Find the blessings

Alma 62

I really struggle to push through the war chapters.  This particular chapter has some interesting lessons to learn from war, however.  Moroni and Pahoran join their forces and clean house.  They go into many cities and destroy the King Men and those who would defect from the King Men were taken into the Nephi camps and put to work in the fields to produce food for the armies of the Nephites.  Again – put the enemy to work.  But at this point, I think they were enemies no more.

The other thing that is quite evident is that it is a choice how we deal with hard times.  Both the Lamanites and the Nephites experienced the same war with similar hardships.  In v41 “. . . the Lamanites become hardened, because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were softened because of their afflictions, inso much that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility.”   You see this same thing today.  Just one example - we have many youth who for whatever reason are not finding their eternal companions.  Some embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ and work for His cause and find great joy in their lives in spite of being alone.  Their joy is in the Gospel.  There are others who experience the same disappointment who become bitter and angry at the Lord for not being given the privilege of raising families of their own - as if this is their entitlement.  They become cynical and give up.  It is a slippery slope at this point to committing other sins against the Lord and making repentance that much more difficult on themselves.  Is there a way back?  Of course!  But it is an uphill climb.  True repentance will always be an uphill climb.

There is one more nugget worth writing about (I’m sure there are many).  Teancum got angry at the Lamanites for the length of this war and he was ready to have it over.  He went out in the night – in his anger – and killed the Lamanite king.  The king woke his servants before dying and they in turn killed Teancum.  This was a great loss to the Nephite army and was not necessary.  What happened?  Teancum got angry.  The people were enjoying some great success going from city after city and taking command of it once again.  There is no room for anger in the Lord’s work. 

So what is to be learned from this chapter?  How do I boil it down into sentence or two?  Find the blessings in the tough time.  The Lord is mindful of all His children and it is our responsibility to find the blessings.  They are there.  And at all costs, control your temper.  There is no room for anger in the Lord’s work.