Who Can Know the Mysteries of God

Alma 26 is a pretty cool chapter almost entirely about what it feels like to be an instrument in the Lord's hands to bring about His purposes. Ammon was talking to his fellow missionaries, the sons of Mosiah, and expressing how awesome it was to be able to have been part of the conversion of so many Lamanites. He was talking about it so much that Aaron cautioned him to make sure he wasn't boasting. Ammon made sure it was clear he was referring to praising God for the merciful blessing it was to have and take part in their experiences with the Lamanites.

There are these couple of verses just thrown in the middle of all this praising that really intrigue me. It's always nice to have a formula for success, if you will, especially in the Gospel. The use of patterns and formulas is a great way to learn. In fact, that's frequently how Heavenly Father teaches us. Anyway, so Ammon provides us with a formula that help us understand what it takes to know the mysteries of God:

"Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance." (Alma 26:22)

I mean, if this doesn't spell it out for you, I'm not sure what would. So there's just a handful of things that Ammon is teaching, which will lead to us being given to know the mysteries of God.

At first I thought that "know[ing] the mysteries of God" meant that you'd know something that nobody else knows, or that you'd be taught the details behind some deeper doctrine or something like that. I have come to realize that to know the mysteries of God is more like having a testimony. You are still learning something personal, something that can only really be taught one way: through the Spirit. It is truly a mystery of God that each person must individually experience. So really it makes sense that it's not a complicated pattern or formula. It's just a set of things things that get us in the mindset of having the the Spirit with us. The more we have and recognize the Spirit, the more open we are to learning spiritual truth for ourselves. What a blessing to have the opportunity to learn those things directly from their source!