Most of the time, we see that people have a hardened heart when they consistently disobey the Lord. My brother, my sister, our hearts can be hardened in different ways. The truth is that when our heart is hardened, it is like the tough bones that bridge a fracture. What does this mean? Simply that we become insensitive and cannot hear from God properly.
You see, spiritual hardening begins wit…h self-sufficiency, security in one’s self and self-satisfaction. But there is a great danger here, for at some point, our repeated resistance to God will generate an inability to respond to what God wants us to do. That is what the Bible calls a hardened heart. There are stages of course, the advance hardening is insensitivity. Now, let’s look at the warning from the Word of God, so that we may mirror ourselves today and check that our hearts are well-positioned:
Disobedience, the most visible action of a hardened heart, is always portrayed through Pharaoh (Exodus 4:21). You see, God Himself said He was going to harden Pharaoh’s heart because Pharaoh constantly refused to obey Him. Another thing that can create a hardened heart is having wealth and prosperity (Deuteronomy 8:6-14), for that can make us take God’s blessings for granted, causing us to feel as if they were owed to us. How many people think they deserve to be rich or successful, forgetting that God gives to whom He will, according to His will, forgetting that God gives to whom He wants according to His will. Of course, let’s not forget rebelling and being discontent (Psalm 95:8) or when suffering or the feeling of discomfort wins us because of the things we cannot have, which can create an attitude that blames God (the greatest tools of the devil against believers). Another sign of a hardened heart is rejecting a deserved rebuke: rejecting God’s gift makes our neck stiff and our heart hard (Proverbs 29:1), which leads many believers to return to the world or to hop from church to church. Also, refusing to listen, which inevitably leads to the loss of spiritual hearing (Zechariah 7:11-13). Last but not least, failing to respond when we listen to God with no intention of obeying produces the inability to obey (Matthew 13:11-15).
My friend, today’s meditation should remind us that our desires, our ambitions, the way we look at the things in this life can make our hearts hardened, even without knowing we are. Many believers are rebellious or discontent in their heart but show a good face as if God does not see their hearts. We need to constantly check the condition of our heart and pray like David: “create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10). Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.