Hardened Hearts

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday we looked at the story of how Pharaoh chose to spend one more night with the frogs. Today and tomorrow we consider two broad ways in which this can be true in our lives as well.

The first is a condition that the bible describes as a hardening of the heart. This was Pharaoh’s big problem. 14 times in the space of just 7 chapters in this section of Exodus we read that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. Quite simply it means that he refused to listen. He refused to respond to God’s word. He refused to change his tune, as he defied the authority of God over his life. His was an arrogant, obstinate, unyielding attitude, even in the face of the overwhelming evidence all around him of the utter chaos that he was bringing upon himself and his land.

The best contemporary example of this must surely be Robert Mugabe, who remains arrogantly and defiantly unmoved while his country plunges deeper and deeper into ruin. Zimbabwe is a tragic illustration of what a hardened heart can produce, written large upon the broad canvas of political history.

But the same tragic story is being written over and over again on the inner canvas of people’s souls because of their hardness of heart. Because of their refusal to listen and to respond to what God says. And make no mistake the chaos and turmoil within them can be every bit as devastating as what we’re seeing in Zimbabwe.

How might this be true for you?

Maybe there’s something going on in your life right now that you know is not what God wants for you. Maybe you can hear the witness of Scripture challenging and convicting some area of your life, but you’re turning a deaf ear.

God’s word says, ‘Forgive and you will be forgiven.’ But maybe you’re reluctant to forgive somebody who hurt you because you actually rather enjoy the little vengeful scenarios you get to play out in your mind.

God’s word says, ‘Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.’ But maybe you’re abusing your body in what you’re eating or the exercise you’re not getting, or the way you’re expressing your sexuality, and you think that it’s OK because there’s time to change.

God’s word says, ‘You cannot serve both God and money.’ But maybe you think that you can, and so you’ve set out making wealth and possessions your goal, just until you’ve got enough to feel secure.

The point is that all of us, in some ways, turn aside from what we know God is saying to us. And so with deafened ears, blinded eyes and yes, hardened hearts, we choose to spend one more night with the frogs. It’s the madness of Pharaoh all over again. And we fail to realize the damage that this way of living causes to our souls.

High up in the mountains a sudden avalanche swept away a young goat, killing it instantly. The body of the goat landed up on a large chunk of ice floating down a river towards a waterfall. A vulture circling high overhead spotted the goat. It landed on the ice floe and started eating the carcass. The roar of the waterfall was getting louder, but still the vulture ate. It thought to itself, ‘There’s still time to eat a bit more, and then I’ll fly away to safety.’ What the vulture did not realize was that its feet had melted the ice where it landed, but this melted ice was busy freezing again. At the last moment, as the ice floe went over the edge of the waterfall, the vulture tried to take off and fly to safety. But it couldn’t. Its feet were already frozen to the ice. It was too late.

That’s a picture of what can happen when we willfully persist in wrongdoing. We continue to nibble away at things that we know are bad for us, and sooner than we even realize we become stuck in the clutches of our indulgent sin. It’s the danger of choosing to spend one more night with the frogs!

PRAY AS YOU GO

Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me, and soften the hardened places of my heart, that I may be more obedient to all that you ask of me. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Psalm 95:7-8

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.