When the Heart Gets Hard
A footpath doesn’t become hard overnight. It happens one step at a time.
In Matthew 13, Jesus describes seed falling on ground that has been trampled hard. The seed lands on the surface, but it cannot penetrate. Before it can take root, the birds carry it away.
Jesus says this represents the person who hears God’s Word but does not receive it.
Sometimes we imagine a hard heart as belonging only to an angry atheist or an openly rebellious person. But hardness can be much quieter.
A heart can become hard through repeated resistance. Every time God speaks and we say, “Not today,” the ground becomes a little firmer. Every time Scripture confronts something we would rather keep, we have a choice: surrender or resist.
But there is another kind of hardness.
Sometimes the heart becomes hard because it has been hurt. Disappointment, grief, betrayal, unanswered prayer, or years of difficulty can cause us to build walls around the heart. We tell ourselves that if we don’t let anything in, nothing can hurt us again.
But those walls can keep Jesus out too.
The good news is that hard ground isn’t hopeless ground.
God can break up fallow ground. He can soften what has become hardened. He can restore what pain has damaged.
Maybe today you need to stop pretending that everything is fine. Maybe your prayer needs to be as simple as: “Lord, soften my heart.”
That is a prayer God loves to answer. The same God who spoke life into creation can speak life into a heart that has grown hard.