I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26

Lately, I just cannot get over God’s fascination with our hearts. Recently we’ve looked at how He gives us a heart to know Him and how He sanctifies our hearts, how He loves us with His whole heart and desires our whole-hearted love as well.

As I think about the time and effort and love that God pours into improving the condition of the hearts of those who believe on Him, I can’t help but also think of some folks in Bible history who didn’t believe on God and the outcome of their disbelief on their hearts.

When we read Genesis and Exodus, we see that despite the fact that a Hebrew man named Joseph had saved the entire Egyptian population from famine generations before, over time the Egyptian people began to fear and resent the presence of the Jewish people in their land. This fear and resentment ultimately led to the enslavement of the Jews. When God rose Moses up from his humble station as a shepherd to lead His people out of Egypt, the current Pharaoh’s hard heart caused him to refuse Moses’ plea to let the Hebrews go.

The result of Pharoah’s hard heart?

Plagues upon all of his people and the deaths of all of their firstborn children, including his own.

When we read 1 Samuel 25, we see how the hard heart of a well-to-do man named Nabal caused him to be confrontation and arrogant toward David. A series of insults that nearly led David, in his own hot-headed days, to bring his army to wipe out Nabal’s entire family and his servants too. Thankfully, God placed a cooler head and warmer heart in Nabal’s wife Abigail and she intervened, calming David down by giving him the provision her husband had previously refused while her husband was busy partying at home.

The result of Nabal’s hard heart?

When he found out that Abigail had given David the supplies, his heart failed him and he became like stone. In 1 Samuel 25:38 it is recorded that ten days after becoming like stone, “the Lord struck Nabal, and he died”.

Sweet friend, Proverbs 28:14 tells us that the one who approaches God with a humble heart is blessed, but the one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

There are a lot of things in this old world that can harden our hearts, make us guarded, distant, isolated, turn us into Pharaohs or Nabals.

BUT God, God is the Great Physician He can take our hardened hearts and make them new. He can take a heart of stone and make it as tender and sweet as the day we were born.

And the best part is, all we have to do is ask:

Lord, I desire to love as you love. I want to see myself and others through the light of your love. Please soften my heart that I may be humble and kind and compassionate. Amen (let it be so now).