In my reading this morning, a word has arrested my attention.  The word is “immediate.”  The verse I read said, “And again, when they thought of the immediate goodness of God, and his power in delivering Alma and his brethren out of the hands of the Lamanites and of bondage, they did raise their voices and give thanks to God.”  (Mosiah 25:10).

The word “immediate” seemed a little out of place there because the Lord did not immediately deliver Alma and his people.  He first tried them.  But when the time for deliverance arrived, the effects were, indeed, immediate.

The Lord told his prophet, Alma, to have the people get ready, because they’d be leaving in the morning.  (Mosiah 24:16-18).  Had they been doubters, they would have said it was an impossibility, since Lamanite guards had been placed all around the land.  But the people believed, and spent the entire night packing up, and gathering their flocks and herds and getting them to the designated place of departure.  At the dawning of the day perhaps a thousand people with thousands of animals set out with faith.  They passed by the Lamanite guards who were in a profound sleep induced by the Lord.  (v. 19).

That sleep was immediate.  So was the method (whatever it was) that the Lord used to stop the Lamanite army in the valley where Alma’s people camped for the first night of their exodus.  I’d love to know how the Lord did it; but Alma was never told, and I’m sure the Lamanites left no record of their failure to overtake their fleeing captives.  That was the second time they’d been unable to follow a big, slow, cattle drive, and they were probably not proud of their failure.

The Book of Mormon uses the word “immediate” in two other places that I’m aware of.  One is in king Benjamin’s address where he astutely tells the people that it’s impossible to place the Lord in debt to anyone.

He says, “And, now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

“And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you.  And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever…”  (Mosiah 2:23, 24).

I had an experience with that verse.  I was once an elders quorum president in a student ward at BYU.  Stake conference was held in the Provo Tabernacle which is currently being turned into a temple.  I had the blessing of being able to speak there.  David H. Yarn was the stake president.  He had just given a sermon on how the Lord does things according to His own timing, and that sometimes the blessing that we’re seeking takes time.  He had all the elders quorum presidents seated behind him on the stand.  I listened attentively to his talk, and thought to myself, “But Benjamin made it a point to say that the Lord immediately blesses us when we keep His commandments.  We may not receive the blessing we’re hoping for, but we immediately receive the blessings we need.”

President Yarn finished his talk, and then announced that President Kerns would be the next speaker.  I was shocked.  I was horrified; but I had thoughts in my head, so I got up and spoke on how the Lord immediately blesses us.  I’ve hoped all these years that I didn’t contradict what President Yarn was trying to teach, but my experience had been that we’re immediately blessed when we obey.

I like the context in which Alma used the word “immediate.”  He said, “Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.”  (Alma 34:31).

Alma personally experienced that immediacy.  He spent three days and three nights being incapacitated, and in hell.  If you want to know what hell is really like, read Alma 36, verses 10 through 17.  Alma was in torment, and gives the best and most graphic description of hell that can be found anywhere in the scriptures.

Following his account of that experience he says:

…behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart:  O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.

And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

Yea, I say unto you…that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains.  Yea, and again I say unto you…that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.  (Alma 36:17-21).

When Alma says that “immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you,” he knows what he’s talking about, because it happened to him.  It happened to me, too.

When I think of the word “immediate” I think of Joseph, the husband of Mary.  He never hesitated a minute to do the things he was asked to do.  He’s one of my heroes because of that.  Upon being told that his espoused wife was already pregnant, “being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, (he) was minded to put her away privily,” or in other words, to just quietly break the engagement.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife…

Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife.  (Matt. 1:19-20, 24).

Again, “…the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream (after the wise men departed) saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt…and he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt.”  (Matt. 2:13-14).

Joseph didn’t even wait for morning to come.  He always acted immediately.  I admire that in his noble character.

When I think of the word “immediate,” I also think of the grieving Mary Magdalene as she went to the tomb very early in the morning of the first day of the week.  Her sorrow was profound.  Few of us have probably experienced such a heavy mental and spiritual load as she was carrying that morning.  Her grief was compounded when she discovered the tomb standing open and empty.  She turned to the gardener,as she supposed, who was standing nearby, and “saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

“Jesus saith unto her, Mary.”  (John 20:15, 16).

That one word, spoken by the voice of the One she loved, immediately turned the most profound grief to an unimaginable ecstasy of joy.

The gospel of Jesus Christ has the ability to do that.  A soul can be so burdened by sin and hardships that the world seems hopeless. But when that soul cries out to the Redeemer for help, the great plan of redemption can immediately be brought about to him.

I know this is so because I was once one of those hopeless souls.  My world was as dark as it could possibly be.  The first prayer I ever uttered was probably four hours long.   There was no other place or person to whom I could turn, and the words just came tumbling out.  I poured out my soul.  I emptied everything into the hands of the Lord—all my sins, all my worries, all my troubles, all my fears, all my ignorance, and all my ineptitude.  I hadn’t known the Lord, or even if He really existed, when the prayer began; but as it continued, I knew I was being patiently listened to.  When I’d gotten it all out, a voice came into my mind that was as clear as anything I’ve ever heard with my ears.  The voice said, “Everything is going to be all right.”

I believed it.  Shortly a Book of Mormon was placed in my hands.  I handled it reverently because I was quite sure that somehow it was going to be the thing that was going to bring to pass the fulfillment of the promise that the voice had made to me.

The Book of Mormon, through the Holy Ghost, dispelled the darkness that was in my head.  It turned on a great light that has continued to grow in brightness over the past 46 years.  Like Alma, when my mind caught hold upon the thought of Jesus Christ who came to atone for the sins of the world, “I could remember my pains no more…And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

“Yea …there could be nothing so bitter as were my pains.  Yea, and again I say unto you…that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.”  (Alma 36:19-21).

I testify that the Lord does, in fact, immediately bless us when we choose to obey, and when we turn our lives over to Him.