"So the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses." Exodus 9:35 NKJV
To the Hebrew, the heart was the centre of one's existence, including emotions, wisdom and skill. A person acts and speaks from the heart, so we should guard it carefully. (Matthew 15:18-19. So the heart of Pharaoh was hard, he wouldn't let the children of Israel go as the Lord had spoken through Moses.
Hard-Heartedness, is a symbolic expression for rebellion or a stubborn and unyielding spirit. David Guzik comments:
'Hardening the heart against God is sin; failing to repent when God graciously answers our plea, is to ignore His rich mercy. To ignore His rich mercy, is to sin yet more.'
Copyright 2018 David Guzik
Hardness of heart has its root in many areas. One of these is when a person has been hurt so deeply that they find it difficult to accept it - even to make sense of it. They may have trusted someone deeply and then, had the wind knocked out of their sails by being trodden all over by this particular person. Yes this hurts, but the hard-hearted one is the one who is suffering, not the person who supposedly caused it. Bitterness can begin to settle within the heart and it can cause arguments within families; bad feeling towards church members or whoever else.
One particular cause was addressed by Jesus. He taught about the parable of the Sower and said in Mark 4:16-17:
'These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness.; 17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulations or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble.'
Basically, what Jesus was saying is that they have no depth. They have not placed the Word of God deep enough within their heart. Therefore, when trouble, designed to hurt and maim comes their way, instead of handling the situation God's way, they internalise it and become bitter and hard-hearted.
This may be where you are at this time. You may be like a bear with a sore head over things that have happened to you. This doesn't mean that you can lose your salvation - not at all. God is not like that. However, He does want it sorting out and the best way to do it, is to talk to Him and let Him do a little Spiritual surgery on you.
Just think, the only one who is hurting through this, is yourself and the people who are close to you. The one that hurt you, doesn't know about it, unless you have told them. For peace of mind and for your own self-preservation, don't you owe it to yourself to give it to God and be set free? You'll feel a lot better.
Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard
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