How can we ensure our hearts remain receptive to God's word and commands? Setting the Scene: Zechariah 7:12 “They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the Law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. So great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.” The Danger of a Hardened Heart • A heart “like flint” is deliberately unresponsive—stone-cold toward God’s voice. • Hardness begins subtly: selective hearing, delayed obedience, or casual indifference. • Left unchecked, it provokes the Lord’s righteous anger because it treats His perfect, trustworthy Word as optional. Other warnings: – Hebrews 3:7-8: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” – Matthew 13:15: “This people’s heart has grown dull… otherwise they might see… and I would heal them.” God confronts hardness not to condemn but to call us back to life. Keeping the Soil of the Heart Soft Jesus likens receptive hearts to good soil (Luke 8:15). Cultivating that soil requires: 1. Humble Posture • James 1:21: “Humbly receive the word planted in you.” • Approach Scripture convinced it is flawless truth, not suggestions to debate. 2. Quick Repentance • Psalm 139:23-24 invites the Lord to search and expose anything offensive. • Confession removes the crust that sin forms over the heart. 3. Continual Meditation • Psalm 119 again and again shows that stored-up Scripture keeps the heart supple (vv. 11, 97, 112). • Read, rehearse, sing, and speak the Word until it shapes instinctive responses. 4. Prompt Obedience • John 14:23: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.” • Acting on truth immediately prevents the calcification that comes from procrastination. 5. Vigilant Guarding • Proverbs 4:23: “Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.” • Discern what you allow in—media, conversations, desires—because whatever fills the heart forms it. Practical Habits That Protect a Tender Heart • Daily time in Scripture before other voices clamor for attention. • Handwritten journaling of insights and personal applications. • Regular fasting, which quiets bodily appetites so the spirit listens more keenly. • Fellowship with believers who exhort and encourage (Hebrews 10:24-25). • Serving others—obedience expressed in love keeps truth from becoming academic only. • Thankfulness lists that rehearse God’s faithfulness; gratitude softens. Signs Our Hearts Are Growing Hard • Diminished delight in Bible reading; it feels only obligatory. • Cynicism toward sermons or Christian counsel. • Persistent, unconfessed sin rationalized as “not a big deal.” • Prayer becomes sporadic or formulaic. • Irritation when confronted with truth instead of conviction leading to change. When any of these surface, pause and apply Psalm 95:7-8—“Today, if you hear His voice…” Promises for the Soft Heart • Ezekiel 36:26: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” God supplies what He commands. • Luke 24:32: Hearts burn within when Jesus opens the Scriptures; softness ushers in warmth and wonder. • Isaiah 66:2: The Lord looks with favor on “the one who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.” • John 15:7-8: Abiding, receptive hearts bear much fruit and glorify the Father. A Daily Resolve Choose tenderness each morning. Invite the Spirit to plow any stony places, plant the living Word deep, and water it with obedience. A soft heart stays ready to hear, eager to respond, and joyful in the fellowship of the One whose every command is true and life-giving. |
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