HardeningHeart

Hardening of the Heart

LEAVE ME ALONE!

Resisting God is like saying to him, “Leave me alone!” But because God is always and everywhere present, his answer to that prayer might be to agree and make that person less sensitive, more hardened to him. The very possibility of that happening ought to keep us asking God specifically for ears that really hear and eyes that really see—openness and responsiveness to him.  (Quote: Life Application Commentary)

Below are things that can cause one to harden their heart toward God:

Disobeying—Pharaoh’s willful disobedience led to his hardened heart.

Exodus 4:21(ESV)
²¹And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 

Having wealth and prosperity—Taking God’s blessings for granted can cause us to feel as if they were owed to us.

Deuteronomy 8:6-14(ESV)
⁶So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 
⁷For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 
⁸a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 
⁹a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 
¹⁰And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
¹¹“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 
¹²lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 
¹³and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 
¹⁴then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 

 
Rebelling and being discontented—Suffering or discomfort can create an attitude that blames God.

Psalms 95:8(ESV)
⁸    do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,     as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

Rejecting a deserved rebuke—Rejecting God’s gift makes our neck stiff and our heart hard.

Proverbs 29:1(ESV)
¹    He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck,      will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

Refusing to listen—Refusing to listen leads to a loss of spiritual hearing.

Zechariah 7:11-13(ESV)
¹¹But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.^£ 
12They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. 
¹³“As I^£ called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, 

Failing to respond—Listening to God with no intention of obeying produces an inability to obey.

 Matthew 13:11-15(ESV)
¹¹And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 
¹²For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 
¹³This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 
¹⁴Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:      ^£“‘You will indeed hear but never understand,      and you will indeed see but never perceive.
¹⁵    For this people’s heart has grown dull,      and with their ears they can barely hear,     and their eyes they have closed,      lest they should see with their eyes      and hear with their ears     and understand with their heart     and turn, and I would heal them.’

The above was taken from Life Application Commentary on Romans 11.