"Ye Shall Prosper in the Land," Alma 36:24-30

Alma 36:24-30

From the point of Alma's conversion moving forward, he states:

I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. (vs. 24)

These verse actually summarize with testimony a lot of thoughts and feeling that I have experienced as of late. Alma's whole effort since the point of conversion forward had been to help others come to Christ, bringing them unto repentance and to experience the great joy that he had. His whole effort has been that others would be born of God and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

These are the fruits of his labors and they were a source of great joy for him. This is reminiscent of the Savior's parable of the sower: those that received the good seed, bore fruit. (See Matthew 13:23)

(I've made some personal notes on these verses elsewhere.)

Again at the end of this chapter, Alma repeats the promise of the of the Book of Mormon:

...for ye ought to know as I do know, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land; and ye ought to know also, that inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence. Now this is according to his word. (vs. 30)

So the blessing for obeying God's commandments is prosperity in the land. The curse for disobedience to God's commands is being cut off from the presence of the Lord. Prosperity in the land or being cut off from the presence of the Lord. Does this mean that prosperity is dwelling in the presence of the Lord?

This reminds me of a quote by President Thomas S. Monson:

At times the wisdom of God appears as being foolish or just too difficult, but one of the greatest and most valuable lessons we can learn in mortality is that when God speaks and a man obeys, that man will always be right.

If I then step back just a few verses before the end, Alma talks about how God had supported him in all manner of trials and difficulties. He talks also about remembering the captivity and deliverance of those who had gone before, who very similarly to Alma had been supported in their trials and difficulties. This is how Alma is defining prosperity. Man dwelling with and depending upon God through the challenges of life.

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