Last month—it’s hard to believe February is past and we have already stepped into March—we were leading our Youth Group at church through our Month of Love series. Now, even though that title sounds somewhat humorous, we looked at very serious topics:
- A Christian and a secular worldview of sex and love;
- The beautiful picture that the Lord gives us in the Bible of what true marriage really is;
- The ravages of pornography; and
- Looking at the differences between guys and girls, that age-old question of “WHAT IN THE WORLD is he/she thinking?” was explored.
While these were all tough subjects to tackle, it was the last one that really turned my focus inward, shining the spotlight on my heart. Couched in the scriptures about “counting others more significant than yourself,” (Philippians 2:3); “outdoing one another in showing honor,” (Romans 12:10); and finally in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7, when the Lord Himself describes what real love looks like, what became glaringly apparent to myself as we dove into this last section of the study was how miserably I fail when it comes to loving someone above myself. And what’s even worse is I began to recognize that when it comes to loving God, I still have a hardness of heart that is sobering.
Hardness of heart has been around for quite a while. From Nebuchadnezzar in the Old Testament, to even Jesus’ disciples while He was still with them on this earth, we see crusty hearts are present. In Nebuchadnezzar’s case, it is the fruit of pride and haughtiness. In that of the disciples, its root is found in blindness and unbelief.
Daniel 5 (NIV)~
“But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like the ox; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and sets over them anyone he wishes.
And in Mark 8 (ESV)~
And Jesus, aware of this, said to them (the disciples), “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?
A time of trial and/or teaching is most certainly around the corner where a hardened heart is concerned. In a rather unsettling way, the Lord dealt with Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, by humbling him so much so, in losing his mind, he went to live in the wild with the oxen for seven years, actually eating grass with them. The disciples experienced a more gentle reprimand when Jesus, while humbling them, called to attention all that was not right in their hearts. It seems the Lord meets us where we are, pinpointing the place where our sickness of heart begins.
When the Lord began dealing with me, I was encased in self-righteous pride. Bit by bit, He began to break down strongholds which were false and ugly to Him. Not to condemn, but to free me when confessing what He, the Holy Spirit, revealed was at the root of my problem.
The Lord tells us in Hebrews 12: 5-6, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Did you catch that? He disciplines the one He loves. What a comfort. Even in the midst of being tried, we can know beyond any doubt, that what we are going through is born out of His love. His undying love shown by Jesus on the cross. Like a loving parent who corrects his child, so the Lord corrects us in order to bring blessings of goodness.
Nebuchadnezzar’s and the disciples’ story ended well. When Nebuchadnezzar realized that God was God and he was not, not only was his kingdom restored, but he personally came to know the Lord, the King of heaven and earth, as his Savior. And the disciples, all but one whom God knew would not come to Him, experienced the Lord firsthand, while He was still with them, and then in heaven. For me, my story is still unfolding, but as His child, I will tell you, by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, the state of my heart is drastically changed and changing. The anxious strongholds are melting away. His peace is taking their place.
If you are struggling with restlessness and anxiety, ask the Lord, why. He will show you.
Psalm 139 tells us, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Find out as Job did, the Lord’s faithfulness. “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.” (See Job 23:10,11.)
And finally, in Psalm 23, we read, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death [or of deep darkness, as footnoted in the ESV], I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
What encouragement we have when we belong to the Lord. If God is for us who can be against us.*
In His love,
Kimberly
*Romans 8:31
