if you will hear his voice
Whenever you talk of what God had said to you, a lot of believers want to know how to hear from God. Do you know that God enjoys talking? Several times in Genesis 1, God said. And if you consider Jesus, He was almost always talking – either teaching men or praying to God. In Hebrews 3:7-8, (New King James Version) the Holy Spirit says Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, implying that the reason we do not hear from God is that we harden our hearts.
Observe that the bible does not say that we allow satan to harden our hearts for us, because from the time that Jesus died for you and for me, we are completely responsible for our own hearts whether they are hard or soft. It is easy to know what a hard heart is from a family. If for example, you give a child a command and they refuse to carry it out. You give it to them again and after a while, you give it up as being useless. That child has hardened his heart to you. Hebrews 3:8 likens it to being rebellious, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness.
That is what happened with Pharaoh when he asked Moses in Exodus 5:2, Who is God that I should serve Him? Unfortunately, rebellion is not limited to unbelievers. It was with the children of God that God was angry in the wilderness when they rebelled by hardening their hearts, Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways. (Hebrews 3:10).
I pray that none of us will ever experience the anger of God, because anybody under the anger of God will never enter into God’s rest as we see in verse 11, So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest." In addition, such a person will live out their lives in the wilderness of life, just like the children of God who hardened their hearts in the exodus from Egypt, Hebrews 3:16-17, For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
The first sign of that wilderness existence is that you cannot hear from God, you get no leading, no guidance from God. And because they do not hear from God, they never find the way to the Promised Land. Hebrews 3:19 also makes it clear that they never enter into the promises of God for their lives, all because they did not obey the voice of God. What will you do today when you hear His voice? Once we know the terrible effects of rebellion, we will immediately desist from hardening our hearts.
In Romans 1:21, we see another effect of disobeying God, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. A darkened heart is the heart that devises and carries out acts that cannot be described; murder, drug addiction suicide etc.; the bible calls them things which are not fitting, as in Romans 1:28-31, And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. Observe that the passage says that these people deserve to die. But we shall not die, in Jesus name.
Obedience to the voice of God is the only requirement for us not to be found among this group. God will help us to obey Him, Amen.
Observe that the bible does not say that we allow satan to harden our hearts for us, because from the time that Jesus died for you and for me, we are completely responsible for our own hearts whether they are hard or soft. It is easy to know what a hard heart is from a family. If for example, you give a child a command and they refuse to carry it out. You give it to them again and after a while, you give it up as being useless. That child has hardened his heart to you. Hebrews 3:8 likens it to being rebellious, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness.
That is what happened with Pharaoh when he asked Moses in Exodus 5:2, Who is God that I should serve Him? Unfortunately, rebellion is not limited to unbelievers. It was with the children of God that God was angry in the wilderness when they rebelled by hardening their hearts, Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways. (Hebrews 3:10).
I pray that none of us will ever experience the anger of God, because anybody under the anger of God will never enter into God’s rest as we see in verse 11, So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest." In addition, such a person will live out their lives in the wilderness of life, just like the children of God who hardened their hearts in the exodus from Egypt, Hebrews 3:16-17, For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
The first sign of that wilderness existence is that you cannot hear from God, you get no leading, no guidance from God. And because they do not hear from God, they never find the way to the Promised Land. Hebrews 3:19 also makes it clear that they never enter into the promises of God for their lives, all because they did not obey the voice of God. What will you do today when you hear His voice? Once we know the terrible effects of rebellion, we will immediately desist from hardening our hearts.
In Romans 1:21, we see another effect of disobeying God, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. A darkened heart is the heart that devises and carries out acts that cannot be described; murder, drug addiction suicide etc.; the bible calls them things which are not fitting, as in Romans 1:28-31, And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. Observe that the passage says that these people deserve to die. But we shall not die, in Jesus name.
Obedience to the voice of God is the only requirement for us not to be found among this group. God will help us to obey Him, Amen.
