I am in a season of amazement at how much God loves us. We err in many ways, yet God never ceases to love us and to show us that love. But sadly, even when we get ourselves entangled in problems of our own doing, and God, because of His great love, sends us a lifeline of deliverance, very often we reject it. I believe the remedy to this suicidal or self-destructive behavior is having a tender heart.
I was recently told of a Christian man who is in grave spiritual danger and at the verge of departing from the faith. God supernaturally revealed his troubles to some people, with the instruction to reach out to him. When this was done, the “lifeline” was completely rejected! As I shared this story with my wife, I told her that the only thing that remains to be done is for people to pray that God softens the man’s hardened heart so that he can become responsive to God’s saving love.
And in many ways, we all need our hearts to be softened. Concerning the future of Israel, God said that, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). By this we learn that obedience to God requires a heart of flesh – a tender heart. Although the Holy Spirit resides in our hearts as Christians, it is not automatic that we will respond in obedience to God’s love when He tells us what to do. The key to our obedience is prayer to God for a tenderness of heart.
Therefore, if you find yourself in a situation where you are finding it hard to obey God, pray to God that He softens your heart. And in case you know of a brother or sister in the Lord who has hardened his/her heart towards the revealed will of God, before you give up on him or her, please pray that God gives him/her a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone. The results might amaze you.
God bless you.