Alma 14 - Faith in the Fire

 Alma 14 is one of those chapters that is difficult to read. Alma and Amulek have been preaching the gospel, and now they are forced to watch innocent believers be burned alive because of their faith.

I find myself wondering what I would do if I were in Alma’s position. The natural human response would be to use whatever power I had to stop it. Alma and Amulek had that power. Surely they must have felt the press within themselves to exercise their God-given power and save those people.

But they didn’t.

Instead, they stood silently while a nameless judge taunted them, essentially challenging them to use their power to save themselves and the others. How do you even process something so cruel? I think I would have been in shock.

And yet Alma knew something I might not have known. He knew they would continue their mission. How did he know?

The Holy Ghost.

That precious companion we are given when we are baptized and remain faithful to our covenants can tell us when to speak, what to say, and sometimes—perhaps most importantly—when to remain silent. I think there is something to be learned in becoming familiar enough with the voice of the Spirit that we can recognize it even in the middle of something we cannot understand.

Eventually, Alma and Amulek had suffered intensely and asked the Lord, “How long shall we suffer these great afflictions?”

That question resonates with me.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the Last Days and what it will be like before the Savior returns. We have been told it will be difficult. President Nelson has told us to “buckle up” and “take our vitamins.” We can do it.

But what will it look like?

Will believers be taunted, mistreated, and hated because of their faith? I don't mean to make Alma 14 about me, but it's hard not to wonder how I will respond when difficult things come.

Then I read Job.

The Lord described Job as “a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). I love that description. What a goal: to fear God, turn away from evil, and hold fast to our integrity regardless of what happens around us.

And then almost everything was taken from him.

Job’s suffering was beyond anything I can imagine. I’ve just come through a week of dealing with a miserable skin condition, and it has given me the tiniest glimpse of how miserable anything affecting the skin can be. I’ve had one boil in my life—more than enough to know how awful they are. Job had them covering his body.

How did he endure it?

I don't know.

But I do know that Job held fast to his integrity.

That may be the lesson I need from both Alma and Job. Faithfulness does not guarantee an easy life. It guarantees that we don't have to face a difficult life alone.

Job’s friends give me one more beautiful thought. When they found him, they sat with him for seven days and seven nights without saying a word.

Sometimes that is what friendship looks like.

Sometimes there are no answers. No explanations. No quick fixes. Just someone willing to sit beside us while we ask, “How long?”

And perhaps, in those moments, the most important thing we can do is hold fast to our integrity, listen for the voice of the Holy Ghost, and trust that the Lord knows exactly where we are—even when we don't understand why we are there.