TUESDAY November 20, 2018
Hardened Hearts
“Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He did mighty things among them, did they not let the people go, that they might depart?”
1 Samuel 6:6
The Philistines needed to learn from past experiences. The Egyptians and Pharaoh went through ten plagues, all because of their hard hearts:
And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart, he and his servants. So the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the LORD had spoken by Moses (Exodus 9:34-35).
Notice the problem. The priests and diviners warned the Philistines not to make the same error as the Egyptians. The Philistines had begun to harden their hearts before God, just like the Egyptians who would not let God’s people go. Surely they did not want to suffer like the Egyptians!
The Holy Spirit is the person who warns us not to harden our hearts after hearing God’s voice: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (Hebrews 3:7-8). What does “in the rebellion” refer to? It refers to those who rebelled against God in the wilderness. Many of God’s people had evil hearts of unbelief; they went astray in their hearts––they did not follow in the ways of the Lord.
Unbelief and the deceitfulness of sin can harden people’s hearts (Hebrews 3:13). You may know people in your family who have hardened their hearts towards the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Prayerfully ask the Lord to soften their hearts before He honors their chosen position of hardening their hearts before Him.
Truth arouses emotion and incites to action. So does error. If we reject the truth and embrace error the consequence is heart-hardening.
~A.W.Tozer~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit Somebodylovesyouradio.org!