Hearts of Stone

I must confess that there are many passages that challenge and even bewilder me in scripture. Even though I am a pastor and even though I believe that all scripture is truly “God-breathed,” there are plenty of verses that I don’t fully understand. Yet, scripture doesn’t have to make sense to me to be true.

One such challenging verse in scripture is from Romans 9:17-18:

For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then He has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

The context of the reference to the Pharaoh remains helpful. It so happens that our church is studying the Exodus story this week and several of our people have asked about this particular concept of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. We must first note that Pharaoh hardened his own heart first (during the first five plagues). It was not until the sixth plague that God steps in and re-hardened the Pharaoh’s heart. I say, “re-harden,” because the natural tendency of our hearts is to remain hard to God and His Word. Here’s a few examples (Jeremiah 17:9-10; Ezekiel 36:25-27).

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, 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. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

So, we can clearly see that apart from the Spirit’s interceding work, we cannot by our own power or reason believe in God. Our hearts remain broken, wicked and stony before God gifts us with faith. This makes us wonder at the wisdom of “following your heart.”

But here’s the challenge. If we cannot fix ourselves, if only God is capable of this sort of spiritual heart surgery, then why hold anyone accountable? Good question! Paul asks the same question (here we find the wisdom in reading scripture in context; Romans 9:19-21).

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?”

God’s answer to our questions about free will are a bit maddening to the modern mind. God’s simple response to both our greatest questions (free will & the problem of evil presented in Job) is the same: trust me as you Heavenly Father.

In short, we must remember that we have a good, good Father. Just like children must trust their earthly fathers when they don’t fully understand something, so also does our Heavenly Father ask us to trust Him. Yet, we trust Him not without reason. Our faith is founded on the extravagant gifts of love and grace that He constantly showers on us. If we remember that NONE of us deserve to be saved, none of us deserved to have our hearts soften by the Holy Spirit, then our trust and gratefulness towards our Heavenly Father become more secure and rooted.