Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, “They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.” And I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”
Hebrews 3:7-11
The above passage is quoted from Psalm 95:7-11. It is speaking of the time in the wilderness when God’s people Israel grumbled against God because their exodus from Egypt was not going the way they desired it to.
The account from Exodus 17 immediately begs the question “how could the Israelites be so foolish?” They had been waking up every morning to find fresh bread brought down from Heaven by God. And they still questioned whether God was among them or not. How could they fail to see God’s love for them? How could they grumble after being rescued from slavery in Egypt? Why were they not thankful?
We must not be overly critical of Israel. We must not be puffed up and say (even if only in our hearts), “I would have praised God if I was there. Dumb Israel. Get with the program. I haven’t seen the Red Sea parted and yet I know God is present with me!”
Instead of being critical, we must humble ourselves and confess that we can relate all too well with Israel. They were not particularly hard-hearted people. They were simply people.
The hearts of all people are equally hard and rebellious towards God.
As Paul says, what was written long ago was not just for their benefit but for ours as well. So we can be assured that Israel’s history is more than just an example of what not to do. It gives us an extreme illustration of the true state of our own hearts. We are in open rebellion against God until we submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
“Do not harden your heart…”
“They always go astray in their heart…”
“…lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart…”
“…that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
There is a sobering warning penned here by the author of Hebrews. If we neglect such a great salvation and harden our hearts, we will fall away from God and never experience His rest.
Christ is the answer. Jesus tells all who are weary to come to Him and He will give rest and peace. Christ redeems hearts of stone. Jesus gives new hearts that do not grumble but praise God in adoration for His goodness.
I need Jesus so desperately! I have an eternally woeful heart condition. And try as I might, doing good just doesn’t solve that problem. Ignoring it may work for a time, but the reality of my brokenness always returns. There is no peace, no rest.
Can you relate? Do you see yourself in Israel’s story?
Can you relate to the Pharisee’s heart? Self-righteous. Judgmental. Critical of everyone but yourself.
I can. And by the grace of God, as I associate more with Israel’s hardness and cry out to Jesus, I relate less and less to the Pharisees who concoct their own remedy to their heart condition.
I hope you can see that Israel’s biggest problem wasn’t a lack of good speech or right celebration for God’s provision. Their biggest problem is ours as well. Each and every human heart is hardened towards God because of sin. And we need God to redeem us.
We can praise Him through faith because Jesus Christ has come to set captives free and give His life as a ransom for many. Redemption is possible in Christ for all people.
If you believe this, rejoice with me Today as long as it is called “today” that God has replaced a heart of stone with a heart of flesh…a stone with a rose.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Colossians 3:15
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