If Ye Will Hear His Voice

David wrote this in the Psalms: “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.  For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest” (Psalms 95:6-11).  This idea seems to have been quoted in several places in other scriptures. 

In Hebrews 3:7-11 Paul clearly quoted this passage saying, “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)”  He again quoted a brief portion of the same text in the next chapter: “Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7).  In the Book of Mormon Jacob appears to have quoted the passage from Psalms as well: “And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts.  Yea, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for why will ye die?” (Jacob 6:5-6).  Just as the Israelites died in the wilderness outside the promised land, so will we die spiritually if we will not hear the voice of the Lord. 

In the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord likewise quoted this passage several times.  He said, “Hearken, O ye people of my church, and ye elders listen together, and hear my voice while it is called today, and harden not your hearts” (D&C 45:6).  In a later revelation after explaining the necessity of the Priesthood, he said, “Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God; But they hardened their hearts and could not endure his presence; therefore, the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was kindled against them” (D&C 83:23-24).  It’s likely that the Lord was also referencing the same phrase when He told Joseph, “mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts” (D&C 29:7).  This is in contrast to those early Israelites who would not hear his voice and ultimately wandered in the wilderness for forty years.       

So with all of these references to the passage, clearly it is of great importance.  If we really want to understand and hear the voice of the Lord, we have to soften our heart.  The Lord will not force us to soften our heart, and the proof is that he let the children of Israel wander for forty years because they could not overcome the hardness of their hearts.  If we are to be the elect of God we must be willing to pay the price to humble ourselves before God.  We simply cannot hear God’s voice with a hard heart.  And the time to soften our hearts so that we can hear is “to day”.  If we postpone too long, we may find ourselves in the forty year spiritual wilderness while the Lord waits for us to come around.