Harden My Heart
Doing today’s reading (Proverbs 28), when I got to verse 14, I couldn’t help but have a flashback to the 1981 song, Harden My Heart (so I guess it was actually a quarterflashback) (wow, that joke was lame and, if you even got it, my apologies). The song describes someone who is hardening their hear towards a person, with lyrics like:
I swear I’ll never, ever wait again
You gave me your word..but words for you are lies
Darlin’ in my wildest dreams, I never thought I’d go
But it’s time to let you know….oh…
I’m gonna harden my heart
I’m gonna swallow my tears
I’m gonna turn…and…leave you here…..
All of my life I’ve been waitin’ in the rain
I’ve been waiting for a feeling…that never, ever came
It feels so close, but always disappears…. I’m gonna harden my heart
I’m gonna swallow my tears
I’m gonna turn…and…leave you here…..
And I wonder how many people could sing these lyrics to God? Maybe you? Maybe you feel like you’ve waited too long? Like the feeling you want to have is just too elusive? And so you’re hardening your heart. Well, I’d just tell you, based on passages like the second half of Ephesians 4, and all of Hebrews 3, that that’s a place you really don’t want to be. And that it may not feel like it, but it’s a choice, and you can choose to soften your heart towards God, and He would help you with that, and that is where you really want to be.