When We Harden Our Hearts

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Today’s Reading:

Exodus 7:8-24 (Ps. 95:8-9)

“Do not harden your hearts and become spiritually dull as (Israel) at Meribah [the place of strife]. And as at Massah [the place of testing] in the wilderness. When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, even though they had seen My work [of miracles]. (Ps. 95:8-9 AMPV)

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To harden your heart means to be stubborn and resist the Lord’s grace and mercy (Ex. 17:1-7; Num. 20:2-13; Deut. 6:16; Matt 13:3-23; Eph. 4:17-32; Heb. 3:6-19; 4:6-11). The ancestors of the Israelites saw and tasted of the wonders of God, but they foolishly did not try to grasp their significance (Ps. 92:5-6). In Exodus chapter 7, the events of the rescue from Egypt can be divided into two parts – the plagues (8:14-11:10) and the Passover (12:1-30). God demonstrated to the whole ancient world that He is the Lord of life and death, and nothing has any power outside or against Him (Isa. 43:13).

Psalm 95 calls for enthusiastic praise and humble reverence worship of God. It also gives a warning of caution to all who worship God that: it is easy to act as though we are worshipping and not truly been committed to God - the object of our worship. This is why today, we must be ready and willing to listen to God whom we worship, and not mere promises (v.7). Because the day, today is the moment of grace and mercy of God, as tomorrow might be too late? We are to listen to the voice of God our maker, as sheep listen to the voice of the shepherd. Jesus in John chapter 10:3-5, gave the parable of the Good Shepherd and his sheep. The sheep will listen to the shepherd and not the stranger.

There is no sacred cow with God. When we say we worship and glorify God but do not listen or do his command, we incur His wrath, because God does not ignore the sin of ‘His children’. The Israelites are sighted as example of serious consequences of not listening to the voice of God and hardening of heart. At Meribah which means quarrelling, and at Massah which means testing, the people ignored God’s care and all the miracles and wonders He did among them; rescuing them with a mighty strong arm from Egypt. According to God, they tested him by desperately asking for water and quarrelled with him thy asking if God is actually among them (v.8; Ex. 17:1-7; Num. 20:1-13). For the chosen race of God, those whom God cared for from cradle to ask such a question is out of place, ridiculous and unreasonable. For this behaviour, they were made to wonder in the wilderness for 40 years and they all die in the wilderness.

Today, we do the same thing, when we murmur and complain against God for every little discomfort.

Olufunmilayo Titilola Adekusibe