Alma 33: 1- 23

This is a short chapter and I finished reading it. Yay! As we keep reading the Book of Mormon, it does happen that we get hooked into it that we just want to keep reading! I really need to get back to getting up early so I could do my Book of Mormon study first thing in the morning every single day. Well, I got ten more days of summer break so I'm glad I still got some time to adjust my schedule and get organized so I could keep up with my Book of Mormon study and writing this blog everyday.

In verse 2, Alma said to those poor and burdened Zoramites: "2 And Alma said unto them: Behold, ye have said that ye ^acould not^bworship your God because ye are cast out of your synagogues. But behold, I say unto you, if ye suppose that ye cannot worship God, ye do greatly err, and ye ought to search the ^cscriptures; if ye suppose that they have taught you this, ye do not understand them."

Are the places of worship the only places where we can worship God? They are special places designated for that specific purpose, yes, but what does worshiping God involve? Is it just visiting a place of worship once a week or once a month or once a year or during special occasions? Is that all it takes to worship God? The scriptures is filled with teachings on how to worship God. And Alma found out that the Zoramites don't understand them. Alma then went on mentioning what the prophets Zenos and Zenock taught in verses 3-11: 

"3 Do ye remember to have read what ^aZenos, the prophet of old,has said concerning prayer or ^bworship?

 4 For he said: Thou art merciful, O God, for thou hast heard my prayer, even when I was ^ain the wilderness; yea, thou wast merciful when I prayed concerning those who were mine ^benemies, and thou didst turn them to me.

 5 Yea, O God, and thou wast merciful unto me when I did cry unto thee in my ^afield; when I did cry unto thee in my prayer, and thou didst hear me.

 6 And again, O God, when I did turn to my house thou didst hear me in my prayer. 

7 And when I did turn unto my ^acloset, O Lord, and prayed unto thee, thou didst hear me.

 8 Yea, thou art merciful unto thy children when they cry unto thee,to be heard of thee and not of men, and thou ^awilt hear them.

 9 Yea, O God, thou hast been merciful unto me, and heard my cries in the midst of thy congregations.

 10 Yea, and thou hast also heard me when I have been ^acast out and have been despised by mine enemies; yea, thou didst hear my cries,and wast angry with mine enemies, and thou didst ^bvisit them in thine anger with speedy destruction.

 11 And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my^asincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine^bafflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, ^cbecause of thy Son.

I really like the explanation to these verses in the Institute Manual. It says: "Alma used the scriptures repeatedly to address the false doctrines taught by the Zoramites. He first dealt with the false notion that you can only pray on the Rameumtom. Using the scriptures he explained that they could pray and worship God anywhere; in their 'wilderness,' in their 'field,' in their "house," and even in their 'closet.' Alma then addressed the fact that all the prophets have testified of the coming of a Christ (see Alma 33: 14- 22; see also Jacob 7 : 11).

What does it mean to be in a continuous attitude of prayer? Here's President Henry B. Eyring's explanation from the Institute Manual:

"When God has commanded us to pray, He has used words like 'pray unceasingly' and 'pray always' and 'mighty prayer'.

"Those command do not require using many words. In fact, the Savior has told us that we need not multiply words when we pray. The diligence in prayer which God requires does not take flowery speech nor long hours of solitude...

"Our hearts can be drawn out to God only when they are filled with love for Him and trust in His goodness" (in Conference Report, Oct 2001, 17; or Ensign, Nov. 2001, 16).

How can we keep our hearts drawn out to God? How can we keep a prayer in our hearts? The Zoramites would pray only--each one of them would while up in that tower once a week.  And they would go about doing their own things within the week without mentioning anything about their faith. That sounds really easy to do. Worship God in a few minutes in one day and that's it for the whole week. But that's not how we are supposed to worship God according to the scriptures. We are required to put forth a lot more effort that.  It takes effort to keep our hearts drawn out to God. And it's really easy to forget God when we are busy doing our own things. So, I get the point. We are given the commandment to worship God because of our natural tendency to forget Him. We need to overcome the natural man in us. As it says in Mosiah 3:19 : "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

Here's Alma's last words in this chapter and I really love what he said: "23 And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall ^aplant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, ^bspringing up in you unto^ceverlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your^dburdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye ^ewill. Amen.

Who doesn't want his burdens to be lightened? We all do have burdens. Everybody has a share of loads to carry in life's journey. And our load is what keep us going...And we can truly have joy in the midst of our afflictions. Let me share with you something about this line of thought tomorrow. It's lunchtime and I still got to cook my food for now.