Hearken

Mosiah 2:9  ". . . hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.

I'm so excited to be studying King Benjamin's sermon.  It's one of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon, and every word is worth pondering.

In verse 9, Benjamin gives us a formula for learning from the Lord.  First, he says we need to hearken.  Here's a quote from GospelDoctrine.com:  "The verb, "to hearken," implies that the message is heard, understood, and applied to one's life and situation. It requires action. As faith is more than just belief, hearkening is more than just hearing or listening. Therefore, It should be no surprise that this is the verb used in the scriptures on 487 different occasions. This verb encapsulates the essence of true religion, to hearken to the word of the Lord. 'Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.' (Matt 7:24-25). Again the parable of the sower teaches the principle, 'But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty' (Matt 13:23). Benjamin's desire for his people to hearken is so that they may understand, and...that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to their view." 

So "hearken" involves not just having the sound waves strike our ears.   Sometimes we describe this deeper act as listening.  But it's probably evendeeper than that.  We're opening our ears to the things of the Lord.  With kids, we talk about selective listening.  We know that kids can become "deaf" to the voice of their mother.  We have a tendency to be the same way.  We kind of tune things out to listen for other things we're more interested in.  

If we truly listen to the things of the Lord, we focus our attention on His words.  We have a strong desire to hear what He will tell us.  That's what happened with the Nephites as they were visited by the resurrected Lord.  

3 Nephi 11:3 And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a ^avoice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a ^bsmall voice it did ^cpierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.

 4 And it came to pass that again they heard the voice, and they ^aunderstood it not.

 5 And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did ^aopen their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came.

 6 And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them:

 7 Behold my ^aBeloved Son, ^bin whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.

 It was not until the 3rd time that the Father spoke that the people opened their ears and their eyes, and focused on the source of the voice and hoped with all their hearts to understand the voice.

When I was in the Hill Cumorah Pageant years ago, the scene in which Christ appears to the Nephites was called the Yearning Scene.  I think that word describes how we must feel about receiving God's word.  We must yearn for His guidance and presence, for His influence in our lives.  We must open our hearts and our minds in order to be blessed with understanding and for the mysteries of God to be unfolded to our view.