Skip to main content

"The Lord in Much Mercy Hath Granted," Alma 7:1-2

Alma 7:1-2

Verses 1 and 2 seem like something of a formality only if we choose to see them that way. However, recent prayers and events in my own life have caused me to consider the significance of a few key points.

Alma starts his remarks by stating that he had been permitted to come to them by rearranging the affairs of the government and freeing up his time and responsibilities so that he could attended to such. He points out that this is the first time that he had been permitted to travel to meet this particular group of saints in person. Thus Alma concludes that "the Lord in much mercy hath granted that I should come unto you." (verse 2) This seems noteworthy that Alma did not take for granted the restructuring of the government of the land as something that he accomplished in and of himself.

There are two different reminders that I take away from this introduction:
  •  First, on a personal level, I do well to remember the great blessings that have been extended to me in recent years that have permitted me to have more time to do the Lord's work. 
  • Secondly, on a more general level, I should not take for granted how easily accessible communications from prophets have become. I wonder if this is not one of the greatest miracles of our day: that in the comfort of our own homes and local church houses we can enjoy transmissions where we get to hear prophet's words in the very moment in which they are spoken. And then when we are blessed to have a visiting leader or general authority among us, because of advances in transportation and travel, is this too not a blessing of modern mercy?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"A Space Between Death and the Resurrection," Alma 40:15-21

Alma 40:15-21 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/tg/resurrection?lang=eng The New Testament, after the Resurrection of Christ, is replete with testimony by the apostles of the reality of that very thing. I took a pause from this study to reflect over in John 6 . At least twice within that passage, the phrase "the resurrection of the just" had been added back into the passage in the Joseph Smith Translation. No man can come unto me, except he doeth the will of my Father who hath sent me. And this is the will of him who hath sent me, that ye receive the Son; for the Father beareth record of him; and he who receiveth the testimony, and doeth the will of him who sent me, I will raise up in the resurrection of the just. ( JST - John 6:44 ) Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up in the resurrection of the just at the last day. ( John 6:54 ) Why, among other doctrines, does the adversary or the world want to suppress...

"An Awful Death," Alma 40:22-26

Alma 40:22-26 Ezekiel 37:6-14 - This prophecy of Ezekiel is a key indicator of divine priority. These last few verses at the end of the chapter are a testimony of the reality and nature of the resurrection, and the consignments of the wicked and the righteous thereafter. What questions should I be asking about these verses? Continue in verse 26 tomorrow. There are a number of footnotes on "the death of the wicked," or that death which "pertains to the things of righteousness." So I have spent the morning studying this death of the wicked, by reading the footnotes on "death" as referenced in title of this post, or "an awful death of the wicked."  Doctrine and Covenants 29:41 truly illustrates the seriousness of that predicament. He first is talking about the spiritual death that came upon Adam when he was cast out of the Garden of Eden: ...wherein he became spiritually dead, which is the first death, even that same death which is ...