Be of Good Cheer

Alma 17:


2 Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.


Joseph Smith: “Search the scriptures, search the revelations which we publish, and ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to manifest the truth unto you, and if you do it with an eye single to his glory nothing doubting, He will answer you by the power of His Holy Spirit. You will then know for yourselves and not for another. You will not then be dependent on man for the knowledge of God; nor will there be any room for speculation." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.11)

We all can be of sound understanding but it takes work. we have to put in the effort to be as the sons of Mosiah. We can't just casually read through a verse or two a day. We have to study and involve the Lord in those studies.

Later in the chapter Ammon goes to preach the the Lamanite people, but instead of marching in and preaching repentance right away he gains the king's trust by serving in his household. He is helping to guard the king's sheep when another group of Lamanites come and scatter the flock.
The other servants begin to be afraid because they don't want the King to kill them for their failure to protect his flock.

29 Now they wept because of the fear of being slain. Now when Ammon saw this his heart was swollen within him with joy; for, said he, I will show forth my power unto these my fellow servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks unto the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words.
30 And now, these were the thoughts of Ammon, when he saw the afflictions of those whom he termed to be his brethren.
31 And it came to pass that he flattered them by his words, saying: My brethren, be of good cheer and let us go in search of the flocks, and we will gather them together and bring them back unto the place of water; and thus we will preserve the flocks unto the king and he will not slay us.

these other servants just gave up. They sat and had a good cry because they failed and they were going to be killed. Ammon steps in and says, "hey, we don't have to die. This isn't over. Let's get up off our hind ends and find those sheep". Okay not in those words, but basically he tells them to forget themselves and go to work. Its time to find the lost sheep.

1. Ammon teaches us to press forward in our trials. To not give up. Bad things happen but we have a measure of control in how we choose to respond to those bad things. We can sit and cry about it, or we can learn what we can and move forward.
2. Huge missionary application. Be of good cheer. Have faith in the Lord and find those who have been prepared to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not everyone is ready to be "found" but you can't get discouraged over those people- be of good cheer and teach the ones who are ready to listen. They won't usually come to you so you have to search, and gather them to a place of "water"...another name for Jesus Christ is, "Living water"...or "the good shepherd"...do you see the significance and the parallels here??

Robert D. Hales: “What did Ammon say? ‘Be of good cheer’ (Alma 17:31). Now, we may read this as a story about some shepherd trying to round up some missing sheep, but the message is much more powerful and significant than that….Ammon not only led the force to recapture the sheep, he drove away the evil men who caused the problems; and his heroic efforts persuaded the king to follow him and to follow the Savior. Ammon teaches us that no matter our circumstances, we can be an example to others, we can lift them, we can inspire them to seek righteousness, and we can bear testimony to all of the power of Jesus Christ.” (Ensign, May 1997. p. 82 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 283)