WHY PEOPLE HARDEN THEIR HEARTS AND MISS THE WAY OF THE LORD
Josimar Salum
On this night before bed, after sharing a video about obvious issues of this pandemic, a longtime pastor friend commented:
"This is very serious. There's a whole conspiracy in motion. And what strikes me is the alienation of many Christian “leaders” from all of this.”
I asked him, "Do you think all these pastors have fellowship with the Holy Spirit?"
"The Truth. The Holy Spirit is the one who guides us to all Truth, it is written. Without communion with Him, it is sheer blindness. Blind leading the blind. My God!"
I have dealt with some situations over the past year that have been distressing me and because of this I have been praying these past few weeks incessantly.
I have sought brokenness, the Holy Spirit, and I have diligently begged Jesus to soften my heart.
I have tried to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit while taking care of some disciples of Jesus with such attention and dedication that, at times, I feel uneasy, because I realize my zeal, as one who wants to say one day, “I have begotten you in Christ.”
But something very serious has intrigued me and caused me great distress and makes me get up at dawn to pray with a great grip on my heart and a lot of sadness. This restlessness has come in the form of questions I have been asking.
Why are there people who harden their hearts so much that even after praying and crying out for them they remain unreachable, unchangeable and increasingly hard of heart?
Why do some men who leave their wives and family go away, break up their marriages and get together with their mistress and after years live their life in the normality of sin and don't repent?
Why do many leaders keep to the course of their lives and ministries even though they live a double life in hidden sinful behavior?
Why after showing them the way with love, with resignation and dedication, people continue to refuse what you show and prefer to live in deception, thinking they are deceiving us, when we already know what they were doing all along?
Why do children remain in sin, selfishness, vices, year after year, and despite the parents' intercession, they remain hard and insensitive to the Holy Spirit's call?
Why do ministry friends who have worked and walked together for 30, 40 years end up breaking their ties and go away offended with no signs of reconciliation and restoration, and insist on the path of division to preserve their broken structures and practices?
Why is it that even though we have been teaching precious lives night and day for many years, suddenly they decide to live their own lives and no longer listen to our lessons of love and truth?
Why did those who were teachable and receptive to our advices and teachings after they became more knowledgeable, and become teachers, come to despise us?
Why do they act like those children who already despise their parents because they have grown old and are unsuitable to advise them?
And in general, why do people get involved in the massification of false information from the media and refuse to identify the truth, and get lost in the illusion of the masses? Why do these people so easily accept lies, become deceived by false science and become prey to the vain philosophies and ideologies of this world?
The prophet in his prayer identified in my terror the only reason that makes me answer these questions:
“But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.
Why, Lord, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you?
Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance. For a little while your people possessed your holy place, but now our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary.
We are yours from of old; but you have not ruled over them, they have not been called by your name." Isaiah 63:16-19
Why does the Lord lead us astray from his ways? For some reason we have made the Holy Spirit our enemy and the realization of this possibility has filled me with terror.
One of the scariest passages of Scripture for me is this one.
“After putting him (Samson) to sleep on her (Delilah) lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.
And his strength left him.
Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.”
But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza.
Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison." Judges 16:19-21
Because he did not know that the Lord had already departed from him. My God, what a terrible thing! He did not know.
Another passage states:
“When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?” Matthew 26:20-22
“After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.
One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”
Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.”
Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” John 13:21-27
And after the morsel, Satan entered him. He ate of the wet bread, of communion, with a heart full of evil intent.
He ate in the communion of the Lord being impure, full of hate, lighthearted, already with the intention of betraying. And Satan entered him. This is just terrifying.
There is nothing more terrible when I watch someone who has turned his back on God and realize that God no longer warns him.
There is no greater judgment on someone who abandoning the Lord, his life continues to work and continues to prosper.
But like the prophet I collapse before the Lord and cry!
"Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!
As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!
For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him." Isaiah 64:1-4
I know that 700 years later the Lord opened a small crack in heaven and sent an angel to the temple to announce the birth of a man who would be the Voice that would precede the final answer to this prayer.
I know that 700 years later the Lord opened another small crack in the sky and sent an angel to a girl from the countryside to announce that this small crack would open her womb to receive God who would become flesh.
God, 700 years later, split the heavens and came down in the flesh, Jesus, full of grace and truth and we saw his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father.
And even without understanding the reasons in these questions and without seeing clear answers to them, I know that the Lord works for those who wait in Him.
And I continue to pray, to cry, and to wait for the day when I will say:
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.
Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.
I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, Lord, as you know.
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.
I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.
Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord; may your love and faithfulness always protect me." Psalms 40:1, 4, 9-11
Amen!
#ASONE
Translated by: Filipe S.S. Gouvea
No comments:
Post a Comment