Swallowed Up in the Hopes of Glory

I think it is instructive to consider the missionary labors of the sons of Mosiah from the perspective of Aaron. It would appear that for Ammon, success was nearly immediate. He served King Lamoni, saved the sheep, and was given the opportunity to preach the gospel to the king and his household shortly after his arrival among the Lamanites. The experience of Aaron was quite different, at least in the beginning. He went first to the place called Jerusalem, and he found Nephite dissenters there (Amalekites and Amulonites) who worshipped after the manner of Nehor. Aaron immediately received severe opposition to his preaching, and Mormon gave us one example conversation where an Amalekite questioned him in these words, “How knowest thou the thought and intent of our hearts? How knowest thou that we have cause to repent? How knowest thou that we are not a righteous people?” As Aaron sought to bear his witness of truth, the man responded, “We do not believe that thou knowest any such thing. We do not believe in these foolish traditions. We do not believe that thou knowest of things to come, neither do we believe that thy fathers and also that our fathers did know concerning the things which they spake, of that which is to come.” Though Aaron continued to teach and testify, “They were angry with him, and began to mock him; and they would not hear the words which he spake.” Aaron eventually left and joined Muloki and Ammah preaching in Ani-Anti, but there again they were met with rejection. They then traveled to Middoni where “few believed on the words which they taught.” Then things got even worse for Aaron: “Aaron and a certain number of his brethren were taken and cast into prison, and the remainder of them fled out of the land of Middoni unto the regions round about.” There in prison they “suffered many things” (Alma 21:6-13). More details of that suffering are given in this passage: “They were naked, and their skins were worn exceedingly because of being bound with strong cords. And they also had suffered hunger, thirst, and all kinds of afflictions” (Alma 20:29). Physically painful and emotionally debilitating, what a different experience this was from Ammon’s!

               I wonder what Aaron thought as he suffered in that prison, not knowing how he could ever be freed. He had given up everything to come among the Lamanites, and now it appeared that he would never have any success. He perhaps wondered if he would ever leave the prison or if he would simply die there. Like Joseph he may have prayed along these lines, “O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:2-3). We don’t know how long Aaron was in prison, but it could have been weeks or even months. Perhaps he even questioned whether he was right to embark on the mission in the first place; other Nephites told him in an attempt to dissuade him, “Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers, as stiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in the shedding of blood; whose days have been spent in the grossest iniquity; whose ways have been the ways of a transgressor from the beginning?” (Alma 26:24) He had indeed supposed that he could, and now languishing in a prison cell it appeared that he couldn’t. But to his great credit, Mormon recorded, “Nevertheless they were patient in all their sufferings” (Alma 20:29). He did not succumb to despair, and the Lord came through for him and his companions in a miraculous way. It was after this ordeal that he found not only success in his missionary labors but the opportunity to teach the king over all the land. In a short space of time he went from wondering if he would languish in prison forever to preaching the plan of salvation in the palace of the king. His story reminds us to hold on in times of trial, especially when we feel that we are doing what the Lord has asked us to do. We must wait patiently on the Lord for the time when our difficulties will be “swallowed up in the hopes of glory” (Alma 22:14).