Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Harden not your hearts as in the provocation means do not repeat what Israel did after coming out of Egypt, when those who heard provoked and tempted God though they saw His works forty years, hardened in murmuring, unbelief and rebellion, so He was grieved and swore they should not enter His rest and their carcasses fell in the wilderness except the two who wholly followed Him. Hearts harden not by God's decree but through the deceitfulness of sin and resisting the Holy Spirit, by rejecting His word, neglecting prayer and study, scorning conviction and choosing darkness over light until conscience loses sensitiveness. Therefore Today if His voice is heard it must be heard and obeyed at once without delay, for each ignored call leaves less impression and continued resistance sears the conscience until heart, eyes and ears become callous and beyond conviction, and the present invitation of mercy may not come again. Unbelief is an evil heart departing from the living God that kept that generation from His rest, and the same gospel now profits only when mixed with faith, so His house holds fast confidence and hope firm unto the end lest any seem to come short of the promise. The safeguard is to exhort one another daily while it is called Today, to believe God is leading and cherish and act faith under all circumstances, and to humble the heart and ask forgiveness for words of unbelief.
Wilderness Provocation Recalled
The provocation and day of temptation was Israel after coming out of Egypt by Moses, when the fathers tempted and proved God though they saw His works forty years. Some who heard after coming out did provoke, though not all who came out. Hearing His voice today means not hardening the heart as in that provocation in the wilderness.
God was grieved forty years with that generation who sinned, and said they do always err in heart and have not known His ways. He swore in His wrath they should not enter into His rest, even to them that believed not, and they could not enter in because of unbelief. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness, and nearly all the adults who left Egypt died before entering Canaan, with all but two of the adults dying in the wilderness. The two excepted were those who wholly followed Him, and it was not His good pleasure that the rest should wander so long, for He would have brought them immediately to the promised land if they had submitted and loved to be led by Him.
The warning recalls the unfaithful spies who magnified difficulties into insurmountable obstacles and leavened the whole congregation with unbelief. That leaven spread into lamentation, murmuring, and rebellion against God and God-appointed leaders. By that course the golden opportunity to possess the good land passed by.
Despite seeing God's works, that generation hardened their hearts in murmuring, complaining, unbelief, pride, selfishness, and rebellion. Their unbelief turned them from the living God, destroyed confidence in the Son of God, and kept them from entering His rest. They perished because they did not believe God's word, going astray in heart and not knowing His ways though they saw His works for forty years.
How Hearts Harden
Hardening comes through the deceitfulness of sin, because temptation is always presented under the guise of goodness. One violation of straightforward truthfulness prepares the way for a second violation, and wrongs repeated until the heart of unbelief becomes hardened and the conscience loses its sensitiveness. Even when warning, correction, and repeated opportunities to repent are given, persisting in one's own course can leave a person unable to discern good from evil and perish in sins. The safeguard is to humble the heart before God and ask forgiveness for speaking words of unbelief, since such words cast reflection on Him who is too wise to err and too good to do harm.
Hearts do not become hard by God's decree; people harden them through impenitence and refusal to hear warnings and reproof. Meetings meant for confession and humility then become occasions for self-justification, and dismissing or weakening a message of correction causes a precious opportunity for repentance and reform to be lost. Scorning warnings, resisting grace, abusing privileges, and smothering conviction strengthen human pride and lead to fatal hardness that shuts the soul away from what is good and from God.
Hardening shows itself in murmuring and complaining despite many works seen, in receiving mercies without gratitude and then finding fault with others or circumstances, which dishonors God. It shows itself in suspicion and distrust toward brethren, in weighing their words and motives and coming to wrong conclusions, in charging others with want of discernment and wisdom when appearances are not propitious, and in taking the judgment seat out of God's hands. It shows itself in lack of frankness and brotherly confidence, in secretiveness and self, and in evil surmising and evil speaking that depart from the living God. Turning from Christ the Leader to accept counsel opposed to God belongs to the same hardening, for unbelief and sin can harden the heart and lead away from the living God.
Hardening as in the provocation looks like talking in a heated, excited manner, stamping the feet, and being determined to carry out one's own plans. It is the opposite of improving the opportunity to turn to God in repentance and to seek the Lord with all the powers of the being instead of trying to convince others of their wrongdoing.
