No Way Out

Reading in Alma 17, I discovered something I had passed by before. In this story, Ammon is out with his fellow servants, tending the kings sheep. When the wicked Lamanites come to scatter the sheep, all the servants but Ammon, "began to murmur, saying: Now the king will slay us, as he has our brethren because their flocks were scattered by the wickedness of these men. And they began to weep exceedingly, saying: Behold, our flocks are scattered already. Now they wept because of the fear of being slain."

I found it surprising that every one of them figured they had no choices! They all assumed that because of the way things had gone before, that is how they would go again. Ammon, on the other hand, helped them to see that they could do something about the problem! He had them gather the sheep and keep them together. He then contended with the wicked Lamanites while the others kept the sheep from being scattered again. Ammon formulated a plan, encouraged the others and then followed through.

Why hadn't the other servants thought about the possibility of gathering up the sheep and fighting against their tormenters in order to save themselves from death?
Ammon was a servant, just like the others, but look what he managed to accomplish simply by a different way of looking at things. The different way, of course, is the Lord's way.

How many times do we assume there is no way out simply because that is the way it happened before? It would be much better to assume, as did Ammon, that the Lord has a wonderful plan in mind. Then, we can seek to follow Him instead of being paralyzed by fear. I'm hoping to get rid of the "No way out" mentality and be more like Ammon.