Alma knew that something unusual would need to take place if the hardened inhabitants of Ammonihah were to be touched by his message. He therefore pleaded with anxiety and with all the energy of his heart for an endowment and an outpouring of divine grace, such as would soften hearts and magnify his poor words to such extent that souls might be won.
Alma’s experience is a marvelous example of a pertinent but often painful reality-that the righteousness and personal power of the preacher is only one factor in the conversion of a people. The listeners must open their hearts, be willing to acknowledge and confess their weaknesses, and ponder and pray about what is spoken.
Alma labored with all the faith he could muster. But faith is built upon evidence, and in this case (as in the case with Mormon in Mormon 3:12 or with Jesus in Mark 6:1-5) the intransigence of the Ammonihahites precluded the miracle of conversion at that time.