HEARTS THAT ARE DIAMOND-HARD

HEARTS THAT ARE DIAMOND-HARD

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. —Zechariah 7:12

“The heat and pressure causes the diamonds molecules to change so that they’re so close together, the molecules can’t move (known as covalent bonding). The closeness of these molecules forms a rigid bond, therefore making the diamond hard.”

            So a person who “refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear” has a heart that is diamond-hard.  Unlike the diamond that has eternal forces creating its hardness, a person “made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts.”  The result of this self-made hardness is that the Lord is greatly angered.

            This hardness causes a person to: 1- refuse to pay attention 2- turn a stubborn shoulder 3- stopped their ears that they might not hear.  The result is a diamond-hard heart that will not hear what God says.  This is a dangerous place to be!

            Here’s the danger.  When a person will not listen to what the Lord says they will listen to other sources.  They will listen to false prophets.  They will listen to false teachers.  They will listen to their own wrong thinking.  They will listen to deception.  They will listen to anything that suits their own desires— “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (II Timothy 4:3-5). 

              “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”  There are those who would rather follow Satan’s ways rather than God’s clearly revealed Truth.  Demonic “teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (I Timothy 4:1).  These are people with diamond-hard hearts who, once again: refuse to pay attention, are stubborn and will not listen.  The Apostle Paul says these diamond-hardened hearted people easily put up with a different Jesus, a different spirit and a different gospel.  These people listen to “super-apostles” or super-Christians who claim to be at a spiritual level above all others. (II Corinthians 11:4).  Beware of these self-proclaimed, diamond-hardened hearted deceivers.

Dear Father, may I have a soft pliable heart that is open to Your molding into what You desire.  May this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDAITgJXO1I