Sunday, April 3, 2016

Alma 17 - Ammon, A Son of Mosiah

Ammon is a poster child for missionaries or any one who chooses to serve the Lord. He’s bold yet humble, optimistic, faithful and passionate in his desire to do God’s will. When I think of Ammon as a missionary, I think of a teenage friend of mine who served in Korea years after I did. I spent two years of my life trying to proselyte by the book, knocking doors, street meetings and the like. I was blessed with some success and I’m grateful for my experiences.

My friend, on the other hand, felt impressed to proselyte by playing table tennis. He was pretty good at it and was instrumental in baptizing a multitude of people because of it. To appreciate this you have to understand that table tennis (ping pong) is popular there. Back in the day, there were many businesses where hundreds of people would play the game for hours. By connecting with the people this way, he got in many doors I was never able to enter. Once inside, people would ask, “why are you here?” And off he went.

Such is the case with Ammon. Following impressions from the Holy Ghost, he offered to be Lamoni’s servant rather than son. He ends up with a job no one wanted, sheep herder. It was literally a dead end job, where if you failed, you died — at the king’s hand. I’m pretty certain, he had no idea what lay in store for him. Throughout their preparations to come and in his own stated desires, all they hoped to do was save a few Lamanites. The Lord had bigger ideas.

Unlike me, he followed where the promptings took him. At the end of the chapter, he not only has the respect of the other sheep herder servants, he’s got the King’s attention. What happens next, is in the next post.

I just have to add this observation: for want of a better phrase, I’ll call it “God’s promise of protection to the obedient son of a righteous father.” God promises Mosiah his sons will be protected in their mission to the Lamanites. Ammon knew of this and when he faces off against a group of Lamanites who mean to kill him, he does so fearlessly. True to His promise, God protects Ammon. If it didn’t happen again, I’d say it’s a one-time deal, but the Sons of Helaman, have similar divine protection when they go to war for the Nephites. Is this a universal promise? No. But if the need ever arose, I want to live worthy of asking for it.

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