Rock Hearts

Today we are going to deal with a topic that has troubled many a Christian: those scriptures that talk about God "hardening a person's heart".  Alongside those instances, there are many references to stubborn people hardening their own hearts against God. Here are several for you to study on your own:1

• Jeremiah 16:12 and 18:12  (non-specific persons hardening their hearts)
• Exodus 8:15 (Pharaoh hardening his heart)
• Daniel 5:20 (a foreign king hardens his heart)
• Matthew 13:15, Acts 28:27 (Jewish people hardening their hearts) - - these verses are eerily similar to Isaiah 6:10, mentioned below
• Also Romans 2:5 and Revelation 16:9 and 11 (people refusing to repent)

Those are not so troublesome.  I have, at times, hardened my heart against God's revealed will.  If you have not, I'd like to meet you.  Fortunately, He gave me the grace to repent.

However, then there are these:

• Exodus 4:21 and 7:3 and 14:8 (God tells Moses that He will or has harden{ed} Pharaoh's heart.)
• Deuteronomy 2:30  (God hardened the heart of Sihon, king of Heshbon, an enemy of the Hebrews)

Isaiah 6:10 (a prophecy where Isaiah is asking God to harden the hearts of His people) is confirmed by John 12:40, when John declares that this has occurred.  Furthermore, this leads us back to our text in Romans 11:7-8, where God gave His chosen people a "spirit of stupor".  (Daylight Savings Time has given me a spirit of stupor, but I digress...)

So, what do we do with this?  It's troublesome, because it appears that God is denying people certain choices.  We get a partial answer to this at the end of Romans 11.

God, through Paul, makes it clear that He has not totally given up or cast aside the Jewish people. Paul reveals that God has put them in a spiritual fog so that He can show His great, abundant mercy to them later (vs. 28-32).  The Bible makes it clear that, in the "last days" before Christ returns, God will once again turn to the Jews, will open their eyes and that many, many Jews will come to salvation.  We see this prophecy in Ezekiel 36-39, for one.  But, it is a recurring theme throughout the Bible.

However, let's get back to this hardening topic.  At the very end of Romans 11, Paul makes this affirmation:

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!

34 

For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?

35 

Or who has first given to God,

that God needs to repay him?

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

At times we don't understand what God has done or is doing, it is helpful to remember what Scripture reveals to us about Him.  In the case of his "hardening people's hearts", we must remember these key points about God's character/nature:

1.  He gets all the glory.
That's the #1 thing.  He deserves all the glory.  He wants all the glory.  He is going to get all the glory, because He is GOD (and we are not).  {See the last part of Romans 11:36, above.}

2.  He is perfection personified.  This is why the heavenly hosts continuously worship Him.

God can do, say, or think virtually anything and everything He wants to do, say, or think. I say virtually, of course, because God cannot lie, He cannot be unfaithful to His holy word and His promises, and most significantly, He cannot think, say, or do anything which is not in keeping with His holy and perfect will, Being, and character. (Oh, and no, He cannot create a rock which is too heavy even for Him to lift, because God does not even entertain a single, solitary, illogical thought, let alone engage in illogical behavior.)2

3.  Because He is perfect in all His ways, He always, always, always does the "right thing".  (Psalm 18:30)  He is perpetually "just" (utterly fair) in His dealings with men.  So, even though our understanding is imperfect on this topic, we must accept that God never does wrong.  Ever.

There's just something in our sinful, human natures that a) wants to know it all, to understand everything and b) control it all.  God, in His holiness, denies us both of those.  And, He is right to do so.  Here, then, we have another seeming paradox is Scripture.  Here, we have yet another opportunity to trust and to praise our incomparable God!

Father, great is Your name in all the Earth.  We praise You, even when we don't understand.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Sources:

1 http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Hardened-Hearts

2 http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/26834/what-does-it-mean-when-god-hardens-a-heart