The heart is hardened by resisting the Holy Spirit and rejecting God's word in order to keep human traditions, leaving people unable to recognize God's voice. It is hardened by resisting conviction and refusing truth when light and message come, which is choosing darkness over light while the Spirit is drawing and calling to respond while opportunity for salvation is present. It is hardened by divorcing from God to follow the wisdom of men not under God's direction, by obstinately refusing warnings and persisting in backsliding, unbelief, and idolatry though truth and God's ways have been kept before them again and again. It is hardened by neglecting prayer and study of God's word so that further neglect becomes easier, with each resistance to the Spirit's pleading preparing the way for another until the conscience is seared. It is hardened by refusing God's voice and choosing what pleases self until eyes, ears, and heart become unimpressible to divine counsel, as shown in Israel's failure to recognize the time of its visitation. Persistent transgression and determined rejection bend the will toward evil, yet Christ does not force anyone to accept freedom from sin, and the call to respond without hardening when His voice is heard is urgent.
Hear His Voice Today
When His voice is heard today the heart must not be hardened but heard and obeyed at once, without putting off today's work or waiting for someone else to give directions. The appeal is tender and compassionate, yet urgent, and its endearing address as son also carries the force of a command. Hearing means trusting God rather than yielding to unbelief that turns away from the living God and lets sin harden the heart, guarding the soul, encouraging one another daily, and holding confidence and hope firm to the end. The call to work in the vineyard must be answered at once by refusing no longer and delaying obedience no longer, because the invitation may not come again and cherished refusal weakens character until right and wrong are harder to discern. Today makes the call urgent for students called to serve, who should not let unnecessary delays and prolonged education hold them back when the time for labor is limited.
Each ignored call of the Spirit leaves less impression, so later opportunities feel less compelling and delay itself hardens the heart as with the fathers who tested God though they saw His works. Even the least softened feeling or impression should be answered at once, because delay leaves the soul vulnerable to sin's deceit and may continue until the voice of mercy is no longer heard. Continued resistance and greater light neglected sear the conscience, so that by repeatedly stifling conscience and rejecting truth after great light and knowledge, eyes and ears and heart become callous, unimpressible, and carried beyond conviction. Greater light brings greater individual responsibility and calls for corresponding growth in spirituality rather than hardness against the Spirit's impressions.
The present invitation of mercy must be answered now, because refusal may leave no further opportunity for repentance before judgment and there will be no second probation when mercy no longer pleads. Now while it is called today is the time to hear and heed by turning fully to Him at once, lest coming suddenly He find His people unready with no atoning blood to cleanse sin, for those who turn fully will receive mercy and abundant pardon. Delay risks sudden death before the delayed surrender comes, and risks the close of intercession when no pardon remains. Surrender is to be right now, putting away sin at once when it is seen and not looking forward a week or a month or a year nor planning to overcome by degrees little by little. Leaving the cursed thing today is turning from sin with loathing, loving what Christ loved and hating what Christ hated, taking His already shed blood by faith to wash and cleanse to the utmost, and giving self wholly to God in a broken contrite heart that walks humbly, deals justly, and shows mercy, overcoming pride, passion, and spiritual laziness in a balanced faithful character prepared for the Lord's appearing.
Unbelief and God's Rest
Unbelief is an evil heart departing from the living God, destroying confidence in the Son of God and turning people away through the deceitfulness of sin. That unbelief kept the wilderness generation from entering His rest, and the same danger remains of failing through unbelief when God's voice is heard. The safeguard is repentance and personal heedfulness, guarding the soul against temptation and spiritual negligence, encouraging one another daily while it is still called today, and holding confidence firm to the end. The same gospel preached to them is preached now, but the word preached did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it. They heard God's word through Christ in the pillar of cloud, but unbelief with pride, selfishness, murmuring, and unwillingness to obey kept them from receiving it by faith and practicing it, and hearing truth in that way brings guilt and makes the message unprofitable.
