God admonishes us not to harden our hearts like the children of Israel did (Psalm 95:8; Hebrews 3:7-11). Time and time again they saw the miracles God performed yet they seemed determined not to appreciate all God did for them. Because they hardened their hearts one too many times, they did not believe. An unbelieving heart turns away from God and cannot enter into his rest (Hebrews 3:12; 3:19). So the children of Israel were not allowed to go into the Promised Land.
The Greek word for “hardened” is being stubborn, bullheaded, head strong, self willed, inflexible, stiff-necked, dry, hard, or tough. We all struggle with these proclivities at one time or another. The trick is not to let these characteristics overtake and consume us. The Bible tells us that a person who remains stiff-necked is headed for disaster (Proverbs 29:1). Hearts that become calloused do not want to see or hear God (Matthew 13:14, 15). Hardened hearts lose their spiritual vitality. They go through the motions of being Christians, but their hearts are not in it. They may honor God with their lips, but their hearts are from Him (Mark 7:6, 7).
A hardened heart does not appear overnight. It’s a process and may happen so gradually we don’t even know it. Perhaps it starts with grumbling, complaining, griping, or blaming others. Then we make a habit of not doing what we know we should do, or doing what we know we shouldn’t do. God’s Word slips away (Hebrews 2:1). We segue into refusing to acknowledge God’s greatness or what he has done for us. We are unappreciative. Communication with God falters. We stop praising, worshipping, and praying. We start to rely on ourselves instead of God and enter into self deception. Then it’s just one short step into being unwilling to trust God. The heart becomes hardened.
If we recognize we are in the process of hardening our hearts we need to get back to the basics: prayer, Bible study, and meditation. However, believe it or not, we could do all those basic things and still have a hardened heart. The basics must be coupled with asking God to create a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us (Psalm 51:10). Only God can replace our stony hearts with new ones – hearts that will yield to Him (Ezekiel 36:26).
