Tag: jahaz

49.k. Wilderness – 13.q. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

 

Deu 2:30  But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day.

 Isaiah 48:4    Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,

 Numbers 21:23    But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.

 Joshua 11:19-20    There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle.  For it was the LORD’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

 Romans 9:17-23   For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”  So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Hardened hearts equate to walking around with both our eyes and ears closed. This calloused condition can keep a person from believing in Christ. That’s huge because eternity in heaven rests on that belief. God speaks to all of us, but how we respond depends on the condition of our heart. Upon hearing the Lord’s voice, some believers are motivated to pursue a deeper and more obedient relationship with their Father. Others, however, resist or refuse Him because their heart has become less responsive.

A change in receptiveness may be difficult to recognize because it happens slowly and is often rationalized or excused. How do you respond when the Holy Spirit speaks to you through Scripture or some other means? Carefully consider the following characteristics of a developing callousness:

  • Insensitivity to what God says
  • Resistance to His authority
  • Disobedience to what the Lord is instructing you to do
  • Justification of sinful conduct
  • Rejection of reproof by others
  • Preoccupation with worldly things
  • Little interest in spiritual matters
  • Absence of private devotion (Bible reading and prayer)
  • Avoidance of gathering to worship with other believers

A hardened heart can dull a person’s ability to perceive and understand. Anyone’s heart can harden, even faithful Christians’. Sin causes hearts to grow hard, especially continual and unrepentant sin. Pride will also cause our hearts to harden. The “pride of your heart has deceived you . . . you who say to yourself, ‘who can bring me down to the ground’ . . . I will bring you down declares the LORD” (Obadiah verses 3-4). Also, the root of Pharaoh’s hard-heartedness was his pride and arrogance. Even in the face of tremendous proofs and witnessing God’s powerful hand at work, Pharaoh’s hardened heart caused him to deny the sovereignty of the one, true God. And when King Nebuchadnezzar’s “heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory . . . until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone He wishes” (Daniel 5:20–21). Accordingly, when we’re inclined to do it our way, thinking we can “go it on our own,” it would be wise to recall what King Solomon taught us in Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”

So, what then is the antidote for a heart condition such as this? First and foremost, we have to recognize the effect that this spiritual disease has on us. And God will help us to see our heart’s condition when we ask Him: “Search me O God, and know my heart…see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24). God can heal any heart once we recognize our disobedience and repent of our sins. But true repentance is more than simply a resolute feeling of steadfast determination. Repentance manifests itself in a changed life. 

Hearts can also become hardened when we suffer setbacks and disappointments in life. No one is immune to trials here on earth. Yet, just as steel is forged by a blacksmith’s hammer, so, too, can our faith be strengthened by the trials we encounter in the valleys of life.

A hardened heart begins is a manifestation of the mind. It is here where thoughts become rooted and how our lives are lived out. Certainly pride and disappointment can plant seeds but these seeds are cultivated in our own minds. When the Word of God and things of God are neglected and things of this world become more consuming there will be watering of seeds that harden the heart, and dull the eyes and ears. 

It is important to continually be transformed in our minds by growing in our understanding and knowledge of God, God’s Word, and things of God. Without desire for this continual growth our minds are consumed with what the world has to offer and its offer of satisfaction. 

Start your day with God’s Word and commitment to living in such a way that honors and glorifies Jesus Christ in all thoughts, words, and actions.

49.j. Wilderness – 13.p. “The LORD our God gave all into our hands.”

 

Deu 2:26-36  “So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon the king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying, ‘Let me pass through your land. I will go only by the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left. You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot, as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I go over the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving to us.’ But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day. And the LORD said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.’ Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. And the LORD our God gave him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and all his people. And we captured all his cities at that time and devoted to destruction every city, men, women, and children. We left no survivors. Only the livestock we took as spoil for ourselves, with the plunder of the cities that we captured. From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. The LORD our God gave all into our hands.

 Because of this refusal, Israel fought a battle recorded in Numbers 21. They simply asked for safe passage through the land of the Amorites, but they were refused. God worked behind the scenes in hardening the heart of Sihon, the King of the Amorites. It was right for God to do this because the Creator has the right to do whatever He pleases with His creatures. But it was also right because of the way God did it. God did not persuade a reluctant Sihon to act out against Israel; God simply let Sihon’s heart take the evil way it wanted to take. God did not change Sihon’s heart from good to bad but hardened it in its malice towards Israel. God hardened the heart of Sihon. God led Sihon into the destructive course that his heart desired so that the land of the Amorites became the possession and inheritance of Israel. The war against the Amorites was one of the unique wars of judgment God told Israel to fight. In it, Israel was not just to defeat the Amorites on the field of battle, but to bring judgment against their whole society. Thirty-eight years before, Israel refused to go into the Promised Land because they felt they were over-matched militarily. Here, when they began to enter the land by faith, God showed them how it could have been 38 years before – if they had only believed Him. “there was not one city too high for us.” The high walls of the Canaanite cities had intimidated Israel 38 years before (see Deuteronomy 1:28). But walking in faith, they were now nothing before the LORD. (Guzik)