Heart Matters

My last post ruminated upon nobility and hinted at the question of our own will over our hearts.   To me, this becomes the same question of why some people are not "saved," why some people cannot understand the parables, why the Lord chooses to soften some hearts and not all.

It's a nasty question.

Heart sensitivity seems to originate from the Lord:

"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. Eze 36:27  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Ezekiel 36:26

From the other end, hardness of heart also seems to originate from God.   I think of the passages from the Exodus when Pharoah's hardness of heart is predicted to Moses.

"But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.."
 -Deuteronomy 29:4

You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt."  Exodus 7:3

After Aaron cast down his staff and it became a serpent, the Pharoah's sorcerers "copy" this sign, and the text uses the passive voice to state:

"Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said." Exodus 7:13

After the swarm of flies plague, the text reports,

"But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go."  Exodus 8:32

And then later the seeming opposite:

"But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses."   Exodus 9:12

What to make of these nuances?  Am I splitting hairs?  The nature and redemption of the heart is hardly a small question however; it's the center of our faith.

It becomes a bit of a "which came first the chicken or the egg" discussion.  In the largest sense, God is always is the original mover, the Alpha of it all.  The extent to which we cooperate with His plans is thus indisputable (As the original source and mover--it's His creation.  How could His purposes inherently NOT prevail?).  Yet, in another sense, as people and spirits, we participate--we are not just "dead wood."

Paul teaches the evil nature of the flesh:

"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out."  -Romans 7:18

And he teaches grace is fully from God:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."  Ephesians 2:8-9

Perhaps it is all clearer than I think, and I just don't like the implications---why does God choose some and not all?  Can a fair God choose to do such a thing and be fair?

Here are some cross-referenced passages---the intentions of the heart and the sensitivity of the heart are interwoven through all:

"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45

"And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live."
-Deuteronomy 30:6

"Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn." Deuteronomy 10:16

"Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.” Jeremiah 4:4

"For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God."  -Romans 2:28-29

This intimate metaphor teaches that the Lord values sensitivity and vulnerability in contrast to stubbornness or pride.  Where does this sensitivity originate?  In one sense, it's a mute point--all comes from the Lord.  In another sense, the sensitivity of the heart, the goodness of the soil, the receptivity of the soul to its maker, is a larger conversation that I will explore in the next post.

These different types of character are capable of being changed. The path may be broken up, the rock blasted and removed, the thorns stubbed up. We make ourselves fit or unfit to receive the seed and bear fruit. Christ would not have spoken the parable if He had not hoped thereby to make some of His hearers who belonged to the three defective classes into members of the fourth. No natural, unalterable incapacity bars any from welcoming the word, housing it in his heart, and bringing forth fruit with patience.