A Parable of Trials

Last week I finished reading the book of Mosiah again, and it struck me that there was an important lesson to be learned about how we can deal with trials.  There is a very interesting contrast between the people of Limhi and the people of Alma in the way that they were delivered from their enemies.  I believe we can use these two stories as a way to understand trials in our own lives.

During the time of king Mosiah (the first) a group of people left Zarahemla to return to their ancestral city in the land of Nephi.  After spending some time there, king Noah, who was a very wicked man, caused a lot of iniquity to take place among his people.  The Lord sent a prophet named Abinadi to warn the people of the consequences of their actions.  Abinadi prophecied that:

"And except they repent and turn to the Lord their God, behold, I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies; yea, and they shall be brought into bondage; and they shall be afflicted by the hand of their enemies.

And it shall come to pass that except this people repent and turn unto the Lord their God, they shall be brought into bondage; and none shall deliver them, except it be the Lord the Almighty God.

Yea, and it shall come to pass that when they shall cry unto me I will be slow to hear their cries; yea, and I will suffer them that they be smitten by their enemies.

And except they repent in sackcloth and ashes, and cry mightily to the Lord their God, I will not hear their prayers, neither will I deliver them out of their afflictions; and thus saith the Lord, and thus hath he commanded me."

(Mosiah 11:21,23-25)

Most people will recognize that this prophecy was fulfilled for the people of king Limhi (the son of Noah) in their bondage to the Lamanites.  The people did not act on the prophecy of Abinadi, and two years later he came back again to tell them that his words must now be fulfilled.  This time reading through the Book of Mormon, I realized that this prophecy was also fulfilled for the people of Alma.  One of the priests of Noah, Alma, believed Abinadi and left with a small group of those who also believed in Christ.  They escaped the armies of Noah and lived for a while on their own.  We will return to them in a moment.

After several failed battles with the Lamanites, the people of Limhi were in serious trouble:

"Now they [the Lamanites] durst not slay them [the people of Limhi], because of the oath which their king had made unto Limhi; but they would smite them on their cheeks, and exercise authority over them; and began to put heavy burdens upon their backs, and drive them as they would a dumb ass—

Yea, all this was done that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled.

And now the afflictions of the Nephites were great, and there was no way that they could deliver themselves out of their hands, for the Lamanites had surrounded them on every side….

And they did humble themselves even to the dust, subjecting themselves to the yoke of bondage, submitting themselves to be smitten, and to be driven to and fro, and burdened, according to the desires of their enemies.

And they did humble themselves even in the depths of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions.

And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities; nevertheless the Lord did hear their cries, and began to soften the hearts of the Lamanites that they began to ease their burdens; yet the Lord did not see fit to deliver them out of bondage."

(Mosiah 21:3-5,13–15)

This group of people represents those who do not listen to the prophets and receive the negative consequences for their actions. I'm sure you can all think of someone who is in this situation right now. And all of us have been in this situation in some point in our lives.

In contrast, the people of Alma were invaded by an army of the Lamanites, though they had not provoked them at all. Instead of fighting against their aggressors, to people of Alma surrendered to the Lamanites, trusting in the Lord that they would not be killed.

"Amulon... exercised authority over them [the people of Alma], and put tasks upon them, and put task-masters over them.

And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they began to cry mightily to God.

And Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries; and he put guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found calling upon God should be put to death.

And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts."

(Mosiah 24:9–12)

This group of people represent those who are keeping the commandments of God as best they can, but still seem to have bad things happen to them. Again, I'm sure you can think of someone you know in this group. So why does God allow these things to happen? Actually, in some cases he causes these things to happen:

"Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.

Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.

For behold, I will show unto you that they were brought into bondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God, yea, even the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob.

And it came to pass that he did deliver them, and he did show forth his mighty power unto them, and great were their rejoicings."

(Mosiah 23:21–24)

If you are doing all that you have been commanded to do, and still receive trials, be grateful! It means you are ready for the next step, and God trusts you to benefit from your trial and become more pure. This trial that the people of Alma endured, while certainly not enjoyable, was a great faith building experience for them.

"And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage."

(Mosiah 24:13–16)

Both the people of Limhi and the people of Alma were subjected to the same trial: in bondage to the Lamanites.  How they responded to this trial and how the Lord helped them in each case was different.  The people of Alma trusted in God and were delivered by His power.  Because of their faith and diligence in the past, even though they had to go through this trial, God helped them.  The people of Limhi on the other hand reacted much differently.  They tried to fight their way out of bondage.  After their failure they spent a long time in servitude, and the although they escaped in the end, it was not by the Lamanites miraculously falling asleep, but by their own ingenuity.

"Behold the back pass, through the back wall, on the back side of the city. The Lamanites, or the guards of the Lamanites, by night are drunken; therefore let us send a proclamation among all this people that they gather together their flocks and herds, that they may drive them into the wilderness by night.

And I will go according to thy command and pay the last tribute of wine to the Lamanites, and they will be drunken; and we will pass through the secret pass on the left of their camp when they are drunken and asleep.

Thus we will depart with our women and our children, our flocks, and our herds into the wilderness; and we will travel around the land of Shilom....

And now it came to pass when the Lamanites had found that the people of Limhi had departed out of the land by night, that they sent an army into the wilderness to pursue them;

And after they had pursued them two days, they could no longer follow their tracks; therefore they were lost in the wilderness."

(Mosiah 22:6–8,15-16)

What do we learn from this?  I learned that it is up to me to choose how I respond to trials that I face.  I am going to have them no matter what I do, so I might as well handle them in a healthy way.  It is not good to fight and rage against the challenges that come to me, but rather I should accept them, and try to learn from them.  In doing this I will become more purified, just as were the people of Alma.

A lot of people like to talk about New Year's resolutions.  As I look ahead to this coming year, I see that there are a lot of opportunities ahead.  Many of them will be opportunities to fail, but also many to succeed.  Our success in the year ahead will not be measured by how many times we fail, or even how many times we succeed, but what we learn from our trials, and how pure we become.  I challenge all of you to have this mindset the next time you are contemplating a trial facing you.