Do not harden your hearts

Hebrews 3:7-9 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My works for forty years.” It helps to understand that verses 7-12 of chapter 3 contain another “therefore” after the author declared that Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brethren because we are all from the same father (2:10). From the beginning of chapter 2, he warned his readers not to drift away from what God has spoken with regard to His Son. This “therefore” leads into another warning to “take care” that they don’t let unbelief harden their hearts. Let’s remember what gives unbelief the opportunity to enter. It comes from 2:8 where the Holy Spirit says that all things have been subjected to man, “But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.” The sin of unbelief is opportunistic. All it needs is unpleasant circumstances, severe trials, pain, disappointment, suffering—a day of trial—and the devil can then accuse God, the Bible, and believers of being toxic, untrue, and untrustworthy. The author reminded his Hebrew readers of an important part of their history where the Holy Spirit spoke through the Psalmist in Psalm 95. The children of Israel went through a severe season or “day” of trials in the wilderness. They did not believe God’s promise to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. They did not believe God’s promise of blessing if they would love Him and obey His Law when the going got tough. Instead they provoked Him by trusting other gods. Here’s the point for us as we live to love with Jesus. Faith looks like trust, and God’s love only flows out of a heart that is soft and trusts God in every circumstance. God’s promise to Israel was to take them to a promised land. God’s promise in Christ is to take us to glory—to a new world—after this one is rolled up like a garment and cast away. We are supposed to learn from Israel’s story to expect “a day of trial” in our journey as well. How to do we survive? How do we make it to the final destination? When we hear God’s voice, do not harden our hearts. God speaks in the midst of our trials. When He says, “Trust Me! Remember My word, My commandments, My promises,” don’t harden your hearts. What is His word and command to us? Jesus commanded us to believe in Him as God and love one another as He has loved us (John 14:1 and 13:34). I interpret His command this way: live to love with Jesus for the glory of God. Living to love with Jesus is the journey we are on to the Promised Land—glory in the world to come.