Scripture of The Day
September 27, 2021
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (Proverbs 4:23, NIV)
By Ed Henderson (2018)
There are numerous scriptures in the Bible that refer to hard hearts. In some cases it is referring to a person that is cruel and fierce like Pharaoh. In other cases it is talking about a very different condition all together.
In the New Testament a hard heart is referred to many times by Jesus. He referred to the Pharisees as having a hard heart because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. (John 1:40-43)
Did you hear that? A hard heart can keep you from getting healed. You could also get you kicked out of the church if you chose to discard that hard heart and start believing in Jesus and His Word.
Consider the man with the withered hand: And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they (the Pharisees) held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. (Mark 3:4-6)
He also referred to his own disciples as having a hard heart when they would not believe. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. (Mark 16:14)
There is one thing that always accompanies a hard heart and that is unbelief. You will see it over and over again in the scriptures. There are several different words used in the Hebrew and the Greek to depict a hard heart but they all have similar meanings. Some of those definitions include being obstinate, callous, stubborn, blind, and destitute of perception. The most revealing
definition to me is to behave “self valiantly”. You see that most often in a religious person that is convinced they are protecting the truth by holding onto a religious tradition because they have been convinced it is the truth, regardless of what the Bible says contrary to that. They see themselves as valiantly protecting their religious tradition.
We need to all ask the Lord to reveal to us anything in our heart that He defines as hard-heartedness. We don’t need anything in our heart that would block the miracles and healing power of God from freely flowing to and through us. We don’t need anything in our heart that would cause unbelief!!!
