Thank You, Father, for a productive week! Even with it being very full, You enabled me to get everything together for worship this morning. Even with my personal ups and downs You patiently were able to use me. Today, as is my goal every day, I give myself over to You. Use me as You will. Amen.
And before I move on, I want to thank You for Your love and watch care over Karen as she recovers from her surgery. You continued to answer our prayers and all the credit for her well-being goes to You.
Hebrews 3:7-19 (<<click here)
“Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts…”
A lesson we learn from the Israelites is certainly applicable today as well. Just as heart disease is not something that develops in a day, or a week, or a month but is an accumulation of plaque in our arteries over a lengthy period of time, so is the hardening of our hearts to God.
Lord, I truly don’t believe that we set out to harden our hearts towards You. But as the passage alludes to, we must continue to strive to hear Your voice. Hearing Your voice of guidance in our lives is what prevents “things” from blocking our interaction with You. You direct us to avoid something and we choose to do it anyway – everyone else is doing it! – and a blockage occurs. I may only be small deposit of plaque in the cavity of our relationship with You but if we leave it unchecked they have this awful tendency to multiply. And before we know it, we have a problem. With proper spiritual exercise of heartfelt prayer and the consistent reading of Your Word, that “plaque” can be removed. But that takes discipline and that’s not easy.
The bad thing is if we don’t address it, little by little – disobedience on top of disobedience – our “artery” of connection with You becomes blocked and our hearts begin to harden. And when that happens our hearts begin to die because what sustains us for the long haul is the continual flow of love from You. And hard hearts cut off the flow and death is just around the corner.
But even at this stage, if we will but ask, You can intervene. Ezekiel 36:26 tells us,
“…I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”
Lord, please help me to keep those “arteries” of love open and clear. Continue to enable me to maintain a heart that is tender and responsive to You. Amen
Feb 28th, Sun, 6:29 am
