IF TODAY YOU HEAR MY VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS

Jeremiah 7:23-28

Luke 11:14-23

Think about this for a moment: Is not every human life a kingdom divided against itself?  God calls, we tell ourselves we ought to follow his voice, we WILL follow his voice.  We will not allow our hearts to be hardened.  We will listen for his voice; listen with our whole hearts wide open ready to move to that place God wants us to be.

Then, we discover that the voice we thought we heard was asking us to do something we were not ready to do.  It would be so impractical to pull ourselves away from our daily routines.  God’s voice calls to us through a person we find it hard to like and so we turn away.  God’s voice calls to us though the poor and we decide it would not be prudent to care for them.  God’s voice calls us to simply pray, to be at rest with him for a few moments of silence, but another load of laundry has to go into the dryer, the dishwasher’s full, it has to be run, there are dust bunnies under the bed, and we just don’t have the time to be still and silent.

“If today you hear my voice, harden not your hearts.”  In this moment we are Israel in the wilderness of Meribah.  God’s voice speaks to us as water bubbling up through rock and spilling down onto the dry, caked ground.  This water promises to soften our hearts, to unite them in purifying love.  “Drink of me my thirsty, little ones.  Find refreshment, healing, mercy and compassion in the water I give you today.”