If our hearts are hardened, we cannot feel the Spirit. Conversely, if we come before the Lord with softened hearts (“a broken heart and a contrite spirit”—3 Nephi 9:20), then we are blessed to feel the Spirit and receive divine guidance for our lives.
Nephi reminds his brothers of the following: The Lord had led the Israelites out of Egypt to safety, the Egyptians were drowned in the Red sea, manna was provided for the Ishmaelites’ food, water was given to them out of a rock, and the Lord led them day and night. The Israelites still hardened their hearts and reviled against Moses. The Israelites eventually became very wicked, and the Lord said that Jerusalem would be destroyed—hence the order that Lehi should leave Jerusalem. The Lord favors the righteous but will destroy the wicked. Nephi appeals to Laman and Lemuel to remember the Lord, but their hearts are “past feeling” (1 Nephi 17:45). This is surely a danger sign in the spiritual well-being of any person. If people cannot feel the promptings of the Spirit, they are left to their fallen state, unable to receive the blessings of the Lord.