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Touching lives with the truth of God's Word.

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Location: Birmingham, Alabama, United States

Friday, June 15, 2007

THE DANGER OF A HARDENING HEART

So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'There hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' " [Hebrews 3:7-11]The Hebrews who left Egypt had proof of God's existence and commitment to them. Yet, when the time came for them to claim their promised land, they hardened their hearts against the Lord and refused to believe He would give them victory over the people living in Canaan. So they rebelled, resisting Joshua and Caleb's pleas and coming up with justifications for their unbelief. Because of their rebellion, God disciplined them with forty years of wandering in the desert.May I say, the way to a hardened heart is a gradual process. It begins with unbelief; that is, hearing but not accepting all or part of God's Word as true. Instead, a person rebels, choosing to manage his or her own affairs without the Lord's direction, which involves ignoring God's Word, ignoring the conscience, and justifying ungodly behavior. Eventually, the heart becomes so calcified that the individual is no longer affected by the whisper of God's Spirit.Stubbornly persisting in choosing our own way is dangerous. Not only does the Lord discipline those who rebel against Him; He also withholds blessings. If we take seriously God's warning not to harden ourselves against Him, then we must always be obedient. Over time as our heart grows more receptive to His promptings, we will find that we are unable to make a wrong move without being convicted by the Spirit. You think about that.