Maintain a Soft Heart

 

In Hebrews chapter 3, the writer reminds us about the children of Israel after He brought them out of Egypt. He explains how their hearts were hard and rebellious, they tested God, their hearts always wandered from Him, and they didn’t know His ways (Hebrews 3:7-11).

These were supposed to be the people of God! But because of their choices and hearts, God said, “They shall not enter My rest” (Hebrews 3:11b). This meant that they would never enter the Promised Land.

The Promised Land was the huge promise that God gave the Israelites—a land of their own—their inheritance—because they were God’s special, chosen people. But they forfeited this promise of God because of their hardened hearts.

Even Jesus’s disciples dealt with hard hearts: Mark 6:52 says, “For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.”

When we have hard hearts, we cannot understand God’s ways—it blinds us to what God is doing and saying.

Hebrews 3:7 urges us, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” We too must keep a soft heart that is willing and open to hearing God’s voice if we want to inherit the promises of God.

If we want the promises of God to manifest in our lives, we must guard ourselves from rebellious attitudes and be sure to maintain a submissive heart toward God.