Alma 58
58:1-12 -Helaman and his band are now desirous “to obtain the city of Manti,” but they were hindered by a few different things, the first being that the Lamanites had caught onto their little schemes and weren’t falling for the same old stuff anymore. The other thing that was standing in their way was that all their man power was employed “maintaining those parts of the land which we had regained of our possessions.” They didn’t have the resources to hardly even maintain what they had, let alone go for more, so they waited “that we might receive more strength from the land of Zarahemla and also a new supply of provisions from the land of Zarahemla.” So they waited but unfortunately for them, the Lamanites were actually receiving reinforcements and provisions and being strengthened, started making little attacks on the Nephites and that was weakening them. But they still waited and “we did wait in these difficult circumstances for the space of many months, even until we were about to perish for the want of food.” That’s pretty brutal, starving to death while trying to fight in combat, that’s really difficult but the Nephite army had a very interesting solution, they didn’t retreat and go back to Zarahemla where it was safe, they didn’t fight with each other, they “did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, yea, and also give us strength that we might retain our cities, and our lands, and our possessions, for the support of our people.” The manual “Preach My Gospel” teaches, in the chapter entitled “How Do I Develop Christlike Attributes?” that “hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good. Hope helps you conquer discouragement. The scriptures often describe hope in Jesus Christ as the assurance that you will inherit eternal life in the celestial kingdom.” I couldn’t imagine how awful it is to starve, and to fight in combat at the same time, I can deal with a lot of stuff, but hunger is not one of them, and even when I’m struggling with something, which is a lot of the time, so many times I don’t turn to the Lord, but even here in combat the prayers were effective. It’s funny because when we talked about this as a family, I asked my kids what Jesus did for the Nephites when they prayed and all their answers were “told them that in the morning that it would rain bread,” or “sent them lots of quails to eat,” and stuff like that, it was really kind of funny. The Lord didn’t send them food miraculously, but he did bring them peace, which my kids had a hard time understanding how they could be happy even though they didn’t have food. Helaman tells us what Jesus did do for them, “Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that should hope for our deliverance in him. And we did take courage with our small force which we had received, and were fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies, and to maintain our lands, and our possessions, and our wives, and our children, and the cause of our liberty.” How did the Lord give them courage and determination without giving them physical relief? The IM teaches that “God’s peace is not dependent on outward circumstances” by quoting Elder Dennis E. Simmons as teaching “If all the world is crumbling around us, the promised Comforter will provide His peace as a result of true discipleship… We can have His peace with us irrespective of the troubles of the world. His peace is that peace, that serenity, that comfort spoken to our hearts and minds by the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, as we strive to follow Him and keep His commandments.” The concept that we are in charge of our own feelings, that circumstances don’t dictate our feelings or actions or thoughts and clearly we learn here that God will give us the strength to endure and preserve regardless of our abundance or destitution.
58:13-41 - Interestingly, Helaman had come up with a plan to come to battle against the Lamanites and when the Nephite army moved from the city to the wilderness, the Lamanites started getting nervous, “fearing that we should cut them off from their support except they should come out to battle against us and kill us.” So they start prepping for battle and Helaman had Teomner and Gid “secrete themselves in the wilderness,” one on the right side and one on the left side, and Helaman and the SWs waited until “the Lamanites (to) come out with their numerous army against us.” And once they did come out to pursue the SWs, and they “did follow after us with great speed… and we did pass by in the midst of Gid and Teomner insomuch that they were not discovered by the Lamanites.” The Lamanites “did suffer their whole army, save a few guards only, to be led away into the wilderness,” so Teomner and Gid, instead of pursuing the Lamanite army, they went and took possession of the city of Manti, and the SWs ran toward the land of Zarahemla, “and when the Lamanites saw that they were marching towards the land of Zarahemla, they were exceedingly afraid, lest there was a plan laid to lead them on to destruction,” so they turned around and retreated back to the city of Manti, but that night “they did pitch their tents, for the chief captains of the Lamanites had supposed that the Nephites were weary because of their march and supposing that they had driven their whole army they took no thought concerning the city of Manti.” Little did they know that Manti had already been taken by the Nephites and that the SWs were not so tired from their march because Helaman “caused that my men should not sleep, but that they should march forward by another way towards the land of Manti.” By the time that the Lamanites finally made it back to Manti, they found that not only was their city taken but “that we were prepared to meet them… insomuch that they did flee into the wilderness.” Helaman concludes his letter to CM by stating that they are maintaining those cities that they have recovered, “but behold, our armies are small.” Even though they are small, “we trust in our God who has given us victory over those lands, insomuch that we have obtained those cities and those lands, which were our own.” They are trusting God to deliver them, even though they are suffering, but through all this, “we do not desire to murmur.” They are trying to have a good attitude, and the IM quotes Elder Neal A. Maxwell as teaching “In a happy day ahead, ‘they that murmured shall learn doctrine.’ This suggests that doctrinal illiteracy is a significant cause of murmuring among Church members.” I guess that makes sense, looking at everything from an eternal perspective makes a big difference. So we see that through strategy Helaman was able to take multiple cities and even though his people suffered immensely, they still were able to have good attitudes and rely solely on God to deliver and comfort them.
58:13-41 - Interestingly, Helaman had come up with a plan to come to battle against the Lamanites and when the Nephite army moved from the city to the wilderness, the Lamanites started getting nervous, “fearing that we should cut them off from their support except they should come out to battle against us and kill us.” So they start prepping for battle and Helaman had Teomner and Gid “secrete themselves in the wilderness,” one on the right side and one on the left side, and Helaman and the SWs waited until “the Lamanites (to) come out with their numerous army against us.” And once they did come out to pursue the SWs, and they “did follow after us with great speed… and we did pass by in the midst of Gid and Teomner insomuch that they were not discovered by the Lamanites.” The Lamanites “did suffer their whole army, save a few guards only, to be led away into the wilderness,” so Teomner and Gid, instead of pursuing the Lamanite army, they went and took possession of the city of Manti, and the SWs ran toward the land of Zarahemla, “and when the Lamanites saw that they were marching towards the land of Zarahemla, they were exceedingly afraid, lest there was a plan laid to lead them on to destruction,” so they turned around and retreated back to the city of Manti, but that night “they did pitch their tents, for the chief captains of the Lamanites had supposed that the Nephites were weary because of their march and supposing that they had driven their whole army they took no thought concerning the city of Manti.” Little did they know that Manti had already been taken by the Nephites and that the SWs were not so tired from their march because Helaman “caused that my men should not sleep, but that they should march forward by another way towards the land of Manti.” By the time that the Lamanites finally made it back to Manti, they found that not only was their city taken but “that we were prepared to meet them… insomuch that they did flee into the wilderness.” Helaman concludes his letter to CM by stating that they are maintaining those cities that they have recovered, “but behold, our armies are small.” Even though they are small, “we trust in our God who has given us victory over those lands, insomuch that we have obtained those cities and those lands, which were our own.” They are trusting God to deliver them, even though they are suffering, but through all this, “we do not desire to murmur.” They are trying to have a good attitude, and the IM quotes Elder Neal A. Maxwell as teaching “In a happy day ahead, ‘they that murmured shall learn doctrine.’ This suggests that doctrinal illiteracy is a significant cause of murmuring among Church members.” I guess that makes sense, looking at everything from an eternal perspective makes a big difference. So we see that through strategy Helaman was able to take multiple cities and even though his people suffered immensely, they still were able to have good attitudes and rely solely on God to deliver and comfort them.
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