Alma 26:16 - 26:20

Alma 26:16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

Seeing what the Lord can do as evidenced with the events they had witnessed because of their ministry, Ammon wanted to give the Lord all the credit. He wanted his brethren to know that it was the Lord that did it because of His love and mercy towards us all. He just wanted us to know just perceptive the Lord is and how He can take people and the situations they are in and made things come out all the better. Ammon confesses that he is really unable to express his complete feelings about this.

Alma 26:17 Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state?

Ammon marvels that the Lord took him and his brothers who were in such a terrible state and turn them completely around. Why would He take the effort to do so Ammon asks?

Indeed, but it shows that the Lord knows us better than we do and knows how to turn us around at the proper time. That will be different for us all, of course. He knows just when and by what influence will be necessary for the change to take place. For me it was a blind date at the age of 19. For others, it is always different and the Lord knows that and makes the situation appear to bring about His purpose for us individually. That I marvel at when I think there are probably over 70 billion of us to deal with.

Alma 26:18 Behold, we went forth even in wrath, with mighty threatenings to destroy his church.

The boys certainly were in a terrible state as evidenced by their going around reviling against the church and persecuting the members.

Being the sons of the king must have been a complete frustration to Mosiah. Here he is trying to keep the Nephites righteous so they could be free of Lamanite attacks and here is his sons doing just the opposite. Of course, Alma the younger was in the bunch to, so Alma the older was just as unset as well.

Alma 26:19 Oh then, why did he not consign us to an awful destruction, yea, why did he not let the sword of his justice fall upon us, and doom us to eternal despair?

So Ammon asks why did not the Lord just comdemn them to hell and get rid of them?

Alma 26:20 Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at the thought. Behold, he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls.

Ammon is grateful that the Lord did not condemn them to hell. The thought of what could have or maybe should have been their fate just makes him sick thinking about it. The Lord had every excuse to do so, but did not and rescued them and brought them to where they were now on the right path towards salvation instead of condemnation.

It is comforting to know that the Lord has us all in His sites and will do whatever is necessary to influence us to be better.