Keeping a Tender Heart
(NIV) Ps 95:6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today, if only you would hear his voice,
8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
Have you thought lately about the condition of your heart? Do you still long to be in the Word as you did when you first accepted Christ, or have you allowed life to get in the way? You know what I mean—you miss reading Scripture and praying one morning because you have an early doctor’s appointment, or perhaps you slept in and you won’t make it to work on time if you keep your quiet time with God. A myriad of things can interfere with our morning devotions, but it is vital that we do not allow these interruptions to set up a pattern of neglect.
We are beginning a new study about the Parable of the Sower, and we looked at the first seed that fell upon hardened ground. The differing soil conditions, of course, are metaphors for the state of the heart. I mentioned that normally things are subject to breakage when they are brittle. Think about fine china or crystal.
Hearts, though, are different. It is not when a heart becomes hardened that it is in danger of breaking, but rather when it remains soft. Just like the pathway where the first seed fell had become packed down from people traveling on it daily, the burdens and cares of this world can begin to make us unfeeling or uncaring.
During our discussion the point was made that we should harden our hearts against Satan’s attacks but keep them pliable before God. But can we do both? What if we, instead of hardening our hearts, strengthen our resolve to stand against the enemy but at the same time keep our hearts soft by kneeling before God?
May we stay in communion with God daily, as we allow His Word to breathe life and light into us through the power of the Holy Spirit, keeping our hearts ready to receive and ready to give.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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