At the center of every hard heart is pride. God warns Ezekiel, “But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart” (Ezek. 3:7). Do you laugh off being hard-headed? Strong-willed? I have at times. I ought to pause and not be so flippant. God’s work in me is at stake.

You can tell a good piece of fruit or vegetable by its color and by its feel. The avocado, though, is tricky. A novice might think that a bright green, hard avocado is the best, but counter-intuitively, the best avocados are dark, with shades of brown, giving easily to the touch. The heart of a growing Christian also gives easily to the touch. 

When we seek out counsel, the state of our hearts can resist the very thing we want. A soft heart can turn mediocre counsel into pearls of wisdom. A hard heart will turn the wisest counsel into sawdust. 

Solomon offers encouragement and a warning, “Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity” (Prov. 28:14). It’s easy to see this in others’ lives, isn’t it? We observe a friend responds to loss by numbing themselves with food and we worry that they are shutting down. We watch as a family member poorly chooses their friends and we are concerned about the ramifications of the company they are keeping. 

And yet, when it comes to our own hard hearts, we are often blind. We excuse our unhealthy behavior as an aberration, not a pattern. We don’t think we are shutting down when we scroll through social media, or that greed might have a hold on us as we wager increasing amounts on sports, or that our Amazon cart might be a coping mechanism. 

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