Cannot Be Shaken

In the chapter about Sherem who opposed the teachings about Christ, Jacob told us that Sherem “had hope to shake me from the faith.”  But Sherem couldn’t shake the faith of Jacob, and Jacob gave us one of the reasons why: “I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken” (Jacob 7:5).  Taken literally, we might presume that Jacob had actually heard God’s voice in the same way that the Three Witnesses declared, “We also know that [the plates] have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us” (Testimony of Three Witnesses).  They had in reality heard God’s voice tell them that the Book of Mormon was indeed true.  But I’d like to think that Jacob heard the voice of the Lord through the power of the Spirit and not through a physical voice.   That is how we will typically hear God’s voice, and that’s how we can find protection from the adversary.

                I believe that the most important way that we “hear” the voice of the Lord in our day to day lives is through the words of the scriptures.  In a revelation to Oliver Cowdery, the Lord said, “For it is my voice which speaketh them unto you; for they are given by my Spirit unto you, and by my power you can read them one to another; and save it were by my power you could not have them; Wherefore, you can testify that you have heard my voice, and know my words” (D&C 18:35-36).  So when we read the scriptures and the Spirit bears witness to us of their truthfulness, we can claim that we have indeed heard the voice of the Lord.  Elder McConkie said about this verse: “If the Spirit bears witness to us of the truth of the scriptures, then we are receiving the doctrines in them as though they had come to us directly. Thus, we can testify that we have heard his voice and know his words” (see here).  The more quality time that we spend in the scriptures, the more we will be likely to hear the word of the Lord and to recognize the Lord’s voice.  And hearing and understanding the voice of the Lord is crucial for us if we want to successfully be able to respond when Satan tries to shake us from the faith.  If we are consistently reading and seeking to hear the voice of the Lord, we can like Jacob say to the Sherems all around us, “I [have] heard the voice of the Lord…; wherefore I cannot be shaken.”