“The LORD says, “do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah n the wilderness” Psalms 95:8

Have you ever seen a person who professed Christ as his savior and even testified Him in front of many? However, then suddenly something bad happened in his life. All disappeared in a flash– his faith is gone, stopped testifying God, and even stop attending church. I have seen people like that in my life. As long as life is good they love God. When life gets harder, they walk away. We wonder whether that was a genuine faith or not, don’t we? Beloved, our hearts should not be rocky soil that gets withered away by the onslaught of trials and testing.

The writer of the Hebrew epistle also used this quotation in his writing in chapter 3:15. The readers of the epistle of Hebrews were Jews who professed their faith in the Lord Jesus, but due to persecutions and trials, they were pondering to go back to the old Judaism where they thought they enjoyed persecution and trial free life. Shrinking back from the truth and attempting to backslide also would result in hardening hearts to God and His truths.

You see it is easy to harden our hearts when trials and testing hit our life. The reason is we do not have the big picture that God has in His mind. Nobody is exempt from trials and testing. Someone said there are only three positions in life. You just came out of a trial, you are in the midst of a trial or you will get into another trial very soon. Now we may think we are alone in the trial. But the truth people have various trials in their life, and no one is exempt from trials. Being a Christian and a true believer in Christ does not ensure you free of trials. In fact, the Bible indicates the believer in Christ will face more trails as Jesus Himself cautioned the disciples in John 16:33 that “in this world, you will have trouble.” He told this in advance so that they may have peace in Him. He also said, take heart! You have peace in Him because He has overcome the world. I John 4:4 says, “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

The historical context of our insight today comes from the history of Israel in Exodus 17. The LORD God had delivered the children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. He delivered them when their back was against the wall with no hope. Their enemy king Pharoah and his strong forces were behind them, and the red sea was in front of them. Humanly there was no way they could escape apart from the mighty hand and help of the LORD. They were stuck in danger. They were terrified. However, God said to them do not be afraid, stand still and look up to Him for deliverance. They did, and He miraculously delivered them. God divided the red sea, and they walked through the dry ground in the middle of the sea. Their enemies followed them but the wheels of their chariots got jammed, and they could not ride smoothly, and they were all drowned in the sea because God made the red sea flew back again.

After this incident, they became hungry, and God gave them manna from heaven. Now they are thirsty, and there was no water when they camped in Rephidim. They have seen all these miraculous works of the Lord in their lives. Now when they did not have water, what did they do? Did they seek the LORD in prayer remembering His goodness to them in the past? No. Bible says, “So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to God what I am to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.?” And Moses called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” Moses called that place Massah, which means ‘a test’, and Meribah, which means ‘a quarrel.’
When trials and testing come to our lives, remember not to backslide like newly converted Jewish Christians were thinking, do not quarrel, and doubt the Lord as the Israelites did. They asked, “Is the LORD among us or not?” Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:11, “These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.”

Beloved, two things that can harden our hearts. One is unexpected trials or testing. We never expected it, but God allowed something to happen that we did not like and we end up hardening our hearts toward the LORD. You see when unexpected or unpleasant things happen, the Bible advises us God who allowed it to happen to have a different better plan for His glory through it. Do not doubt the faithfulness and the presence of the Lord right in the midst of our unexpected incidents. Lord says in Isaiah 55: 8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Secondly, unconfessed sins can harden our hearts to LORD. When we do sin, we should immediately confess to the Lord in prayer. Unconfessed sins have the potential to harden our hearts more. You see when we do sin, we know we sinned. The red light goes on. Immediately without any delay agree with the Lord and seek His forgiveness. This way we can keep good consciousness with the Lord. Repentance and confession of sins are the two keys to God’s blessings in our life. Let us thank God for the privilege of repentance. It is not a burden, and it is a beautiful privilege. The opportunity to repent is a great blessing.

Got a moment for today’s prayer? “Father in heaven, thank you for talking to me today through your Word that I should not harden my heart. Soften my heart with your Spirit Lord. I believe Jesus Christ died and rose again for my sins. I am sorry for my sins. (go ahead and confess to the Lord now). I know the blood of Jesus can make a brand new person again. Please give me the joy and happiness of your forgiveness and salvation today. I thank you for saving and forgiving my sins. In Jesus Christ’s name, I pray, Amen.”