It Starts Small

¹⁷ And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?¹⁸ Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? ¹⁹ When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. Mark 8:17-19

This is an interesting exchange that happens between Jesus and HIs disciples that reflects an exchange between us and our Heavenly Father.

The Bible talks about two types of hardened hearts. We all know the story of when the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt. When we think of a hardened heart we think of Pharaoh. Pharaoh kept having these religious moments. He acknowledged the plagues were coming from God and he would have these emotional moments of false repentance, but as soon as the plagues would end, he would harden his heart. A hardened heart is a stubborn attitude that leads to a person rejecting God’s will. The very function of will, good or bad, comes from the heart.

We tend to lean on this idea that only the unsaved can have a hardened heart, but then we come to these verses in Mark 8. You have to look backwards to see what Jesus is speaking about. In the first eight verses, Jesus performs his second miracle of feeding the masses. Over two amazingly miracles, Jesus took a few fish and loaves of bread and fed 15,000 people. (Mark 8:1-8, Matthew 14:13-21) In Both incidents, there were baskets left over.

After the first miracle, Jesus sends them across the sea and in the middle of it a storm comes up. Jesus walks on water and we see an amazing moment between Simon Peter and Jesus. By faith, Simon Peter gets out of the boat and walks on the water only to fear and doubt and begin to sink. He cries out to the Lord to save him. This is awesome, because we know Jesus is going to be there anytime we cry out to him. (post for another day)

The second time Jesus feeds the multitude, they are soon after confronted by the legalists and they try to tempt him into showing them a sign to prove he is who he says he is. Jesus warns His disciples against the leaven of leaglists and King Herod. This flies over their heads and they think he’s talking about actual bread because at the time they were physically hungry. (Mark 8:15-16)

So what is a hardened heart?

Lack of ability to perceive, remember, or grasp events or ideas coming from God.

Let us be real with ourselves for a moment. We all like to think that if we had been there to see all this happen there is no way we would ever forget. That is egotistical because Jesus is constantly throwing fish in our nets, taking care of us, but just as soon as a storm comes, we forget our liberty and freedom in Christ or suffer, our hearts get hard.

Lack of sensitivity to sin

A hardened heart gives way to fleshly desires. The “hunger” overtakes us and instead of remembering God will take care of us, we fall into the trap of temptation. When we forget who we are, who God says we are, and His promises, we start to lean upon ourselves. That opens the door for Satan to come in and tell us lies and slander God.

Disobedience

A hardened heart leads to direct disobedience to God’s commands, living righteously and listening to the Holy Spirit. It is the birth of that stubborn attitude that you are in control and in charge. A hardened heart disobeys and refuses to listen.

Egotism and Pride

Offended, resentful and unforgiving

A hardened heart is easily offended. They are quick to be on defense and look for every possible reason to justify their actions. They refuse repentance. They become resentful of others and of God. Ultimately they become unforgiving and the planting of the seeds of bitterness and misery give root. They refuse to forgive or casually forgive without truly meaning it.

Spiritual Indifference

Indifference is when someone does not care. It may be a lack of care about life or other people. Spiritual indifference is someone who does not truly care about God. They may go to church and throw money into the offering plate, or even help and old lady across the street, but they genuinely have no interest in the things of God. They do not seek discipleship or growth in Him

Unbelief

Ultimately, a hardened heart is the cause of unbelief.

God’s people can experience hardened hearts. Remember our definition is that it is an attitude.

God’s people begin to complain that God’s ethical standards are too high. Jesus also spoke of hardened hearts when the legalists challenged him over divorce. Jesus said, “For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.” (Mark 10:5-6) God did not write the concession, Moses did because of the hardness of the heart. Even though the word was apart of the scripture found in Deuteronomy 24:1, it was simply a concession made by Moses because of the hardness of people’s hearts.

SO how do we tie all these events and Jesus together when it comes to hardened hearts:

¹⁷ And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?¹⁸ Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? ¹⁹ When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. Mark 8:17-19

We need to recognize that a hardened heart can not see, hear or remember. What does this mean? For years I said I could not remember scripture and used the excuse that I was aging. The truth was where my heart was focused. I had a hardened heart and had no eyes to see, hear, or remember scripture. Sin is the direct result of a hardened heart. It is living in hypocrisy and thinking and living sinfully and then getting upset and disappointed with God when he does not hear my prayers. I think our own selfmade insanity causes our hearts to be hardened, because that statement I just wrote is insanity at its core.

Cure

IF you recognize you have a hard heart, as I did, you can turn to God’s Word for the cure. The first step is recognition and acknowledgement. To come before your Heavenly Father with humility and repentance. Repentance is not feeling badly or regretting something. Repentance means to turn the opposite direction. To lay it down and walk away from it. Go a completely different way.

Second, deep dive into God’s Word. God’s Word renews our minds, cleanses our hearts of our unrighteousness and brings them into conformity with God’s heart.

Third, obedience. We need to obey what we hear and read from God. We need to make God priority and give ourselves genuine time to sit with Him and listen for that “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit, and do what God is leading us to do.

It amazes me I can recall an Amish biscuit recipe, word for word, better than I can scripture, but each day it is getting better and better! As I allow Christ to change my focus, he strengthens me with eyes to see, ears to hear, and reminds me of His truth!

²⁶ A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26