Christ is as a son over His own house, while Moses was faithful as a servant in all his house, and His house are believers if they hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. There must be fear lest the promise of entering His rest be left and any should seem to come short of it. Only by holding the beginning of confidence steadfast unto the end are people made partakers of Christ, with patience to do the will of God, to live by faith and not draw back, and not to cast away confidence which has great recompense of reward when He that shall come comes and will not tarry. This holding fast requires taking heed to oneself, exhorting one another daily while it is called today lest any be hardened through sin's deceit into always erring in heart and not knowing His ways, and ministers and all who claim to be God's children must heed God while it is called Today.
It was not God's pleasure that Israel wander so long in the wilderness; He would have brought them immediately to the promised land if they had submitted and loved to be led by Him. Because they so often grieved Him in the desert and refused His leading, He swore in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest, and His promise was not fulfilled to them except to the two who wholly followed Him. In this He requires His people to trust in Him alone rather than receive help from those who do not serve Him.
Holding Fast Together
Believers must take heed lest there be in any an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, and must guard the soul against temptation and negligence. They are to exhort one another daily while it is called Today, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Ministers and all who claim to be God's children must heed God while it is called Today, and holding confidence and hope steadfast to the end is necessary to remain partakers of Christ. The warning stands because Israel hardened their hearts in the wilderness despite seeing God's works forty years, their leaders yielded to temptation so God could not give what He designed, and that generation was barred from His rest. The same experience will be repeated in the last years of the people established by grace and power, when men greatly honored pattern after ancient Israel, history is repeated with intensified perils, and influence is gained over men of high intelligence.
Not hardening the heart means refusing Israel's course of murmuring and complaining, suspicion and distrust toward brethren, weighing words and motives to wrong conclusions, and taking the judgment seat out of God's hands. It means believing God is leading, and cherishing faith and talking faith and acting faith under all circumstances because He manifests His grace and power over and over again. It means looking to God rather than to men and the arm of flesh and numbers and apparent capabilities, and keeping frankness and brotherly confidence without secretiveness and self and evil surmising and evil speaking. Trials of hardship like at Rephidim test faith and loyalty and are not proof of abandonment, so believers are to remember past care, trust His guidance, and seek His help rather than respond with doubt, complaint, and rebellion.
Hearing His voice today brings the Holy Spirit and the liberty of Christ, emptying the heart of distrust and suspicion, division and misunderstanding, watching for failings in others, and all bitterness and wrath and malice and selfishness. A hardened heart holds onto those evils and refuses the words of the gospel while angels watch anxiously how it is received and evil angels press insinuations on the mind. Not hardening the heart therefore means diligent repentance now, humbling before God, getting rid of differences that separate brethren, rescuing every soul tempted by the enemy, and going to work in the way God points out in order to receive the outpouring of the Spirit. The safeguard is to humble the heart before God and ask Him to forgive speaking words of unbelief, for such words cast reflection on Him who is too wise to err and too good to do harm. Hardening comes through the deceitfulness of sin presented under the guise of goodness, where one violation of straightforward truthfulness prepares the way for a second until repeated wrongs harden the heart in unbelief and the conscience loses its sensitiveness.
Present Obedience Required
Hardships like those at Rephidim test faith and loyalty and are not proof of abandonment or failure, but call for remembering past care, trusting guidance, seeking help, and keeping calm confidence instead of doubt, complaint, and rebellion, since persistent unbelief grieves God, draws away from Him, and bars entrance into His rest unless confidence is held firm to the end and believers encourage one another against hardening by sin. The same experience will be repeated in the last years of the people established by grace and power, when men greatly honored pattern after ancient Israel and leaders yield to temptation so that what was designed cannot be given. History is being repeated with intensified perils, as influence is gained over men of high intelligence just as Solomon was honored, and the fathers who tempted and proved God though they saw His works forty years stand as warning to take heed against an evil heart of unbelief departing from the living God. Those now on the borders of the heavenly Canaan must not repeat the sin of the unfaithful spies who magnified difficulties into insurmountable obstacles and leavened the congregation with unbelief, lamentation, murmuring, and rebellion against God and appointed leaders until the golden opportunity to possess the good land passed by. Instead of indulging doubts, criticisms, and complaints that sow unbelief and distrust, the call is for the faith of Caleb and Joshua, who declared the land exceeding good and that Israel was well able to overcome it.
