16 And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.
17 And he said unto Alma: Thou shalt go before this people, and I will go with thee and deliver this people out of bondage.
18 Now it came to pass that Alma and his people in the night-time gathered their flocks together, and also of their grain; yea, even all the night-time were they gathering their flocks together. (Mosiah 24:16-18)

This is from the story of how Alma the elder and his people were delivered from Lamanite bondage.

I wonder if I would have been able to listen and obey the voice of the Lord after such a long time in bondage.  Would I have the faith in the Lord’s promise to go to the trouble to prepare myself to be delivered without knowing how it would happen?

A cool thing about these verses is they give the impression that the Lord’s message came not just to Alma, to all the people and they all obeyed.  That suggests the whole people were at a pretty extraordinary level of spiritual perceptivity and obedience.

A lesson I get from these verses is that if we are in bondage somehow, like with bad habits or addictions or life situations, we can’t be delivered from it without being prepared.
  1. We have to believe that deliverance is coming.
  2. We have to do some extra work to gather our forces for it, often during the time that others would be relaxing.
  3. We have to recognize when we’re ready.
  4. We have to recognize opportunities to escape (or resist temptation).
  5. We have to follow the word of the Lord.
Think about a bad habit you have right now that you know is dragging you down.  (I’ve got one in mind for me right now.)  The day of deliverance from that bondage is coming.  Do you believe it?   Do you have the mental and emotional skills prepared for that day?  If not, what do you need to prepare yourself?  What doctrines might help you?  What small steps can you take to get closer?

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