Day 15: Let’s Soften Our Hearts Before The Lord

Yesterday, we’ve looked at Psalm 95:6-11, where the Word tells us to us bow down in worship, and to kneel before the Lord our Maker. And then the psalmist takes the example of the Israelites who came out of Egypt but died in the wilderness. Why? Because they hardened their hearts. When God spoke to them, they did not make the right decision. They did not turn. Two place names are mentioned: Meribah and Massah. And those are places in the journey through the wilderness where Israel did not believe that God could provide water out of a rock. Even though they did not believe, God still provided the water but the fact that they did not believe sealed their own destiny. It didn’t change God’s faithfulness to provide the water but it sealed their destiny.

Notice the two vital results of their hardening their hearts. First, they provoked God’s anger. Second, they missed God’s rest. And the same thing can happen in the life of each one of us if we do not respond rightly when God speaks. When God speaks the most terrible thing we can do is to harden our hearts. If we continue to harden our hearts and reject the tender prompting of the Lord, the voice of the Holy Spirit, there’ll come a time when God will no longer prompt, when God will no longer speak. He’ll say of us as He said of the men before the flood, “My Spirit will not always contend with man. I’ve done all the speaking I can do. From now on, he’s left to himself.” And left to ourselves we cannot make the right decision. The only time we can make the right decision is when God Himself pleads with us and prompts us to do it. And you see, if we continue to harden our hearts, God’s judgment can come very suddenly, very unexpectedly, in a moment. This is what the book of Proverbs says. Proverbs 29, verse 1:

“He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

That’s a fearful thought. If God continues to speak and we continue to harden our hearts, there’ll come a point when God will speak no longer and it may be that our life will be snuffed out in a moment without any possibility of returning.

My dear friend, if God is speaking to you and pleading with you, I want to challenge you, I want to urge you, do not harden your heart, respond, make the right decision, make it while He is still speaking to you. May God bless you.