The command to hear today without hardening as in the provocation in the day of temptation, when the fathers tempted and proved though they saw works forty years and always erred in heart and did not know the ways, is written for admonition of teachers and students upon whom the ends of the world are come, lest after generations who learned no wisdom they go far from God after vanity as their fathers did. Today makes the call urgent, so students who feel called to work for God and for souls must respond rather than let unnecessary delays and prolonged education hold them back, because the time for labor is limited and waiting for a later opportunity wastes time. The call to work in the vineyard must be answered at once without delay or refusal, for the invitation may never be heard again and may not come again. Mere agreement or an affirmative answer is not enough; hearing requires repenting, leaving the enemy's side, forsaking every sin, taking position under Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and working righteousness while the heart is kept soft and obedient in the time called today. Continued refusal and cherished sin harden the heart, weaken character, strengthen habits that obscure right from wrong, and risk losing the opportunity to respond. Chorazin and Capernaum show the peril of turning from truth when offered, for though clear evidence and conviction were before them they refused its benefit, and as the present opportunity passed the impression wore away and judgment followed.
Not hardening means accepting the light given now and deciding to walk in newness of life by following Christ rather than cherishing anything that separates from Him. It means yielding pride, folly, and vanity and surrendering the whole heart with all talents and influence without reserve. Sin seen must be put away at once today, not a week or month or year later and not by degrees little by little, for delay leaves the heart hardened and risks eternal loss since death can strike suddenly before the delayed time comes. Turning today is turning from sin with loathing, loving what Christ loved and hating what Christ hated, taking His already shed blood by faith to wash and cleanse to the utmost, and giving self wholly in a broken, contrite heart that walks humbly, deals justly, and shows mercy. Today is the time to prepare for the appearing by overcoming pride, passion, and spiritual laziness and developing a balanced, faithful character, banishing retaliation, harsh and wounding words, and a poisonous atmosphere, and learning leniency and forgiving love. Refusing to hear and receive Christ in the present day of visitation makes a person responsible for destruction, while receiving Him brings mercy, pardon, peace, and the hope of heaven through faithful, honest service with restitution where possible.
Harden not your hearts as in the provocation means do not repeat what Israel did after coming out of Egypt, when those who heard provoked and tempted God though they saw His works forty years, hardened in murmuring, unbelief and rebellion, so He was grieved and swore they should not enter His rest and their carcasses fell in the wilderness except the two who wholly followed Him. Hearts harden not by God's decree but through the deceitfulness of sin and resisting the Holy Spirit, by rejecting His word, neglecting prayer and study, scorning conviction and choosing darkness over light until conscience loses sensitiveness. Therefore Today if His voice is heard it must be heard and obeyed at once without delay, for each ignored call leaves less impression and continued resistance sears the conscience until heart, eyes and ears become callous and beyond conviction, and the present invitation of mercy may not come again. Unbelief is an evil heart departing from the living God that kept that generation from His rest, and the same gospel now profits only when mixed with faith, so His house holds fast confidence and hope firm unto the end lest any seem to come short of the promise. The safeguard is to exhort one another daily while it is called Today, to believe God is leading and cherish and act faith under all circumstances, and to humble the heart and ask forgiveness for words of unbelief.
Wilderness Provocation Recalled
The provocation and day of temptation was Israel after coming out of Egypt by Moses, when the fathers tempted and proved God though they saw His works forty years. Some who heard after coming out did provoke, though not all who came out. Hearing His voice today means not hardening the heart as in that provocation in the wilderness.
God was grieved forty years with that generation who sinned, and said they do always err in heart and have not known His ways. He swore in His wrath they should not enter into His rest, even to them that believed not, and they could not enter in because of unbelief. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness, and nearly all the adults who left Egypt died before entering Canaan, with all but two of the adults dying in the wilderness. The two excepted were those who wholly followed Him, and it was not His good pleasure that the rest should wander so long, for He would have brought them immediately to the promised land if they had submitted and loved to be led by Him.
The warning recalls the unfaithful spies who magnified difficulties into insurmountable obstacles and leavened the whole congregation with unbelief. That leaven spread into lamentation, murmuring, and rebellion against God and God-appointed leaders. By that course the golden opportunity to possess the good land passed by.
