Daniel H. Ludlow has commented on these passages:
"It appears only natural that Amulek should plead with Alma to exercise the power of the priesthood and save the righteous people from being burned to death. However, Alma, through the impressions of the Spirit, was able to see things through the eyes of eternity and thus said: "The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer . . . that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just." (Alma 14:11.)
Essentially this same idea is expressed by a later Book of Mormon prophet, who says: "For the Lord suffereth the righteous to be slain that his justice and judgment may come upon the wicked; therefore ye need not suppose that the righteous are lost because they are slain; but behold, they do enter into the rest of the Lord their God." (Alma 60:13.)
Concerning the fact that we should live righteous lives and then leave the final judgment to God as to what should be done with our lives, President Spencer W. Kimball has said:
Now, we find many people critical when a righteous person is killed, a young father or mother is taken from a family, or when violent deaths occur. Some become bitter when oft-repeated prayers seem unanswered. Some lose faith and turn sour when solemn administrations by holy men seem to be ignored and no restoration seems to come from repeated prayer circles. But if all the sick were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the Gospel, free agency, would be ended.
If pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil-all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency, no Satanic controls.
Should all prayers be immediately answered according to our selfish desires and our limited understanding, then there would be little or no suffering, sorrow, disappointment, or even death; and if these were not, there would also be an absence of joy, success, resurrection, eternal life, and godhood. ("Tragedy or Destiny," Improvement Era, March 1966, pp. 180, 210.) (Ludlow, Daniel H. A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon. Deseret Book, 1976, pp. 205-6).