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“For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” Acts 28:27 (NIV)

As the drizzling wet streaked across the glass, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My windshield wipers were moving. It was finally raining! Something I hadn’t seen in a long time. Felt strange to open my umbrella and feel the cool water splash around me. Surprised I even knew where the umbrella was since it hadn’t been opened for months.

Our deficit of rain consumed us this summer. Hot temps and no wet didn’t foster a good environment for gardens or plants. Our soft, plush green yard now yields dry, crunchy and ugly. The soil cracks. And autumn mums don’t even cover my front porch – too much work to water, water and water them every day. So the sprinkling of wet is welcomed despite the strangeness of its feel.

Wonder if we ever find ourselves dry and parched? Lifeless from the heat of life. Void of a sense of God’s presence due to our own absence. Souls hard and calloused unwelcoming the Spirit’s work deep within us. Dismissing the conviction of what needs to be confessed, transformed and redeemed. Listening but not truly hearing. Comfortable with avoidance. Allowing truth to not be absorbed beneath the surface. Pointing the finger outward without even a glimpse inward.

Scripture clearly warns us of the consequences of a heart which is hard, calloused and unchangeable. Rejecting the working of God’s Spirit within us will result in a defiant, resistant and unyielding heart. While we would be quick to deny our cracks and need for His touch, we sit in the midst of truth and our souls are complacent. What we hear never gets a chance to penetrate through the hardness of us because we’ve become pros at dismissing His Spirit. And the end result there’s definitely no margin for growth when confession is stalled.

Sweet friends, silence is not golden if we are squelching God’s prompting to obey His words. The better choice is to heed rather than avoid. The best way is to humbly admit. The greatest pleasure is found at His feet washed, cleansed and completely His.

“Father, our complacency and okayness with self rob us of the sheer joy of transformation. Cultivate within us soft hearts and a willing spirit to obey Your voice.”

For His Glory

Janet Martin
TRBC Women’s Life