The Good Shepherd Doth Call You

Alma’s words to the people of Zarahemla contained in Alma 5 include 42 different questions for them (and for us) to consider. Many of these questions encourage us to think about how we are doing spiritually and how prepared we are to meet the Savior. This is perhaps why President M. Russell Ballard said, “I need to regularly take time to ask myself, ‘How am I doing?’ … As a guide for me during this private, personal review, I like to read and ponder the introspective words found in the fifth chapter of Alma.” The invitation throughout all of these questions is to repent. He warned that for the individual who is not prepared, “the time is at hand that he must repent or he cannot be saved! Yea, even wo unto all ye workers of iniquity; repent, repent, for the Lord God hath spoken it! Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you” (Alma 5:31-33). As we consider our answers to the many questions that Alma asked, we should look to see how we can repent and receive the mercy that Alma knew so much about. He had indeed been a “worker of iniquity” and had repented in order to receive the mercy that the Lord offers to all who will come unto Him.

Yesterday my four-year-old daughter gave me a glimpse of what that mercy looks like. Her brother was being mean to her when they played, so she escaped and came down to my office to hang out by herself while I was working. Later on, her brother came downstairs and started playing in the toy room next to my office. She saw him and must have remarked that he was calmer and appeared more friendly. That was all she needed to see, and before he even interacted with her, her face lit up and she said to him with excited anticipation something like this: “Are you not being mean to me anymore?” In other words, she was not only ready to forgive him immediately, but she really wanted to be with him and play with him again, as long as he was ready to be nice. I think this is how the Lord sees us: He is eagerly awaiting us to repent so that He can be with us and bless us. He doesn’t hold grudges against us or revel in giving us punishment; He just wants us to start to repent so that we can be together. He is full of mercy and love and is ready to share those with us at the first sign we are starting to change our bad habits and come unto Him. All of Alma’s questions help us to see how we can do that.

Amidst these questions from Alma are also powerful testimonies of who the Savior is. For example, he asked, “Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?” (v27) It is through His blood that we are cleansed and redeemed. Alma taught that Christ is our Good Shepherd: “Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd” (v38). He also bore witness in these words of the goodness of the Savior: “I say unto you, that I know that Jesus Christ shall come, yea, the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace, and mercy, and truth. And behold, it is he that cometh to take away the sins of the world, yea, the sins of every man who steadfastly believeth on his name” (v48). Alma knew firsthand that the Savior is full of grace and mercy and that faith in His name will take away our sins. He also prophesied, “the Son of God cometh in his glory, in his might, majesty, power, and dominion. Yea, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, that the Spirit saith: Behold the glory of the King of all the earth; and also the King of heaven shall very soon shine forth among all the children of men” (v50). The Son did indeed come to the earth not many years after Alma lived, and we await again His coming in glory to the earth. And so, we must be prepared to meet the King of heaven in that day, and Alma’s questions teach us how.