Thursday, December 31, 2009

Alma 57

We learn more about the young men who fought under Helaman's command. Their number increased to 2,060, and after another pitched battle with the Lamanites, Helaman writes that 200 were severely wounded but that they were miraculously preserved:

25 And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds.
26 And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.
27 Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually.


We learn that what their mothers taught them was that "there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power." I can imagine these faithful mothers sending their young men off to fight and promising them that if they would believe in God and not doubt that they would be spared and return to their mothers. Every mother who sends a son or daughter on a full-time mission should have this same hope and teach this same faith. 

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