Hardened Hearts
Last week, our
church wagon was frozen stiff, and its front doors could not be
opened at all. We had to use warm water of about 40oC to
melt the thick icicles down. These hanging icicles were formed by
the freezing of dripping water from melted snow on the roof of the
vehicle. We managed to defreeze the doors after many kettles and
pails of warm water. As we were going through the process, I felt
that the Lord was teaching me a lesson about our heart conditions
through knowing the snow conditions.
Snow crystals are
more than just frozen water vapors. They are formed directly from
condensing water vapor in the air, usually around a nucleus of dust
or some other foreign particles. Their sizes range from microscopic
to a few millimetres. Due to the molecular structure of water, these
snow crystals are hexagonal in shape.
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Snow falls down from the skies in one of the following
forms:
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Snow
crystals
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They are
single ice crystals, often in symmetrically hexagonal
shapes.
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Snowflakes
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A snowflake
consists of up to 100 snow crystals clumped together. These
collections of snow crystals bound together loosely into
puff-balls. These balls can grow to about 10 cm when the
snow is especially wet and sticky.
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Rime
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They are
super cooled tiny water droplets, especially in a fog, that
quickly freeze onto whatever they hit.
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Graupel
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They are
loose collections of frozen water droplets, and are
sometimes called soft hail.
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Hail
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These are
large solid chunks of ice.
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Fallen snow on the ground changes their properties through time,
weather and the acts of man. The following explains briefly their
processes:
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Types Of
Snow On Ground
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Some
Spiritual Applications
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Powder
This is
freshly fallen, untouched, smooth and soft snow.
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Powder snow
represents pure hearts, soft and tender before God and
others, full of grace and mercy.
Pure hearts
do not conform to worldly standards and measurements. They
are unadulterated, undefiled, single-minded and spontaneous.
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Crud
Fresh
powder snow soon becomes trod upon or tracked out, resulting
in an uneven surface with lumps of soft powder-like snow and
slippery patches.
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Through the
wears and tears of life, our hearts become uneven.
We are soft
towards some people, but a little hard and indifferent
towards others.
At times we
are soft towards God, but at other times we are indifferent
or hard towards Him.
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Crust
This crust
is formed when the sun's rays and the wind melt the top
layer of powder, but the surrounding cold temperatures make
it freeze back into solid again.
This harder
crust is on top of softer powder snow.
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When the love of the Son of God begins to
touch our lives, our hearts begin to melt. But as we go
forth from His warm presence and face the coldness of our
world outside, our hearts begin to freeze again.
We then begin to build a wall of barrier
between ourselves and others.
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Slush
When the
air temperatures become warmer than the freezing point, the
snow starts to melt. Its water contents become very high.
These
delicate snow crystals then change into large grains of ice,
and slush is formed.
Slush is
basically wet and sticky snow.
Sometimes,
slush can cause avalanches if the weight of the snow on the
top is too heavy.
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The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart--
These, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 51:17
Brokenness
is good if it is led by the Spirit and not by the flesh.
Some people
are broken beyond repair and for ungodly reasons. Their
lives become completely ruined. If not checked and monitored
properly, they can breakdown or freak out at any time.
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Ice
This is
formed when snow has been melted and frozen again for a
number of times. Its solid surface is hard and slippery.
Most fatal
accidents happen because of ice.
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When our
hearts hear the Word of God, it gets warm. But when we do
not do and obey the Word of God, we get cold. As this
continues day by day and week by week, our hearts will
eventually become hardened and cold. Some hearts have been
hard frozen for years!
To melt
these cold and hardened hearts, we need many "kettles and
pails of warm water" (times of refreshing) before our hearts
become heartwarming again.
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Therefore, as
the Holy Spirit says:
"Today,
if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, 'They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.'
So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.' "
Beware,
brethren, lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living
God;
but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today,"
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of
sin.
For we
have become partakers of Christ if
we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
For who,
having heard, rebelled?
Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
Now with
whom was He angry forty years?
Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the
wilderness?
And to whom did
He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who
did not obey?
So we see
that
they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:7-19)
There are so many lessons we can learn from the Israelites in their
40 years' journey through the wilderness. They were in the presence
of God day and night. But their hearts remained unfaithful, full of
doubt and unbelief. They tempted God. They provoked Him to anger.
They did not trust Him. They did not believe Him, and keep His
commandments. They murmured against Him and His servant, Moses. They
did not take heed to the voice of God.
Even then, God
continued to shine His love in their hearts. He loved them with an
everlasting love. He continued to draw them towards Him with His
tender kindness. He continued to provide their daily needs, food and
drinks. Though God walked with them daily, yet they did not know
God's ways.
An unbelieving
heart is an evil heart! If left alone, it will become hardened as
time goes by. Very soon, it will depart and desert the God of love!
Whenever God speaks
to us, let's respond immediately. Today! Let's not procrastinate and
say that we will do it tomorrow. Sometimes, tomorrow is too late as
the heart becomes hardened through today.
When
God impresses us to change, change today!
When God impresses us to do something, do it today!
When God impresses us to love someone, love today!
When God impresses us to help someone, help today!
When God impresses us to pray
for someone, pray today!
When God impresses us to give to someone, give today!
When God impresses us to bless someone, bless today!
When God impresses us to go, go today!
If we don't do it
today, we may never get to do it at all. It may be too late when our
hearts become hardened today. We need to love and bless others not
because others need our love or blessings but simply because we need
to - for the sake of our own hearts.
Why does God give
us His Spirit and His anointing? Simply to be a blessing to bless
others. We must always remember these precious words of the Lord
Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts
20:35)
"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified." (Isaiah
61:1-3)
In
conclusion, I would like to share with you the lyrics of a song
called "The Rose":
Some say love,
it is a river
That drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love,
it is a hunger
An endless, aching need
I say love, it is a flower,
And you, its only seed.
It's the heart
afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance .
It's the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance.
It's the one
who won't be taken,
Who cannot seem to give .
And the soul afraid of dying
That never learns to live.
And the night
has been too lonely
And the road has been too long.
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong.
Just remember
in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow
Lies the seed that with the sun's love,
In the spring, becomes a rose.
Written on:
18 January 2006