Despite seeing God's works, that generation hardened their hearts in murmuring, complaining, unbelief, pride, selfishness, and rebellion. Their unbelief turned them from the living God, destroyed confidence in the Son of God, and kept them from entering His rest. They perished because they did not believe God's word, going astray in heart and not knowing His ways though they saw His works for forty years.
How Hearts Harden
Hardening comes through the deceitfulness of sin, because temptation is always presented under the guise of goodness. One violation of straightforward truthfulness prepares the way for a second violation, and wrongs repeated until the heart of unbelief becomes hardened and the conscience loses its sensitiveness. Even when warning, correction, and repeated opportunities to repent are given, persisting in one's own course can leave a person unable to discern good from evil and perish in sins. The safeguard is to humble the heart before God and ask forgiveness for speaking words of unbelief, since such words cast reflection on Him who is too wise to err and too good to do harm.
Hearts do not become hard by God's decree; people harden them through impenitence and refusal to hear warnings and reproof. Meetings meant for confession and humility then become occasions for self-justification, and dismissing or weakening a message of correction causes a precious opportunity for repentance and reform to be lost. Scorning warnings, resisting grace, abusing privileges, and smothering conviction strengthen human pride and lead to fatal hardness that shuts the soul away from what is good and from God.
Hardening shows itself in murmuring and complaining despite many works seen, in receiving mercies without gratitude and then finding fault with others or circumstances, which dishonors God. It shows itself in suspicion and distrust toward brethren, in weighing their words and motives and coming to wrong conclusions, in charging others with want of discernment and wisdom when appearances are not propitious, and in taking the judgment seat out of God's hands. It shows itself in lack of frankness and brotherly confidence, in secretiveness and self, and in evil surmising and evil speaking that depart from the living God. Turning from Christ the Leader to accept counsel opposed to God belongs to the same hardening, for unbelief and sin can harden the heart and lead away from the living God.
Hardening as in the provocation looks like talking in a heated, excited manner, stamping the feet, and being determined to carry out one's own plans. It is the opposite of improving the opportunity to turn to God in repentance and to seek the Lord with all the powers of the being instead of trying to convince others of their wrongdoing.
The heart is hardened by resisting the Holy Spirit and rejecting God's word in order to keep human traditions, leaving people unable to recognize God's voice. It is hardened by resisting conviction and refusing truth when light and message come, which is choosing darkness over light while the Spirit is drawing and calling to respond while opportunity for salvation is present. It is hardened by divorcing from God to follow the wisdom of men not under God's direction, by obstinately refusing warnings and persisting in backsliding, unbelief, and idolatry though truth and God's ways have been kept before them again and again. It is hardened by neglecting prayer and study of God's word so that further neglect becomes easier, with each resistance to the Spirit's pleading preparing the way for another until the conscience is seared. It is hardened by refusing God's voice and choosing what pleases self until eyes, ears, and heart become unimpressible to divine counsel, as shown in Israel's failure to recognize the time of its visitation. Persistent transgression and determined rejection bend the will toward evil, yet Christ does not force anyone to accept freedom from sin, and the call to respond without hardening when His voice is heard is urgent.
Hear His Voice Today
When His voice is heard today the heart must not be hardened but heard and obeyed at once, without putting off today's work or waiting for someone else to give directions. The appeal is tender and compassionate, yet urgent, and its endearing address as son also carries the force of a command. Hearing means trusting God rather than yielding to unbelief that turns away from the living God and lets sin harden the heart, guarding the soul, encouraging one another daily, and holding confidence and hope firm to the end. The call to work in the vineyard must be answered at once by refusing no longer and delaying obedience no longer, because the invitation may not come again and cherished refusal weakens character until right and wrong are harder to discern. Today makes the call urgent for students called to serve, who should not let unnecessary delays and prolonged education hold them back when the time for labor is limited.
Each ignored call of the Spirit leaves less impression, so later opportunities feel less compelling and delay itself hardens the heart as with the fathers who tested God though they saw His works. Even the least softened feeling or impression should be answered at once, because delay leaves the soul vulnerable to sin's deceit and may continue until the voice of mercy is no longer heard. Continued resistance and greater light neglected sear the conscience, so that by repeatedly stifling conscience and rejecting truth after great light and knowledge, eyes and ears and heart become callous, unimpressible, and carried beyond conviction. Greater light brings greater individual responsibility and calls for corresponding growth in spirituality rather than hardness against the Spirit's impressions.
