In Alma 32:27, Alma will teach that the beginning of faith is to “exercise a particle of faith, ye even if ye can no more than desire to believe.” Lamoni’s father exemplifies the nature of a “particle of faith,” as well as what it means to exercise it.
The very beginning of the prayer is: “God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me.” What a small particle of faith it is to pray, solely upon the word of another. In this case, the overking doesn’t even know if there is a God such as Aaron has described, or if the God to whom he is praying really is that God. There is no knowledge here. There is a large amount of doubt, or at least a lack of confirmation.
What is important, however, is that the overking was willing to exercise that particle of faith. To what extent? “I will give away all my sins to know thee.” That was clearly not an idle promise. When threatened with his mortal life, he was willing to give Ammon half of his kingdom. When he learned that his immortal life was threatened, he was willing to give away all his sins.
As with other powerful spiritual experiences in the Book of Mormon, the overking “was struck as if he were dead.” His experience followed that of his son, and the queen.