Chapter 29
Alma desires to cry
repentance with angelic zeal—The Lord grants teachers for all nations—Alma
glories in the Lord’s work and in the success of Ammon and his brethren. About
76 B.C.
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!
2 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.
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 in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he
granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto
life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees
which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation
or unto destruction. (Alma 29:1-4)
In Alma 26, Mormon stopped his narrative to share with us
Ammon’s words as he glories in the Lord. Mormon again stopped his narrative to
share with us Alma’s Lament.
Alma wishes he were an angel. He would go forth and “speak
with the trump of God” (Alma 29:1). “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice
like a trumpet (HEB ram’s horn), and shew my people their transgression, and
the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1).
“Verily, I say unto you that ye are chosen out of the world
to declare my gospel with the sound of rejoicing, as with the voice of a trump”
(D&C 29:4).
He desired to cry repentance and teach the plan of
redemption with a voice of thunder. He would call on them to repent and come to
the Lord.
Amaleki had this same desire. Writing about the plates
described them as “exhorting all men to come unto God, the Holy One of Israel,
and believe in prophesying, and in revelations, and in the ministering of
angels, and in the gift of speaking with tongues, and in the gift of
interpreting languages, and in all things which are good; for there is nothing
which is good save it comes from the Lord: and that which is evil cometh from
the devil.
“And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come
unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and
the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as
an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the
end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved” (Omni 1:25-26).
“Alma wanted to declare repentance and the plan of
redemption to all mankind so that there might be no more human sorrow. Yet
Alma’s contentment rested on the reality that God finally allots to us
according to our wills. What could be more fair?”[1]
Alma considers his wish a sin. He should be content with
what they Lord has given him.
“[B]ecoming content with his calling, Alma then meekly hoped
to be an instrument to help save some soul (see Alma 29:9). A significant
spiritual journey is thus reflected in but nine soliloquy-like verses. The same
contentment awaits us if our own desires can be worked through and aligned.”[2]
Alma must put aside his desires for the firm decrees of God.
He will grant us our desires whether our desires lead to death or life “Thou
hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his
lips” (Psalm 21:2).
“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee
the desires of thine heart” (Psalm 37:4).
What he gives man is according to their will, whether they
lead to salvation or destruction.
“Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all
things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose
liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose
captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he
seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Nephi 2:27).
“Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are
free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of
eternal life” (2 Nephi 10:23).
“Wherefore, he gave commandments unto men, they having first
transgressed the first commandments as to things which were temporal, and
becoming as gods, knowing good from evil, placing themselves in a state to act,
or being placed in a state to act according to their wills and pleasures, whether
to do evil or to do good” (Alma 12:31).
“The prophet Alma had a great desire to cry repentance to
all people, but he came to understand that he should not desire the compelling
power this would require because, he concluded, ‘a just God … granteth unto men
according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life’(Alma 29:4).
Similarly, in modern revelation the Lord declares that He ‘will judge all men
according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts” (D&C
137:9).’”[3]
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