The Power of Deliverance

Many years ago, President Eyring gave a talk at BYU about the Lord’s “power of deliverance.” He said, “Today I wish to bear witness of God’s power of deliverance. At some point in our lives we will all need that power. Every person living is in the midst of a test. We have been granted by God the precious gift of life in a world created as a proving ground and a preparatory school. The tests we will face, their severity, their timing, and their duration will be unique for each of us. But two things will be the same for all of us. They are part of the design for mortal life. First, the tests at times will stretch us enough for us to feel the need for help beyond our own. And, second, God in His kindness and wisdom has made the power of deliverance available to us.” He highlighted that the power of deliverance from the Lord will not always take away our trials, but it will give us the strength to work through them. His help can deliver us from fear, anxiety, doubt, and sorrow while still requiring us to pass through the trials we face. President Eyring continued, “Just as that deliverance is not always to have spared the life of a loved one, the deliverance from other trials may not be to remove them. It may not be to have perfect health or to have enemies vanish or ignore us. He may not give relief until we develop faith to make choices that will bring the power of the Atonement to work in our lives.”

President Eyring gave the Savior’s great trial in Gethsemane as an example for us: “The Father did not deliver the Son by removing the trial. For our sakes He did not do that, and He allowed the Savior to finish the mission He came to perform. Yet we can forever take courage and comfort from knowing of the help that the Father did provide: ‘And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation’ (Luke 22:43-46).  The Savior prayed for deliverance. What He was given was not an escape from the trial but comfort enough to pass through it gloriously.” The Father sent an angel to strengthen His Son when the trial was nearly unbearable, and surely He will send us help when we struggle in our difficulties. President Eyring continued, “His command to His disciples, who were themselves being tested, is a guide for us. We can determine to follow it. We can determine to rise up and pray in great faith and humility. And we can follow the command added in the book of Mark: ‘Rise up, let us go’ (Mark 14:42). From this you have counsel for passing the physical and spiritual tests of life. You will need God’s help after you have done all you can for yourself. So rise up and go, but get His help as early as you can, not waiting for the crisis to ask for deliverance.” We can “rise up and go” to face our trials, knowing that the Lord’s power of deliverance will see us through. With faith in the power of Jesus Christ to help us, and the humility to ask for that help, we will find “the power of deliverance” by which the Lord will “make [us] mighty” as Nephi promised in the first chapter of the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 1:20).

            One story in the Book of Mormon that highlights the Savior’s power of deliverance is Alma and Amulek’s experience at Ammonihah. Alma taught them, “Therefore, prepare ye the way of the Lord, for the time is at hand that all men shall reap a reward of their works, according to that which they have been—if they have been righteous they shall reap the salvation of their souls, according to the power and deliverance of Jesus Christ” (Alma 9:28). The purpose of that power of deliverance is to bring the salvation of souls, and that ultimately was what those who died at the hand of the wicked leaders of Ammonihah received. Their deliverance was not what Amulek was expecting, but Alma testified to him: “For behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory” (Alma 14:11). Though those who perished were not delivered physically, Alma knew that they had been delivered from this wicked world and received into the presence of God’s glory. The power of deliverance was also seen in Alma and Amulek’s experience in prison. The chief judge mocked them, “If ye have the power of God deliver yourselves from these bands, and then we will believe that the Lord will destroy this people according to your words.” Many others said these same things to them, taunting them, and Alma finally cried out to the Lord: “How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, O Lord? O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance.” That’s when the physical deliverance came: “And they broke the cords with which they were bound; and when the people saw this, they began to flee, for the fear of destruction had come upon them” (Alma 14:24-26). The Lord gave them strength unto deliverance, and with faith He can do the same thing for us, according to His will. When Alma and Amulek then went over to Sidon, they found those who had been cast out and “they related unto them all that had happened unto their wives and children, and also concerning themselves, and of their power of deliverance.” They learned that Zeezrom was tormented by his own wickedness and could find “no deliverance.” Alma and Amulek went to him and prayed, “O Lord our God, have mercy on this man, and heal him according to his faith which is in Christ” (Alma 15:2-3, 10). He was indeed healed by God’s power of deliverance. These stories remind us that God does have great power to deliver us, though that deliverance may not look exactly like what we are hoping for. But we can seek Him out as we pass through afflictions, trusting in this promise from President Eyring: “Your experience in enduring well in the trials of life by drawing on God’s power of deliverance can bring you the assurance you need to find peace in this life and confidence for the next.”