Harden Not Your Heart
Hebrews 3:16-19 — “Remember what it says:
‘Today when you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.’
And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when He took an oath that they would never enter His rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed Him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter His rest.”
In Hebrews we are reminded of what it requires to enter into The Lord’s rest and receive eternal life. Side note: I love how The Bible cross references itself, just reemphasizing the importance of each and every book, chapter, and verse! You can not isolate or cherry-pick Scripture because when you do, you completely miss Him in the details! So back to the devotional. Eternity with the Father can be received when we today (meaning right now, instantaneously, no procrastination) not only hear His voice, but soften our hearts to follow Him. What is a hard heart you say? Let me show you a few examples, one in particular was interesting to me!
The first is Pharaoh, the easiest example. Throughout the book of Exodus, we see Pharaoh's hardened heart through his rebellion in refusing to let the people of Israel go. Exodus 4:21 says, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders (miracles) which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and make him stubborn so that he will not let the people go.’” His hard heart to The Lord was demonstrated through his inability to perceive the signs and miracles that were before him. His hard heart prohibited his eyes to see and his ears to hear what The Lord was saying to him that day and the following ones with the ten plagues.
Likewise, Jesus’ Disciples fell into the same trap (which we all have done) and were completely blind to what Jesus was trying to tell them including The Lord's plan for salvation . Let's look at Scripture.
Read Mark 6:30-44 for the context of the miracle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark 6:51-52 — 51 Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased [as if exhausted by its own activity]; and they were completely overwhelmed, 52 because they had not understood [the miracle of] the loaves [how it revealed the power and deity of Jesus]; but [in fact] their heart was hardened [being oblivious and indifferent to His amazing works].
If you did not read the miracle of Jesus using Five Loaves and Two Fish to feed the people please do so!
In layman's terms, the disciples did not perceive Jesus’s action, of using just five loaves of bread and two fish to feed more than 5,000 people (as it was 5,000 men and their children and wives) as a big deal. They could not fathom how Jesus’s authority and divine nature was demonstrated and how many people’s needs were met during that encounter which transcended beyond food. See if you read up on this miracle, Scripture tells us that the people Jesus were ministering to on shore were like sheep without a shepherd (v. 34). The disciples, recognizing it was getting late suggested that Jesus tell the crowd to disperse so they can get food to eat, but Jesus said to them
“YOU FEED THEM”.
I believe Jesus was using this as an opportunity to build their faith and to encourage them not to worry about frivolous things but believe that The Lord will provide all they needed when they trusted Him. That’s why what seemed like enough to feed 13 (the disciples and Jesus) fed more than 5,000 people and provided them with leftovers. Saints, when are you going to start trusting The Lord like He intended us to, having ears to hear and eyes to see? Truly, I can’t even fault the disciples because I've been there recently that’s why I felt compelled to write on this. I believe the disciples missed keen insight to The Lord's nature because they perceived this miracle to be an ordinary thing. Their hardened hearts could not see past worldly reasoning that will would find every possible way to tell you that 5 loaves and 2 fish wouldn’t be enough. Remember The Lord uses what you may perceive to be ordinary, to show His true works, He is in the details!
This reminds me of the same behavior they had when Jesus told them that He was going to die and suffer a cruel death but then He would resurrect conquering sin and death.
Matthew 16:21-23 NCV—“From that time on Jesus began telling his followers that he must go to Jerusalem, where the Jewish elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of the law would make him suffer many things. He told them he must be killed and then be raised from the dead on the third day. Peter took Jesus aside and told him not to talk like that. He said, “God save you from those things, Lord! Those things will never happen to you!” Then Jesus said to Peter, “Go away from me, Satan! You are not helping me! You don’t care about the things of God, but only about the things people think are important.””
John 16:4-7 NCV— “I have told you these things now so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. “I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you then. Now I am going back to the One who sent me. But none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Your hearts are filled with sadness because I have told you these things. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away. When I go away, I will send the Helper to you. If I do not go away, the Helper will not come.”
Their hardened hearts kept them from seeing the vision, the goal, the purpose of why The Lord put Himself in a body, to save you and I. That miracle, that they were indifferent about, provides us with much hope, confidence, and faith in the one who saved us on Calvary.
A hardened heart is a dangerous thing because it can enable us to completely miss The Lord. I mean hey, the Jews missed their Messiah by expecting Him to come in this grandiose way and conquer worldly empires instead of coming as a humble servant to defeat the one after their very own souls.
Matthew 6:21 AMP tells us “For where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers] will be also.” Which allows us to reexamine our hearts and if it is steeped in the world or in yourself (a term a wise woman once said) then you will not have the ability to see The Lord’s work, even if they seem ordinary. Remember he reprimanded Peter and told him he only thought of what people thought were important and not the things of God.
So how would one soften their heart?
Deuteronomy 30:6 AMP—“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants [that is, He will remove the desire to sin from your heart], so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live [as a recipient of His blessing].
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 NCV— “Do not hold back the work of the Holy Spirit. Do not treat prophecy as if it were unimportant. But test everything. Keep what is good, and stay away from everything that is evil.”
It is The Lord’s work, however, you have to be willing. The Scripture in Deuteronomy tells us it is through loving The Lord with all of our heart and soul (which again you have to be willing to do because Thessalonians warns us not to stifle or ignore the Holy Spirit but to allow His movement), it does not mention works or any other requirements.
Ezekiel 12:2 NCV — “‘Human, you are living among a people who refuse to obey. They have eyes to see, but they do not see, and they have ears to hear, but they do not hear, because they are a people who refuse to obey.’”
Hebrews 3:12 NCV — “So brothers and sisters, be careful that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that will turn you away from the living God.”
Friends, disbelief and doubt (coming from a hard heart) is an act of rebellion and disobedience even if we don’t “mean it like that”. So going back to Hebrews 3:16-19, what will you decide to do in your heart today when you hear The Lord's voice? Romans 1:20 tells us that we can just look around and see The Lord's works throughout creation, so what are the other “simple” ways that He’s speaking to you that your heart is too hard to perceive?
Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father,
I thank you for the many ways that you reveal Yourself to me. I thank you for the ability to be in relationship with You through Your Son Jesus Christ. I praise your name as the one above all other names for the blessing of grace and mercy that renews each morning. I repent Lord for being blind to your movement in my life. I repent for being stubborn and not having the ears to hear your voice leading and guiding me. Give me a heart of flesh instead of my heart of stone so that I can do your will. I believe Lord but help me with my disbelief as you did the man whose son you healed from being possessed. I thank you Lord and pray that you continue to do this good work in me that you started.
In Jesus name,
Amen