Instrument in God's hands

[Magyar]

Locked in mortal combat with the would-be despot Amlici, possibly already badly wounded, Alma cried out to God that he might "be an instrument in thy hands" to save and preserve the people. (Alma 2).

It is one of those phrases that sounds Biblical but does not appear anywhere in that text. It appears repeatedly in the Book of Mormon, beginning with the patriarch Lehi. (Was it in common usage in 19th Century America? Would that impact the veracity of the text?)

But the concept appears in Isaiah (chapter 10), in a negative sense:

"Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?"

In Hebrew, instrument translates from "kelee," something prepared. Unlike the boastful tools of Isaiah's metaphor, Alma knows his Maker. He is "something prepared" for the work of God, through his own faithfulness but also, and ultimately through the grace of God.

Just my thoughts of an evening.