If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.
Our readings from the prophet and the psalmist both mention the concept of a hardened heart. In Jeremiah, God chastises the people of Israel who, from the time they left Egypt, repeatedly and stubbornly ignored or disobeyed God’s guidance. They were “the nation that does not listen to the voice of the Lord, its God, or take correction.” The Psalm specifically mentions Meribah and Massah, names that refer to the place in the wilderness where the people of Israel, having already experienced miraculous feedings of manna and quail, whined about a lack of water and complained about having been led out of Egypt.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, to have a hardened heart is to be spiritually unreceptive, obstinately so. It is closed-mindedness that refuses to listen to reason, evidence, or the Spirit’s prompting, and it leaves little to no room for trusting in and obeying God. It can be easy to think of hard-heartedness as a permanent condition for people in the Old Testament or maybe non-Christians today, but in truth, we are all subject to moments when our hearts are hardened, our minds are closed.
When is my heart hardened? Is it when I forget the command not to worry (Matthew 6:25-34) and thus behave like the person in the parable of the sower who forgets God’s promises as the “weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun to strangle” what I had heard (Matthew 13:22; The Message translation)?
Could it be when I ignore the command to love my enemies (Matthew 5:44) and instead delight in their failures, agonize when they succeed, and (like Jonah after Nineveh repented) get angry when God shows mercy to those I want to be punished?
It may be when I disobey Luke 6:37, which tells us not to judge or condemn, and convince myself that what I am saying is really for that person’s own good – and throughout the interaction, I fail to recognize and respect the individual as a loved child of God.
Perhaps it is when I am “right” about something and then act as if that exempts me from speaking with love – and that absence of love, as Paul warns in I Corinthians 13:1, makes me little more than the source of unpleasant noise.
It could be those times when I am so quick to point out a mistake by a colleague or the person serving my food that I fail to see a soul struggling to keep it together. Or when I am so intent on pointing out a sin that needs confessing that I fail to see brokenness that needs healing. In other words, those instances when I fail to be the instrument of healing God is calling me to be.
Maybe it is when I have an “us v. them” mindset and, like the Pharisees who disregarded Jesus, have already decided that God would never speak or act through someone from a different political party, country, or faith tradition – so I have already closed my ears and my heart to what God is trying to say to me.
It definitely could be when I hold on to my own pain or fear or anxiety so tight that I refuse to accept healing that is available – because I don’t accept the fact I need it, or because I don’t like the method or person God has chosen, or even because I have not yet decided that I want to change.
There is good news, though. Hardening of the heart does not have to be a permanent condition. As we read in the verse from Joel, our gracious and merciful God invites each one of us, even in our most obstinate, selfish, self-important, judgmental, and difficult states, to return to Him, to bring a whole heart ready to be opened and receptive to God’s direction. You can take comfort in the words God spoke to Ezekiel: “I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). God wants to do that for us because He loves us.
Loving God, lead us away from the temptations that harden our hearts. Give us hearts that please you. Open our minds so that we hear your voice and follow you. Amen.
David Crawford
I was Creighton’s University Archivist from January 2007 to April 2021, although as a faculty spouse I had been a part of the Creighton community since 1995. As University Archivist, I was responsible for archival, rare books and special collections, as well as for a Heritage Edition of The Saint John’s Bible on loan to Creighton. I left Creighton to assist others with historical, archival, cultural and various artistic projects.
I have been married to my wife, Sue, since 1990. We have two sons, one a graduate of Fordham and the other a graduate of University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I enjoy birdwatching, playing soccer, music and comedy.
The online Daily Reflections have been an important part of my faith journey for several years. I am excited and humbled by the opportunity to write these devotions.
