Harden Not Your Hearts

One of the scriptural phrases that comes from the story of Moses and Pharaoh is that of hardening the heart. About fifteen time from Exodus 4-14 we read of how Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. The first states this: “And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go” (Exodus 4:21). The JST makes an important adjustment here, clarifying that it was not the Lord who hardened Pharaoh’s heart: “But Pharaoh will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.” Pharaoh chose himself to harden his heart against the Lord and reject the signs that were given unto him. Because he would not humble himself before the Lord, many of his people died with the final plague that was given. After the Israelites were freed from the Egyptians they too had a similar problem of hardening their hearts before the Lord when they worshipped the golden calf in Moses’ absence. The Psalmist used this story in these words: “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” (Psalm 95:8). Paul repeated this to the Hebrews: “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” (Hebrews 3:7-8). He repeated this again in the same epistle: “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). And Jacob similarly quoted this to his people in the Book of Mormon: “Yea, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for why will ye die?” (Jacob 6:6) The story of Pharaoh hardening his heart should be a reminder to all of us that we can choose how we will respond to the Lord’s doing in our lives and the challenges that we face.

                So why did Pharaoh choose to harden his heart against the Lord? He saw sign after sign that the Lord had more power than He did as the flies and the frogs and the lice came upon his people. He clearly understood the supremacy of the Lord as the Egyptian cattle died and boils came upon his people and the hail and fire were sent upon them. And yet, he still chose to not give in and let the Israelites go. I believe it was pride that hardened his heart and caused him to choose to reject the Lord’s message for him. Even though by the end it didn’t make any sense to do so, he held on as long as he could against the Lord out of pride in his own greatness. For us it is no doubt the same—we harden our hearts, becoming bitter to the Lord or his servants or even towards our loved ones, because of our pride. Nephi showed us that to not harden our hearts we must have humility. He recorded, “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.” The Lord blessed him and said, “Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart.” His lowliness of heart—humility—and diligent seeking of the Lord helped him to soften instead of harden his heart like his brothers. Laman and Lemuel would not humble themselves and Nephi was “grieved because of the hardness of their hearts” (1 Nephi 2:16-19). In fact, over and over Nephi recorded that his brothers hardened their hearts against the Lord. Those examples and many other passages in the Book of Mormon invite us to choose to not harden our hearts before the Lord but to humbly accept His will and gospel plan. So important is this idea that Jacob, who knew well the effect of hardening one’s heart against the Lord, used it as a litmus test for those who will ultimately be saved in the celestial kingdom: “As many as will not harden their hearts shall be saved in the kingdom of God” (Jacob 6:4). We must strive each day to not harden our hearts like Pharaoh and Laman and Lemuel when life is hard but rather turn to the Lord in humility like Nephi so that He can bless and preserve us.