Compiled By: Lisa K Gonzales
From: The Life Application Study Bible
7 “That is why the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today you must listen to HIS voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts against HIM as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested GOD’s patience in the wilderness. 9 There your ancestors tried MY patience even though they saw MY miracles for forty years. 10 So I was angry with them, and I said, ‘Their hearts always turn away from ME. They refuse to do what I tell them.’” ~ Hebrews 3:7-10
In many places, the Bible tells us not to “harden our hearts”. This means stubbornly setting ourselves against GOD so that we feel we are no longer able to turn to HIM for forgiveness. The Israelites became hard-hearted when they disobeyed GOD’s command to conquer the Promised Land. – 31 “But the other men who had explored the land with him answered, ‘We can not go up against them! They are stronger than we are!’ 32 So they spread discouraging reports about the land among the Israelites: ‘The land we explored will swallow up any who go to live there. All the people we saw there were huge. 33 We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. We felt like grasshoppers next to them, and that is what we looked like to them!’” – Numbers 13:31-33 – The negative opinion of ten men caused a great rebellion among the people and caused them to “harden their hearts” and rebel against what GOD had commanded them to do. Because it is human nature to accept opinion as fact, we must be especially careful when voicing our negative opinions. What we say may heavily influence the actions of those who trust us to give sound advice.
– 8 “The Lord says, ‘Do not harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Messah in the wilderness. 9 For there your ancestors tried MY patience; they courted MY wrath though they had seen MY many miracles. 10 For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from ME. They refuse to do as I tell them’. 11 So in MY anger I made a vow: ‘They will never enter MY place of rest’”. – Psalm 95:8-11 – A hardened heart is as useless as a hardened lump of clay or a hardened loaf of bread. Nothing can restore it and make it useful. The Psalmist warns against hardening our hearts as Israel did in the wilderness by continuing to resist GOD’s will. They were so convinced that GOD could not deliver them that they simply lost their faith in HIM. When people become so stubbornly set in their ways that their hearts are hardened, they find it impossible to turn to GOD. This does not happen all at once; it is the result of a series of choices to disregard GOD’s will. If we resist HIM long enough, GOD may toss us aside like hardened bread, useless and worthless. We must be careful to obey GOD’s Word, and do not allow our hearts to become hardened.
O LORD keep a check on our hearts. We do not want to test YOUR patience and be disobedient – we do not want our hearts to become hardened. Help us to be careful when voicing our opinions especially about YOUR Word, Father GOD. We know that what we say can influence the actions of those who trust us to give them good, sound advice. Let only what is pleasing and edifying to YOU LORD, come out of our mouths.
Photo: Idaho/Canadian Border
Photo By: Lisa K Gonzales
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