when we listen

 

Today we read from Nehemiah 7:73b - 9:21 in the One Year Bible. Ezra brings the Book of the Law, which we would refer to as part of the Old Testament, probably the Pentateuch, and reads it aloud in the city square to all of the people in the city. They listen for hours while he reads. Then they all repent and commit themselves to following God.

You have the opportunity to do something very similar today. You can read the entire Bible, not just the Old Testament or the Pentateuch, for free all day every day. The Bible is available for free online. 

As you read, open your hearts to His message. Listen to Him as He tells you how much He loves you. And don't harden your heart.

What does that mean, you might ask? Well, when we experience God's kindness, it will break our hearts, which have grown hard and cold from sin and misuse. He gives us hearts of flesh once more, breaking our hard, calloused hearts and making us love and care again.

Hardening your heart is what people do when they don't want to be broken and love again. Why wouldn't they? Well, it hurts. When you love, you get hurt. When you reach out and make yourself vulnerable, people take advantage of you. So then we might ask, why should we let God give us hearts of flesh if it's just going to hurt us?

The old saying goes, "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." And that's actually the answer. CS Lewis tells us that the only place that our hearts are safe from being hurt, outside of heaven, is in hell, where our hearts become so hard and cold that they can't be broken or healed.

So let's choose to have our hearts broken. Let's not harden our hearts, but allow God to heal them, and to work through our hearts to touch everyone in our lives.

God, thanks for teaching us not to harden our hearts.