I’ve felt a little bit humbled at the prospect of sharing something educational with you today; but a pleasant has been that President Clark and I are currently studying the Book of Alma so the theme for this conference, which is from Alma, has been with me as we have studied together each night. The message I have chosen to share with you today comes from that study.
Let me begin by sharing with you the sad account of war found in Chapters 27 and 28 of Alma. In this account we learn of the people of Ammon. They are Lamanites who have been converted. Their brother Lamanites are stirred up to anger against their converted brethren and seek to slay them. The Lord directs Ammon:
Alma 27:12
"Get this people out of this land, that they perish not; for Satan has great hold on the hearts of the Amalekites, who do stir up the Lamanites to anger against their brethren to slay them; therefore get thee out of this land; and blessed are this people in this generation, for I will preserve them.
Ammon meets up with Alma on his way to find a place to take the people, and they go to Alma’s house in Zarahemla and then to the Chief Judge who sets in motion the process by which these People of Ammon are given the land of Jershon."
Alma 27: 22-24
"And this land Jershon is the land which we will give unto our brethren for an inheritance.
And behold we will set our armies between the land Jershon and the land Nephi, that we may protect our brethren in the land Jershon; and this we do for our brethren, on account of their fear to take up arms against their brethren lest they should commit sin; and this their great fear came because of their sore repentance which they had, on account of their many murders and their awful wickedness.
…and we will guard them form their enemies with our armies."
Alma 28: 1-4,6
And the then account of tremendous battle:
"And now it came to pass that after the people of Ammon were established in the land of Jershon, and a church also established in the land of Jershon, and the armies of the Nephites were set round about the land of Jershon, yea, in all the borders round about the land of Zarahemla; behold the armies of the Lamanites had followed their brethren into the wilderness.
And thus there was a tremendous battle; yea, even such an one as never had been known among all the people in the land from the time Lehi left Jerusalem; yea, and tens of thousands of the Lamanites were slain and scattered abroad.
Yea, and also there was a tremendous slaughter among the people of Nephi; nevertheless, the Lamanites were driven and scattered, and the people of Nephi returned again to their land.
And now this was a time that there was a great mourning and lamentation heard throughout all the land, among all the people of Nephi.
And now surely this was a sorrowful day; yea, a time of solemnity, and a time of much fasting and prayer."
I can imagine the sorrow felt by Alma at such destruction. And I can imagine the zeal with which he declares these words:
Alma 29:1
"O THAT I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!
Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth."
Alma, we know had experience with an angel. (Alma, Mosiah 27:10-19; 17:2; 36:5-21; 38:7) (Alma 8:14-15)
In recounting his experience to his son Helaman, Alma tells of his going about with the sons of Mosiah to destroy the church of God and says:
Alma 36:5-21
"6 But behold, God sent his holy angel to stop us by the way.
9 And he said unto me: If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God.
11 And the angel spake more things unto me, which were heard by my brethren, but I did not hear them for when I heard the words-if thou wilt be destroyed of thyself, seek no more to destroy the church of God—I was struck with such great fear and amazement lest perhaps I should be destroyed, that I feel to the earth and I did hear no more.
13 Yea I did remember all my sins and iniquities…so great had been my iniquities that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.
17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
18 Now as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
19 And now behold when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!"
This is the experience Alma wishes all men to have. He wishes he were an angel to declare what is available to all men through Jesus Christ. He wants to bring that joy into the lives of “every people.”
But then we read Alma saying:
Alma 29:3-9
"3 But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.
4 I ought not to harrow up my desires, the first decree of a just God, for I now that he granteth unto men according to their desire,
6 Now, seeing that I know these things why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?
7 Why should I desire that I were an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth?
8 For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that that Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.
9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy."
I’m grateful for what we learn from Alma. I pray that our own desires to serve the Lord will be educated by studying Alma, whose desires were educated by the Lord.
What we learn from and teach each other here during Education Week prepares us to be better servants of the Lord. We may, as Alma, wish to do the Lord’s work in grand and glorious voices of thunder, but we can learn to be content with “the things which the Lord hath allotted unto” us, and “glory in that which the Lord hath commanded” us. As we grow in testimony, in understanding may we each be prepared to speak with that voice which the Lord commands us to speak, and serve Him in diligence and in patience.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell in his address in the October 2002 General Conference quoted the Prophet Joseph Smith as saying that the Lord, God has made ample provision for mankind’s redemption, and tells us that we are part of that ample provision. The Lord does his work through us, just as he did his work through Alma. May we do so humbly is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.