As the prophets of the Lord spread the word of God among the people, it will attract those whose hearts are accepting and humble. They will be gathered unto the Lord. This process of gathering is likened by the Savior to the action of fishing: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away” (Matthew 13:47–48). In like manner, we have the opportunity to respond to the word of God by receiving it with gratitude and humility and planting it within our hearts where it can grow through nourishment and charity.
Consider the circumstances in which this process takes place at the time of Alma’s famous speech. As Alma and Amulek preach the word of God in the land of Antionum, where the apostate Zoramites have congregated, they find that their net of spiritual outreach has gathered in more particularly the poor and destitute who have been excluded from the local houses of worship. On this special day, these people are assembled on a hill called Onidah to hear the Nephite prophets expound the gospel. Alma is overjoyed to discern “that their afflictions [have] truly humbled them, and that they [are] in a preparation to hear the word” (Alma 32:6). He then speaks to them and answers their heartfelt question, “What shall we do?” (Alma 32:9). In response, he teaches the humble Zoramites the word of God. He does this by encouraging them to exercise their faith by experimenting on his words and to observe the outcome—almost scientifically, as it were.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell comments upon what takes place with this exhilarating process:
To supply what is lacking in our faith we must first make room for its conscious development—in our souls and in our schedules.
What happens after we really “give place” for the gospel in our lives? It is analogous to a seed that begins to “swell,” “fill,” and “enlarge [one’s] soul,” and “to enlighten [one’s] understanding.” Of the results of such verifiable outcomes, asked Alma, “Would not this increase your faith?” (Alma 32:28–29.) He continued, observing that the seed “swelleth,” and “sprouteth,” asking, “behold, will not this strengthen your faith?” Through this process of personal verification we can, accurately and experientially, come to say, “I know that this is a good seed,” and thus faith yields to knowledge “in that thing” (Alma 32:30, 34). But we cannot have the results of the experiment without performing the experiment. Some of us “give” only postage stamp “place” in our lives, and yet we expect the yield of an acre! “Place” means time, thought, and service.
In the process of building faith, wrote Alma, we must “experiment on the word” of the Master, giving “place” sufficient to experiment upon each essential “thing” the gospel requires of us. Out of such cumulative experience comes the real, cumulative evidence. (Men and Women of Christ [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1991], 97)