The Hardening

As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." Hebrews 3:15

The above Scripture from the book of Hebrews refers to an earlier Scripture from the book of Isaiah, where God pleaded with His people to not respond to Him with hardened hearts, as their forefathers did when they rebelled against Him during their journey out of Egypt. It speaks to me as to how it is that people, including those who would claim to follow Him, respond to His Word and Voice.

I see there being basically three responses to His speaking to us. The first is that we ignore Him altogether. Few of us would say we do this, but we have a seemingly infinite amount of ways to ignore Him. Like children who hear the voice of a parent calling them home, we choose to not listen. With this response, it always comes down to a conflict of wills. He calls us to Himself but we prefer the company of our own selves. Our ways seem better, and His seem to make no sense. However we want to frame it, we rebel against Him, and with each refusal to listen, our hearts grow harder and ears more deaf. Eventually this ignoring, this rebelling leaves us with hearts so hard and ears so deaf that we no longer hear Him calling. The consequences of our ignoring will be eternal and terrible, and it is not only unbelievers who fall into this category, but those who would profess to be His as well. Where have you been ignoring His voice, and where in your heart is a hardening taking place?

The second response, and equally destructive, is that we hear Him and come under conviction concerning what it is that He is speaking. We know, with His searching of our hearts, that there is an issue, or issues, that harm us, and He seeks to heal, cleanse, and transform. Initially we have full intention of yielding these to Him, and even make a brief show of working towards seeing change, but we never truly yield anything up to Him. It isn't long before we fall back into the same behaviors, attitudes, and patterns that He had addressed. No real change has taken place, but we've deceived ourselves into thinking that because we've admitted that there's a problem in our lives, we've actually addressed it. We haven't at all, and the result will be what happens in outright ignoring Him. Our hearts harden, and our spiritual ears grow more deaf every time we refuse to go beyond the point of conviction. And we never see that this too is rebellion.

The last response is too often the least experienced. We hear Him and His call to come and bring the issue, the need, the wound, the fear, to Him and surrender it, all of it, to Him. We place ourselves willingly on His altar, and allow the fire of His Holy Spirit to consume us. What happens is spiritual transformation, and an ever deeper journey into His wholeness and life. The result is something our willful flesh can never understand; that to surrender to Him is Victory.

The idea of obedience has become quite blurred in the church today. We have so emphasized grace as to eliminate the need to obey. He loves us so much that we are sure He'd not be too demanding on our obedience. To believe this in any degree is delusion, yet countless numbers have fallen prey to it. Early on in my ministry I had a man in the fellowship who was failing badly in his responsibilities to his wife and family, as well as the church and the Lord. He was spoken to about it many times, and always he would say, "The Lord's been speaking to me about that." Speaking, perhaps, but heeded not at all. I don't know that he ever did. How like him are we, are you?

Where might the hardening and rebellion be found in your heart today? How many times has He spoken yet you have found a way to ignore, or make half-hearted attempts to change? Where has He stopped speaking to you on issues you know haven't changed in you? Do you understand what this means? Scripture tells us that we're to seek Him while He may be found. I would add that we must listen to Him while we may still hear. He never ceases to speak. Have you ceased to listen?

Blessings,

Pastor O