So after all that, I suppose I should share something about what I read today. I should probably set some expectations first… It’s unlikely that I’ll get to a post every day. Lets face it, life sometimes gets in the way of the best of intentions. I haven’t even got a dedicated time that I’ve been able to set aside for reading, but I’m working on that. And I’m starting this blog 25 pages behind schedule. :)
But here’s where I am…
Alma Chapter 20
(I should probably throw some background in here to get us all on the same page) Ammon is a Nephite. He and his brethren decide to go among the Lamanites to try and teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ammon goes to a Lamanite king by the name of Lamoni and asks if he can be the kings servant. After a series of really cool events (that you may have to wait until next year to read about) Lamoni and his family are converted. In chapter 20, king Lamoni wants to take Ammon to meet his father, who happens to be the uber-king of the Lamanites (20:1). Ammon is instructed by the Lord not to go up to the Lamoni’s father, but instead tells Ammon that his brethren are in prison and the Lord sends Ammon to go free them (20:2). Turns out that king Lamoni knows the king of the land where Ammons’s brethren are in prison and insists that he’s going with to help persuade this king to release the prisoners (20:3). So Lamoni and Ammon head out and who is the first person that they happen to run into? Of course, they run into Lamoni’s father, that uber-king that Lamoni had wanted to take Ammon to meet in the first place.
So the question is, if Ammon and Lamoni are going to be traveling in the wilderness and run into Lamoni’s father anyway, why didn’t the Lord have Ammon and Lamoni go there. Surely Lamoni’s desire to have Ammon and his father meet was not only a righteous desire, but ultimately, it was the will of the Lord as well. As we continue reading, we might be surprised at the response that Ammon and Lamoni receive from Lamoni’s father. To their astonishment, Lamoni’s father wasn’t happy to see his son. In fact, he was quite angry with Lamoni for missing a feast that he had thrown for his sons (v.12) and instructs Lamoni to kill Ammon because he’s a Nephite (v.13) (Nephites and Lamanites were all family about 500 years prior to this exchange, but infighting between the wicked and the righteous broke out and essentially separated them in to these two groups.) Lamoni refuses to kill Ammon so his father decides to do it himself (v.16). After Ammon renders Lamoni’s father helpless with the sword (v.20) Ammon secures his own life as well as Lamoni’s kingship, his kingdom and gets his brethren out of prison (v.24) and eventually Lamoni’s father has the opportunity to hear the Gospel and accepts it (Alma 22).
Imagine how this might have played out if the Lord had allowed Lamoni and Ammon to go directly to the Lamoni’s father in his kingdom. Perhaps it would have played out similar to how things worked out for Abinadi. Abinadi was commanded to preach repentance to king Noah and his wicked priests. Abinadi’s teaching, testimony and warnings, were enough to make king Noah question if he was doing the right thing. He probably would have spared Abinadi’s life, until the wicked priests approached the king and convinced him otherwise.
How often do we have an idea to do something that seems perfectly reasonable, perhaps even something that is clearly a righteous desire, and yet the answer we receive from the Lord is “no” or “not now”? How do we respond in that situation? We have many options. We could question the “no” or “not now” inspiration that we were given and act anyway, or we can put our trust in the Lord and do things his way.
Ammon and Lamoni followed the direction of the Spirit, headed directly to retrieve Ammon’s brethren, and the other righteous desire, for Ammon to meet Lamoni’s father, was granted as well.
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