Don’t Harden Your Heart

One of the main reasons for a hardened heart is unbelief.  Many of the Israelites hardened their hearts because of unbelief and they were called a stiff necked people.  There are many things that can cause unbelief and all of us have to be careful that we don’t allow ourselves to fall into them.  Quite often we hear lies about our faith and trust in God from skeptics, evolutionists, atheists and cults that refuse to believe.  There are books, magazines and movies along with TV sitcoms that make fun of spiritual things in order to delude people’s faith.  Evolution is even taught in our schools, colleges and universities.  Of course there is the enemy of our souls that does everything he can to shake our faith.  I used to think that the people that saw the most miracles would have more faith, but that is not necessarily true.  If you think about the Israelites and all the miracles some of them saw, still many of them hardened their hearts in disbelief.

Read what it says about this subject in Hebrews 3:7-19:

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

‘Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

In the day of trial in the wilderness,

Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,

And saw My works forty years.

Therefore I was angry with that generation,

And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,

And they have not known My ways.’

So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest.’’

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said:

‘Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’

For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

These people came out of Egypt where they were slaves to the Egyptians.  They saw all the miracles that God had performed through the plagues and they also saw God’s presence, the fire by night and the cloud by day that guided them.  Think about the Red Sea opening up before them so they could walk across on dry ground, plus the manna and the quail and think about the water coming from a rock.  They saw more miracles than most of us will ever see, but many of them still lived in unbelief, hardening their hearts.

I have brought this to your attention to encourage you and not to discourage.  Find people of faith that are encouragers and fellowship with them so that you can encourage one another in the faith.  It is not the way we start out in our walk of faith; it is the way we finish that is the most important.  Gather people around you that will spur you on in the faith and never give in to any unbelief.  Don’t try to accomplish yourself what only God can accomplish in your life.  Something to think about!  May you have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!