Even the Hardest Heart

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:25-26

“(There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel.)

“And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, ‘Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster upon his house.'” 1 Kings 21:25-29

“Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way,.. he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he went on his way, suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said, ‘I am Jesus.'” Acts 9:1-5

The most determined atheist, the cruelest enemy, the one raised in a false religion, or void of any knowledge of or accountability to a higher being at all. Each heart, hard as flint, can be penetrated by the omnipotent Holy Spirit. When He sets His affection on and pursues, He will break down, soften, and rush in to shape and fill and flow through. Who can deny His power?

In the grind of life and grit of relationships, we meet people we deem impossible- to get along with, to break through to, to see redeemed. But God their Maker doesn’t see the same way we see, and in full concern for and consideration of the heart has His mysterious and majestic ways of working. He’s not limited by our apathy or callousness, limited vision, or anemic faith. (1 Samuel 16:7)

Who is it who keeps us in constant turmoil or angst? With whom are we incessantly critical or negative? What relationship do we see as beyond repair? On whom have we given up altogether? Have we checked our own hearts for a superior attitude, pride in our salvation, prayerlessness, or hard heart? Would we confess our assessment of impossible and ask God to perform His possible, to His glory? When the love that transformed us begins to flow through us, our flint turns to conduit that can be life-changing. (Romans 4:17-21; 5:5-8)

Often the Lord works in such ways to magnify His grace, and increases our awe and faith in the process. Would we choose expectant trust over entrenched stony attitudes and to hope in who He is and what He can do?

Lord, soften and sculpt my heart to be a vessel and conduit for Your living, life-giving Spirit, to the praise of Your salvation and glory.