of faith for them to gather their flocks and get ready to
leave when they hadn’t gotten the Lamenites drunk or done anything themselves
to make escape possible. Yet before they even knew how it could happen they
trusted the Lord and made preparations. Do I exercise that kind of faith, or do
I need to see how it will work first? I guess this move took that kind of
faith. I am grateful for that reminder, that I’m not as bad as I sometimes think.
I also think, the Lord had to help them in this way for them
to escape. For the other people who had fled, getting the Lamenites drunk had been
an option. But now they knew that trick and it wouldn’t have worked again. The Lord
lets us do the work we can do and helps us with what we can’t. I need to do be better
about allowing my kids to do what they can do. I always want to step in and help
before it is probably necessary. Though I do it because I love them, I feel like
it’s not the best teaching and parenting I could be doing for them. I’ve been feeling
that a lot lately, and this scripture story has made me feel and remember that again
today. I need to act on this prompting.
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