Hardened Their Hearts Against the Lord

One of the things that Nephi highlighted in his narrative about his brothers was the fact that they hardened their hearts against the Lord.  He described near the beginning of his account, “But, behold, Laman and Lemuel would not hearken unto my words; and being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts I cried unto the Lord for them” (1 Nephi 2:18).  When they rebelled in their journey back from Jerusalem with Ishmael’s family, Nephi wrote, “And now I, Nephi, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, therefore I spake unto them, saying, yea, even unto Laman and unto Lemuel: Behold ye are mine elder brethren, and how is it that ye are so hard in your hearts?” (1 Nephi 7:8)  When his bow broke Nephi recorded, “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did speak much unto my brethren, because they had hardened their hearts again, even unto complaining against the Lord their God” (1 Nephi 16:22).  In Bountiful when the brothers disbelieved they could build a ship and mocked their younger brother, Nephi lamented, “O, then, why is it, that ye can be so hard in your hearts?” (1 Nephi 17:46)  Finally, after reaching the promised land and separating, Nephi described how Laman and Lemuel and their people “had hardened their hearts against [the Lord]” (2 Nephi 5:21).  It was that hardening of their hearts that ultimately led to the great split in their families. 

               One of Nephi’s messages for us, then, is that we must not harden our hearts against the Lord like his brothers did.  With hardened hearts, the Holy Ghost cannot penetrate it to teach us: “But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught” (2 Nephi 33:2).  A key to our own spirituality is to soften our hearts before the Lord and not let the difficulties of our lives embitter us and cause us to murmur because of the perceived injustices that we face.  Nephi described how this was in fact the key difference for him in his own life.  He wrote about the time at the very beginning of their journey: “Having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers” (1 Nephi 2:16).  It seems that at first he too had a hard time with his father’s direction to uproot their lives and head off into the wilderness—but he sought the Lord in that difficult moment and his heart was changed.  That was the secret; if only Laman and Lemuel could have mustered the desire to really pray and ask the Lord to soften their hearts, their story could have been much different.  Nephi taught them that they could indeed learn great spiritual things according to this pattern: “Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you” (1 Nephi 15:11).  We too must learn to let go of the pride and hatred and bitterness that so often enters our spirits and to earnestly seek the Lord to soften our hearts.