Wednesday, September 29: Soft-hearted

Walking through this world, each of us has that tendency of majoring in the minors, making mountains out of mole hills. When that occurs, our hearts can move from a soft and supple place to being as hard as kryptonite, which nothing can penetrate. In the “Wizard of Oz,” the Wizard tells the Tin Man, who felt incomplete because he did not have a heart, “Hearts will never be made practical until they are unbreakable.” On the contrary, a broken heart is the only way that we can find God. Otherwise, that heart is not ready to hear what the Lord has to say.


God speaks to us all, yet not everyone is listening. In fact, all of us are not listening most of the time. Yet God loves us so much that He keeps talking to us, whether we are listening or not. What does He tell us? His words have to do with matters of the heart. God, the Creator of all, is telling us how much He loves us! Just like any relationship, after telling us that He loves us, what the Lord desires is that we will love Him in return.


6Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
7For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice:
8“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
9When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
Psalm 95:6-9


In the Psalm above, King David gives us an example of people who God spoke to, but did not hear His voice. The Jews took 40 years to make an 11-day journey, wandering through the wilderness because of their lack of listening to God. In this case, He spoke through actions, vanquishing their enemies in the Red Sea with a miracle that no one could have missed. He provided water for them to drink out of a flinty rock, and heard their voices crying out. They could see His presence constantly through a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, protecting them and guiding their way. Additionally, God provided daily food through manna, and they even complained about that! Yet it wasn’t just His actions that spoke to the Jews. On Mount Horeb (Sinai), every Jew heard God’s voice as He gave the Law. Yet that still wasn’t enough for them.


After enduring their constant complaints, sinful behavior and lack of trust, God’s long fuse had finally reached its end. When it was time to enter the Promised Land, Moses sent in a group of spies on a reconnaissance mission. Rather than returning with glowing reports of the beauty of the land that the Lord was giving them, or jumping for joy with the size and quantity of the provisions God had prepared for them, the spies were defeated in heart by the giant inhabitants. Only Joshua and Caleb were soft-hearted enough to understand God’s words that He would fight their battles for them.


Just as Pharaoh’s heart hardened when God performed miracles through the hands of Moses and Aaron, the Jews had allowed the cares of the world to place a wedge between their hearts and God. Still a God who saves, He disallowed the ability of anyone over the age of 20 to enter the Promised Land, other than Joshua and Caleb. All of the people who had started the journey in Egypt, apart from those two trusting souls, would die before crossing the Jordan River. Yet from the children below the age of accountability, who likely emulated their parents in those complaints, God completed His promise and carried the Jews into Israel.


God created each of us, and speaks to each of us. Yet He leaves it up to us whether or not we desire to listen. Those of us who follow Him tired of hearing the broken, enticing words of the world, speaking of self, success and strength. The world’s words are lies, leading to death and destruction. Yet when goals are not achieved or happiness is non-existent when we arrive in that place that we thought would solve it all, our hearts get broken. It is then that Christians turn to God! If He has called out to you, and you have not heeded His voice, He will keep speaking. But just like Pharaoh and the Jews in the wilderness, there is a point when He will stop reaching out to a cold, calloused, Kryptonite heart. If He cannot penetrate that heart, nothing can.

“Have a strong mind and a soft heart.” –Anthony J. D’Angelo

18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Hebrews 3:18-19

Belief is a choice, but it is not “blind faith.” God reveals Himself though words and deeds, that we would hear and see Him. Have you heard His voice or seen His hand? Follow Him! Every other path leads to destruction! Instead, find the narrow path that leads to God. There are few who find it. Yet the journey begins with a soft, broken heart!


12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 3:12-13