39 And it came to pass that the Lord was with us, yea, even the voice of the Lord came and did speak many words unto them, and did chasten them exceedingly; and after they were chastened by the voice of the Lord they did turn away their anger, and did repent of their sins, insomuch that the Lord did bless us again with food, that we did not perish.
As a result of Laman once again threatening to be the death
of Lehi and Nephi, and doom this mission to failure, the Lord intervenes, this
time not with an angel, but with his own voice. He personally chastened those
trying to do harm to the prophets, His servants. I take away a few lessons from
this.
First, the Lord supports his servants, as opposed to Satan,
who does not (see Alma 30:60). He may not always save their mortal lives, but
he at least strengthens them in difficult times. A second lesson is that the
Lord keeps trying to gather His children, even when they don’t want to be
gathered (see Matthew 23:37). When He stops trying, that’s when you know you
are in real trouble. But in the case of Laman and Lemuel, how many times did
the Lord intervene with a divine show of authority, all to no avail in the end?
Which leads me to a third lesson: miracles don’t make converts. Miracles
strengthen testimonies; they sometimes get a person’s attention, and as in this
case, a miracle may even bring a person to repentance. But conversion must come
from within. Occasionally a person will be brought to his senses, and the
repentance will really make a difference, as in the cases of Paul, Alma, and
the sons of Mosiah, but all too often the change is temporary, as with Laman
and Lemuel. They saw an angel, heard the voice of the Lord, witnessed many
miracles, and still turned away in the end.
Once again, pride seems to be the key. The Lehites had some
serious motivation for staying humble and repentant: food. That Liahona only
worked according to their righteousness, and in the wilderness they depended on
revelation from the Lord for survival. How different is that from our situation
today? Don’t we rely on revelation for our spiritual survival in our journey
through this earth life (our wilderness) in search of our Promised Land
(exaltation)?
Alma 30: 60 (58–60)
