10-08-2019, 02:28 PM
THE LIVING WATER
DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
TOPIC: BEWARE OF BEING STIFF-NECKED
Read Hebrews 3:8-15
8. Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
10. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
11. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
12. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
13. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
15. While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the day of provocation.
MEMORISE: He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy (Proverbs 29:1)
EXPOSITION
To harden one's heart is to make oneself stop feeling kind or friendly towards someone. That is how the Cambridge Dictionary puts it. To harden one's heart also implies stubbornness, self-will, unwillingness to yield to well-meaning advice, and strong-headedness, which is also a form of wickedness.
God said He would harden the heart of Pharaoh, so as to destroy him by great judgement, after bringing His people out of Egypt (Exo. 7:3-4). Pharaoh had taken his decision not to bulge, despite God's warnings, hence God's resolve to fully pay him back in his own coins. This implies that it is very normal and expedient for a hardened heart to be unrepentant and ultimately, be destroyed. The Bible establishes that Pharaoh did not hearken unto Moses, because his heart had been hardened (Exo. 9:12). A hardened heart is already on the path of destruction. Our memory verse makes it clear that anyone who hardens his heart to instructions, advices, and even suggestions, will eventually be destroyed WITHOUT REMEDY.
There is the need for inner checking of the heart, always. What are the divine instructions and guidance you have hardened your heart against? Are you teachable? Are people free to offer you godly pieces of advice? You have not obeyed the last instruction, yet you are expecting the next. Impossible!
We must retrace our steps back to God, so as to make us pure and simple in heart. Remember: the hardened heart invites irredeemable destruction.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Create in me a new heart, O Lord! And replace my heart of stone with that of flesh, in Jesus' name (Psa. 51:10).
2. Lord, rid me of every spirit of being stiff-necked and take away from me, the spirit of arrogance.
3. Father, replace the stony hearts of rebellious children with godly hearts, in Jesus' name.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY:
Isaiah 7:8 - 10:2; Ephesians 5:1 - 5:22
Author: CAC WORLDWIDE
Remain blessed!
DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
TOPIC: BEWARE OF BEING STIFF-NECKED
Read Hebrews 3:8-15
8. Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
10. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
11. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
12. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
13. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
15. While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the day of provocation.
MEMORISE: He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy (Proverbs 29:1)
EXPOSITION
To harden one's heart is to make oneself stop feeling kind or friendly towards someone. That is how the Cambridge Dictionary puts it. To harden one's heart also implies stubbornness, self-will, unwillingness to yield to well-meaning advice, and strong-headedness, which is also a form of wickedness.
God said He would harden the heart of Pharaoh, so as to destroy him by great judgement, after bringing His people out of Egypt (Exo. 7:3-4). Pharaoh had taken his decision not to bulge, despite God's warnings, hence God's resolve to fully pay him back in his own coins. This implies that it is very normal and expedient for a hardened heart to be unrepentant and ultimately, be destroyed. The Bible establishes that Pharaoh did not hearken unto Moses, because his heart had been hardened (Exo. 9:12). A hardened heart is already on the path of destruction. Our memory verse makes it clear that anyone who hardens his heart to instructions, advices, and even suggestions, will eventually be destroyed WITHOUT REMEDY.
There is the need for inner checking of the heart, always. What are the divine instructions and guidance you have hardened your heart against? Are you teachable? Are people free to offer you godly pieces of advice? You have not obeyed the last instruction, yet you are expecting the next. Impossible!
We must retrace our steps back to God, so as to make us pure and simple in heart. Remember: the hardened heart invites irredeemable destruction.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Create in me a new heart, O Lord! And replace my heart of stone with that of flesh, in Jesus' name (Psa. 51:10).
2. Lord, rid me of every spirit of being stiff-necked and take away from me, the spirit of arrogance.
3. Father, replace the stony hearts of rebellious children with godly hearts, in Jesus' name.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY:
Isaiah 7:8 - 10:2; Ephesians 5:1 - 5:22
Author: CAC WORLDWIDE
Remain blessed!