Do Not Harden Your Heart
It is possible for us, as believers, to harden our hearts. That is a very serious condition that leads us far away from God. The Israelites were led out of Egypt by Moses. They crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. God fed them and gave them water in the wilderness. God gave Moses the 10 commandments, and Moses brought them to the people. However, when they got to the Promised land, and 10 of the 12 spies came back and said it was impossible to conquer the land, they did not obey God. They hardened their hearts and they ended up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years until the whole generation of adults died. The writer of Hebrews used this example to exhort the people of his day. (Hebrews 3:7) He reminded the believers that the Holy Spirit tells us to listen to His voice and not to harden our hearts, like the people did in the wilderness in the day of trial. I pray we have all learned this lesson well.
When God speaks in His Word, the Bible, or to our heart, through the Holy Spirit, we must listen to Him. It is up to us, as His servants, to do what our Master tells us to do. If we do not listen, and we go our own way, we are hardening our heart to the Lord. Each time we do not listen our heart gets harder, and it is easier to do the wrong thing the next time we are tempted. Our rebellion against the Word of God provokes the Lord. He knows our hard hearts will keep us from listening to Him and obeying His voice. Therefore, He knows He must act as He did in the case of the Israelites. He brought a severe punishment. The whole generation died before the younger generation was used by God to conquer the land of Canaan. Therefore, if we harden our hearts to the Lord's voice and words to us, He must do something, like sending us into a spiritual wilderness, where we don't hear from the Lord until we return to Him with all of our heart. Let's all remember not to harden our hearts to God, but to say, " Lord, speak, because your servant is listening." Then, do whatever He says. That is the road to the abundant life in Christ.
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Tomorrow, I intend to read Hebrews 4-6.