Hardening Our Hearts
by Jilly Lyon-Taylor
Most of us long to hear God`s voice more clearly, and people often say to me, “I don’t hear from God.” I wonder if today’s verse could be a key for some of us.
Jim Graham was a very good friend of Ellel Ministries and a frequent teacher at Pierrepont. He is now with the Lord, but I remember how he would sometimes ask this question of his hearers: “When did you last hear from the Lord?” He would follow that up with another question: “What did God say to you on that occasion?” And then the third question was: “What have you done with what He told you then? Have you been obedient and acted on what He said?” The point was that if we failed to act on God’s prompting the last time, we might not hear Him as clearly the next time.
Today’s verse implies that it is possible to harden our hearts to what God might be saying to us. We love to hear encouraging messages of love and affirmation from the Lord, but we don’t always like the more challenging things that He may be saying to us - when He is bringing conviction of sin or wrong attitudes, when He is pointing out areas of our lives that need to change or difficult things that He is asking us to do. Our carnal nature wants to resist, because that side of us would prefer to continue in our own way, staying within our ‘comfort zone’, gratifying our fleshly desires rather than laying down our lives for Him.
Is there anything that God has been saying to you recently that you have been resisting or have been trying to rationalise? If so, is it possible that there has been a subconscious hardening of your heart towards Him? If we want to continue to hear God’s voice, it is important that we respond to His promptings when He does speak to us, and that we keep our hearts soft and humble towards Him. If we resist or ignore His voice, our hearts may start to harden, and we may not hear Him as clearly the next time.
Prayer: Lord, please forgive me for any times when I have heard Your voice but have not taken heed of what You said to me. Forgive me for any hardening of my heart that has occurred because of this. I long to hear Your voice, so please help me to keep my heart soft and humble towards You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Jilly Lyon-Taylor is part of the Leadership Team at Ellel Pierrepont. She worked in publishing and then with children in Hong Kong before concentrating on being a full-time mother and serving in the local church. Her desire to see people healed led her to the Luke Nine Eleven Training Scheme(NETS) at Pierrepont, and now she teaches and ministers there.
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