The present invitation of mercy must be answered now, because refusal may leave no further opportunity for repentance before judgment and there will be no second probation when mercy no longer pleads. Now while it is called today is the time to hear and heed by turning fully to Him at once, lest coming suddenly He find His people unready with no atoning blood to cleanse sin, for those who turn fully will receive mercy and abundant pardon. Delay risks sudden death before the delayed surrender comes, and risks the close of intercession when no pardon remains. Surrender is to be right now, putting away sin at once when it is seen and not looking forward a week or a month or a year nor planning to overcome by degrees little by little. Leaving the cursed thing today is turning from sin with loathing, loving what Christ loved and hating what Christ hated, taking His already shed blood by faith to wash and cleanse to the utmost, and giving self wholly to God in a broken contrite heart that walks humbly, deals justly, and shows mercy, overcoming pride, passion, and spiritual laziness in a balanced faithful character prepared for the Lord's appearing.
Unbelief and God's Rest
Unbelief is an evil heart departing from the living God, destroying confidence in the Son of God and turning people away through the deceitfulness of sin. That unbelief kept the wilderness generation from entering His rest, and the same danger remains of failing through unbelief when God's voice is heard. The safeguard is repentance and personal heedfulness, guarding the soul against temptation and spiritual negligence, encouraging one another daily while it is still called today, and holding confidence firm to the end. The same gospel preached to them is preached now, but the word preached did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it. They heard God's word through Christ in the pillar of cloud, but unbelief with pride, selfishness, murmuring, and unwillingness to obey kept them from receiving it by faith and practicing it, and hearing truth in that way brings guilt and makes the message unprofitable.
Christ is as a son over His own house, while Moses was faithful as a servant in all his house, and His house are believers if they hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. There must be fear lest the promise of entering His rest be left and any should seem to come short of it. Only by holding the beginning of confidence steadfast unto the end are people made partakers of Christ, with patience to do the will of God, to live by faith and not draw back, and not to cast away confidence which has great recompense of reward when He that shall come comes and will not tarry. This holding fast requires taking heed to oneself, exhorting one another daily while it is called today lest any be hardened through sin's deceit into always erring in heart and not knowing His ways, and ministers and all who claim to be God's children must heed God while it is called Today.
It was not God's pleasure that Israel wander so long in the wilderness; He would have brought them immediately to the promised land if they had submitted and loved to be led by Him. Because they so often grieved Him in the desert and refused His leading, He swore in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest, and His promise was not fulfilled to them except to the two who wholly followed Him. In this He requires His people to trust in Him alone rather than receive help from those who do not serve Him.
Holding Fast Together
Believers must take heed lest there be in any an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, and must guard the soul against temptation and negligence. They are to exhort one another daily while it is called Today, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Ministers and all who claim to be God's children must heed God while it is called Today, and holding confidence and hope steadfast to the end is necessary to remain partakers of Christ. The warning stands because Israel hardened their hearts in the wilderness despite seeing God's works forty years, their leaders yielded to temptation so God could not give what He designed, and that generation was barred from His rest. The same experience will be repeated in the last years of the people established by grace and power, when men greatly honored pattern after ancient Israel, history is repeated with intensified perils, and influence is gained over men of high intelligence.
Not hardening the heart means refusing Israel's course of murmuring and complaining, suspicion and distrust toward brethren, weighing words and motives to wrong conclusions, and taking the judgment seat out of God's hands. It means believing God is leading, and cherishing faith and talking faith and acting faith under all circumstances because He manifests His grace and power over and over again. It means looking to God rather than to men and the arm of flesh and numbers and apparent capabilities, and keeping frankness and brotherly confidence without secretiveness and self and evil surmising and evil speaking. Trials of hardship like at Rephidim test faith and loyalty and are not proof of abandonment, so believers are to remember past care, trust His guidance, and seek His help rather than respond with doubt, complaint, and rebellion.
