Hardness of the heart

Many times we blame God for our unpleasant situations. Sometimes we cry out in despair, “Why me, God?”  And other times we wonder why we go through pain, deprivation and hardships if God is good.
But we need to understand the vital principle that God responds to our situations not according to the terribleness or urgency of our situations but according to the conditions of our heart.  If our hearts are hardened against God’s instructions, He will respond to our call for help in a harsh and insensitive way.
Conversely, if our hearts are tender and responsive to His laws and will, He will show up in our situations as a gracious and loving Father. In other words, it is you who make God what He is to you.
Of course, there are certain eternal characteristics of God that are unchangeable in all situations like His being faithful and just. However, His responses to our particular situations of life are affected by the conditions of our hearts towards Him. For instance, the Bible says that God is merciful to the merciful, stubborn to the stubborn, forgiving to the forgiving, and unforgiving to the unforgiving. One of the beatitudes reads, “the merciful shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
Concerning forgiveness, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount establishes this one fact: Divine forgiveness of the saints is conditioned upon our forgiving others. 
Matthew 6:12 says, “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  This truth is emphatically repeated in verses 14 and 15, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” This simply means that you only deserve God’s pardon if you forgive others. This is God’s way of doing things and the scriptures cannot be broken. If you want God’s forgiveness, then first release the people you hold captive in your heart for offending you. Otherwise your quest for divine forgiveness will not be answered.
We are apt to complain and blame God for our lack and poverty. But do we heed God’s instruction to give so we can receive, to pay our tithes so we can be blessed, and to be diligent in our business so we can eat the fruit of our labour? Proverbs 11:24,25 says, “There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet , but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” The Bible also says God blesses the work of our hands. If we harden our hearts against these divine injunctions of liberality and honest labour we should not wonder why lack is our lot.
Contrary to what many people believe, God is very logical and principled. His ways are not zig-zag, neither are His acts haphazard.
To enjoy God’s blessings, favour and increase, we must commit to obey His laws and principles. But we often forget this. We fail to do our part but we insist that He does His part. We somehow expect God to be merciful even if we choose to be unmerciful to others. We desire God to forgive us despite our unforgiving attitude. We expect God to be kind and generous to us, our stinginess notwithstanding. There is no doubt that God can choose to show us His grace regardless of our actions. But the problem with this is that we become hardened in our hearts against observing to do God’s will. In God’s sight it is far much easier to deal with sin than with a hardened heart. Hardness of heart involves wilful disobedience, spurning of God’s grace and wilful ignorance. A hardened heart is bent on doing things its way, independent of God. It is stubborn, obstinate and rebellious. This attitude of heart is condemned in the Scripture because it places us beyond the reach of God’s grace. Hardness of heart makes us divinely unreachable. It cannot be persuaded. It must be a fearful thing to have a hardened heart because it inevitably leads you to incur God’s wrath.
The children of Israel continued to receive God’s gracious provision and favour in spite of their stiff-neckedness. They forgot that divine forbearance is meant for our repentance, not a licence to continue in sin. Eventually, their hard-heartedness was met with divine justice and they perished in the wilderness of sin. Perhaps your woes continue to mount because there is a known principle, law or condition in God’s Word that you deliberately continue to ignore. He might be treating you according to the hardness of your heart. Examine your heart and repent so positive change may come.
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