“O that today you would listen
to his voice; harden not your hearts.” This cry by the Psalmist sums up so much
that went wrong with the faith of God’s people. The heart was really the center of thought and emotion for Israel. “A pure heart create for me, O God…a
humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn!” is the prayer of David in Psalm 51
when he repents of his adultery with Bathsheba and all the sorry events that
flowed out of it. “Come to me with your hearts broken, not your garments torn!”
exclaims the prophet Joel, referring to the practice of rending garments when shocked
by blasphemy, a practice which all too easily opened itself to hypocrisy.
The later prophets of Israel saw the Old Covenant between
God and man, written on tablets of stone, as producing hearts of stone; hence
Israel’s constant turning away from God. They believed that God would send his
anointed one among them, to seal a New Covenant with his people in his own blood.
In the words of the prophet Jeremiah, “Deep within them I will plant my Law,
writing it on their hearts”. Or in
that moving prophecy to Israel-in-exile in chapter 36 of Ezekiel: “I will take
you from among the nations and pour clean water over you and cleanse you from
all your defilements. And I will take out of your chest the heart of stone, and
give you a heart of flesh. I will cause you
to walk in my commandments. And you shall be my people, and I will be your
God.”
This very message is directed at us today. The Lord Jesus
came among us, and his very first message was, “Repent! For the Kingdom of
God is at hand!” He calls us to a conversion from sin, a change of heart, a
turning back to him. We, too, like Israel of old, can harden our hearts against
his call, and refuse the faith and the holiness that he offers us. We need to
convert back to him daily, to be sorry for our sins and to turn to the Lord our
God, who is mercy and compassion. Let us listen carefully
to the call of the Psalmist from so long ago: “O that today you would listen to
his voice; harden not your hearts.”
Fr. Phillip
