“We come with open hearts,
seeking the God who calls us near;
ready to lay down all we are,
that we may rise in Him
and walk in His light forever.”
"O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck as if he were dead."
What is it worth to know God?
A devotional dissection of Alma 22:18
Alma 22:18 is one of the clearest moments in scripture where a soul weighs the worth of knowing God—and concludes that nothing is too great a price. When we read it through the question “What is it worth to know God?” the verse unfolds in layers that speak directly to our discipleship.
Below is a simple, minimalistic breakdown—just the heart of the text.
“O God… wilt thou make thyself known unto me”
Knowing God is worth seeking.
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."
The king begins with a plea that rises from humility and hunger.
He is not asking for blessings, protection, or prosperity.
He is asking for God Himself.
This teaches us that:
▪︎ We cannot know God casually
▪︎ We must ask
▪︎ We must desire
▪︎ We must turn our hearts toward Him
"When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek."
To know God is worth the vulnerability of prayer, the courage to reach beyond what we have known, and the humility to admit our need.
“I will give away all my sins to know thee”
Knowing God is worth everything that keeps us from Him.
"Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up."
This is the most radical line in the verse.
The king does not say:
“I will give away some sins.”
“I will give away the sins that are easy.”
“I will give away the sins that embarrass me.”
He says:
“all my sins.”
This teaches us that:
▪︎ Knowing God is worth surrendering every
habit, desire, or pattern that distances us
from Him
▪︎ Repentance is not loss—it is the price of
divine relationship
▪︎ We cannot cling to sin and cling to God at
the same time
To know God is worth the full offering of our will.
“That I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day”
Knowing God is worth our eternal destiny.
"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
The king understands that knowing God is not merely intellectual.
It is covenantal.
It is transformative.
It is salvific.
To know God is to be:
▪︎ Raised
▪︎ Redeemed
▪︎ Restored
▪︎ Saved
Knowing God is worth our entire future—because He is our future.
“He was struck as if he were dead”
Knowing God is worth the surrender of our old life.
This phrase is not about physical collapse. It is about spiritual yielding.
"And it came to pass that his servants took him and carried him in unto his wife, and laid him upon a bed; and he lay as if he were dead for the space of two days and two nights; and his wife, and his sons, and his daughters mourned over him, after the manner of the Lamanites, greatly lamenting his loss."
It mirrors the experience in Alma 18:42–43, where Lamoni falls to the earth under the weight of divine revelation:
▪︎ His old identity collapses
▪︎ His old worldview collapses
▪︎ His old loyalties collapse
And a new heart is born.
These parallel accounts show us that:
▪︎ When God reveals Himself, our old self
cannot stand
▪︎ Revelation often requires stillness, silence,
and surrender
▪︎ The Spirit can overwhelm us with truth so
profound that it feels like death to the
natural man
To know God is worth letting our former self fall away.
So what is it worth to know God?
"The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:
"That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers."
According to Alma 22:18, it is worth:
▪︎ Our pride
▪︎ Our sins
▪︎ Our assumptions
▪︎ Our old identity
▪︎ Our entire will
▪︎ Our entire future
▪︎ Our entire life
Because in return, God gives us:
▪︎ His presence
▪︎ His knowledge
▪︎ His redemption
▪︎ His resurrection
▪︎ His salvation
▪︎ His covenant
▪︎ His love
Knowing God is worth everything, because God gives us more than everything in return.
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