Hebrews 3:7-8

Hebrews 3:7-8

So as the Holy Spirit says; Today, If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert.

Depending on what is going on in our lives, it can be really easy to harden our hearts towards God. For example, when I get to those points where I am overwhelmingly busy at work, I find myself starting to harden my heart towards the direction, or prompting, that God puts into my life. I start to believe that I am too busy to crack open His Word…that I am too busy to think about how he wants me to love and care for others…that I am too busy to give a dedicated and genuine effort in my moments of prayer. I start to get this ridiculously foolish thought that maybe I don’t need his hand in my life…that maybe I can figure it out on my own…that maybe I can do just fine without his wisdom. Regardless of the cause, we start to mess things up when we turn down the “volume” coming from God, turning a deaf ear and blind eye to what the Lord is doing in our lives. We get lost in our own foolish wisdom, much like God’s people did thousands of years ago when God was pointing them to this great land he had promised to provide for them (as referenced in the text above). They decided they were done with God’s plan…they decided they knew better…so they hardened their hearts towards the Lord, no longer seeking his direction and wisdom. It’s probably safe to say that none of us experience the privilege of the profound communication from the Lord that many of the prophets in the Old Testament did. But that doesn’t mean God is not speaking and acting in our lives. Just because we don’t hear God’s booming voice coming from a sunlit cloud or the Lord’s words flowing out of a burning bush does not mean that God is not wholeheartedly committed to the details of our lives. We just have to look and listen a bit harder as the messages are often a tad more subtle. We have to be active participants in our faith…we have to actively and enthusiastically choose to seek God’s direction and wisdom for our lives. We have to get into His Word daily…we have to spend time in His church each week…we have to bend a knee and genuinely talk to Him every single day. Don’t believe for one second that the devil is not looking for an opportunity to sneak into our lives and pull us over to his way of living, convincing us that riding solo apart from God is our best bet. The most damaging and destructive thing we can do in this life is turn away from God, abandoning His influence in our lives. When we do that, the waterfall of destruction begins…a trickle at first, then a bit more, and then finally a raging flow finds us gasping for air, overwhelmed and sinking fast. Thankfully, when we catch ourselves falling away from God and growing callous towards his loving direction, we can always get back to the Father. Through our belief in Christ, the punishment for our hardened hearts has already been paid, and the Father welcomes us back into the fold. There is simply no greater privilege in this life than to have the Divine Creator steering our lives, guiding us to how He wants us to live, and deepening our faith in his Son. May we embrace and welcome that privilege each and every day. Because when it comes right down to it, we desperately need it. Period. To God alone be all glory!