Hearing His voice today brings the Holy Spirit and the liberty of Christ, emptying the heart of distrust and suspicion, division and misunderstanding, watching for failings in others, and all bitterness and wrath and malice and selfishness. A hardened heart holds onto those evils and refuses the words of the gospel while angels watch anxiously how it is received and evil angels press insinuations on the mind. Not hardening the heart therefore means diligent repentance now, humbling before God, getting rid of differences that separate brethren, rescuing every soul tempted by the enemy, and going to work in the way God points out in order to receive the outpouring of the Spirit. The safeguard is to humble the heart before God and ask Him to forgive speaking words of unbelief, for such words cast reflection on Him who is too wise to err and too good to do harm. Hardening comes through the deceitfulness of sin presented under the guise of goodness, where one violation of straightforward truthfulness prepares the way for a second until repeated wrongs harden the heart in unbelief and the conscience loses its sensitiveness.
Present Obedience Required
Hardships like those at Rephidim test faith and loyalty and are not proof of abandonment or failure, but call for remembering past care, trusting guidance, seeking help, and keeping calm confidence instead of doubt, complaint, and rebellion, since persistent unbelief grieves God, draws away from Him, and bars entrance into His rest unless confidence is held firm to the end and believers encourage one another against hardening by sin. The same experience will be repeated in the last years of the people established by grace and power, when men greatly honored pattern after ancient Israel and leaders yield to temptation so that what was designed cannot be given. History is being repeated with intensified perils, as influence is gained over men of high intelligence just as Solomon was honored, and the fathers who tempted and proved God though they saw His works forty years stand as warning to take heed against an evil heart of unbelief departing from the living God. Those now on the borders of the heavenly Canaan must not repeat the sin of the unfaithful spies who magnified difficulties into insurmountable obstacles and leavened the congregation with unbelief, lamentation, murmuring, and rebellion against God and appointed leaders until the golden opportunity to possess the good land passed by. Instead of indulging doubts, criticisms, and complaints that sow unbelief and distrust, the call is for the faith of Caleb and Joshua, who declared the land exceeding good and that Israel was well able to overcome it.
The command to hear today without hardening as in the provocation in the day of temptation, when the fathers tempted and proved though they saw works forty years and always erred in heart and did not know the ways, is written for admonition of teachers and students upon whom the ends of the world are come, lest after generations who learned no wisdom they go far from God after vanity as their fathers did. Today makes the call urgent, so students who feel called to work for God and for souls must respond rather than let unnecessary delays and prolonged education hold them back, because the time for labor is limited and waiting for a later opportunity wastes time. The call to work in the vineyard must be answered at once without delay or refusal, for the invitation may never be heard again and may not come again. Mere agreement or an affirmative answer is not enough; hearing requires repenting, leaving the enemy's side, forsaking every sin, taking position under Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and working righteousness while the heart is kept soft and obedient in the time called today. Continued refusal and cherished sin harden the heart, weaken character, strengthen habits that obscure right from wrong, and risk losing the opportunity to respond. Chorazin and Capernaum show the peril of turning from truth when offered, for though clear evidence and conviction were before them they refused its benefit, and as the present opportunity passed the impression wore away and judgment followed.
Not hardening means accepting the light given now and deciding to walk in newness of life by following Christ rather than cherishing anything that separates from Him. It means yielding pride, folly, and vanity and surrendering the whole heart with all talents and influence without reserve. Sin seen must be put away at once today, not a week or month or year later and not by degrees little by little, for delay leaves the heart hardened and risks eternal loss since death can strike suddenly before the delayed time comes. Turning today is turning from sin with loathing, loving what Christ loved and hating what Christ hated, taking His already shed blood by faith to wash and cleanse to the utmost, and giving self wholly in a broken, contrite heart that walks humbly, deals justly, and shows mercy. Today is the time to prepare for the appearing by overcoming pride, passion, and spiritual laziness and developing a balanced, faithful character, banishing retaliation, harsh and wounding words, and a poisonous atmosphere, and learning leniency and forgiving love. Refusing to hear and receive Christ in the present day of visitation makes a person responsible for destruction, while receiving Him brings mercy, pardon, peace, and the hope of heaven through faithful, honest service with restitution where possible.