Being Mixed With Faith

The author of Hebrews taught, “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” The preaching of the word is only of use for those who hear with faith. The same is surely true of the scriptures; the reading of the sacred word of God is only of benefit to those who read with faith. That faith is linked with the idea of not hardening one’s heart, and this chapter also quotes the psalmist: “To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” To hear His voice in the words of the prophets, whether spoken or read, one must decide to not harden his or her heart and let the Spirit have place. It is fascinating to me that the sun—which is so big that over one million planet earths could fit inside it and so hot that it is about 10000 degrees Fahrenheit on its surface—can be mostly blocked from our eyes by simply putting a small object to our face between us and the sun. Its brightness can be stopped from penetrating our eyes by the simple action of raising our fist or moving the visor in the car. Despite the incredible power of the word of God that comes from Him, we can likewise block it by refusing to have faith and hardening our heart. The chapter continues, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:2, 7, 12). That is the power that the word of God can have, but like the sun we can still block it out through our unbelief and hardened heart, refusing to be touched by it.

                Nephi saw this phenomenon first-hand with his brothers who had many opportunities to feel the power of the word of God but ultimately rejected it. He wrote this, thinking perhaps of them: “When a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men. 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 33:1-2). If we harden our hearts—if we do not have the faith to hear—then the Holy Ghost will not be able to bring the power of the written word to us. Any time we have the opportunity to read the words of the scriptures and prophets or hear the gospel taught by someone to us, we must choose to have faith and not harden our hearts so that it can “profit” us indeed. If we hope to be moved by the Spirit in our hearts, we must open those hearts to be receptive to what the Lord will teach us. Ultimately the responsibility is on us to learn and be edified when the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented to us. President Spencer W. Kimball was once asked, “What do you do when you find yourself in a boring sacrament meeting?” His answer was simple: “I don’t know. I’ve never been in one.” Surely he had been in many meetings where the speaker was less then thrilling, but he took it upon himself to be responsible for his own learning and to let the Spirit edify him no matter what the topic of a talk was or who was giving it. If we choose to figuratively put our hand in front of our face to block out messages of the Lord, the word preached or written will not profit us. Whether we are reading Ezekiel or Enos, whether we are listening to a talk from a young deacon or the prophet himself, it can touch our hearts and edify us if we choose not to harden our hearts and have faith in the Lord’s ability to speak to us.