Alma 29:
1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!
2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.
3 But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.
9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.
Alma has huge desires to be an angel and cry repentance to all the world. Why would that be a sin? I guess the sin lies in the fact that, though he has fine desires, he needs to make sure that He is doing what the Lord wants him to do. He "tones" down his desire in verse 9, to be an instrument in God's hands to bring a soul to Him. It is really the same goal, just not as grandiose.
We need to seek the Lord's will and make sure we are doing with our lives what He has "allotted" us to do.
I also think sometimes we get huge ideas and bite off more than we can chew. Crying repentance to the world looks at the world as a whole. After he thinks about it, and says he would like to bring a soul to God, that individualizes it more. That is what the Lord is about. He wants the Gospel taken to someone one at a time.
The interesting thing is that Alma actually got his original wish; Now his words are contained in the Book of Mormon that is spreading over the world. All Alma needed to worry about doing was bringing the Gospel to one person at a time and God will take care of the rest.
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