Alma Chapter 14 -The Martyrdom of the Righteous

Spencer W. Kimball served as the 12th President of the Church from 1973 to 1985. One of his most famous writings was a book entitled "Faith Precedes the Miracle". Many excellent lessons are taught in this book, but one of them, starting on page 97, does an excellent job of explaining why Alma did not save the innocent followers at Ammonihah from being burned by fire. He explains that when we see innocent or righteous people suffer, we should not "lose faith" or believe that God is not watching or listening or has given up on us: (From the book - page 97)

“If we looked at mortality as the whole of existence, then pain, sorrow, failure, and short life would be calamity. But if we look upon life as an eternal thing stretching far into the premortal past and on into the eternal post-death future, then all happenings may be put in proper perspective.

Is there not wisdom in his giving us trials that we might rise above them, responsibilities that we might achieve, work to harden our muscles, sorrows to try our souls? Are we not exposed to temptations to test our strength, sickness that we might learn patience, death that we might be immortalized and glorified?

If all the sick for whom we pray 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. No man would have to live by faith.

If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil—all would do good but 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, only 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 no joy, success, resurrection, nor eternal life and Godhood.”

This discussion is an excellent lesson on faith. Every time something does not go your way or you see something that does not seem fair, or if you see evil things triumph over good, do you lose your faith in God and just give up? No, you should not!

Instead think about what lesson God may be trying to teach you or maybe, try to remember that while you may suffer in the short term, in the long run God will make sure you are happy - if you keep your faith. This is why many people feel confused when they see people who follow their faith not be totally devastated when a tragedy strikes them. It is not that they are not sad, it's just that, even if they do not understand God's plan - they take solace in knowing that God will eventually make them happy either in this life, or later in the after life.