The Hard Place

When I was young , my grandfather became very ill.  His condition deteriorated as he suffered over the years, until finally he passed on.  That was a very sad time for me because I had never experienced the death of someone close to me.  I struggled to understand why my grandfather had been taken away, so I questioned my mother about what had made him so sick.  My mother told me that the doctors had diagnosed him with a condition called arteriosclerosis. 

In my quest to find answers, I pulled out the old World Book Encyclopedia to look up the word “arteriosclerosis”.  I’m probably dating myself, but I still remember looking at the 3D depiction of the human body in that encyclopedia with its clear pages that overlaid one on top of the next to show the organs, musculature and skeletal structure.  I remember reading the definition of arteriosclerosis, and finding little comfort in it.  The encyclopedia said that my grandfather’s condition was brought on by a build up of fat that collected along the arteries of his heart until it finally became thickened and hardened.  Eventually, this plaque build up began to clog the arteries until the blood flow to the heart was blocked.  It also said that arteriosclerosis was commonly known as “hardening of the arteries”.

So my grandfather died of a hardened heart.

Unfortunately, his physical condition was an indicator of his spiritual condition; because my grandfather was a hard man, who lived a hard life.  Clearly, his lifestyle had brought about his physical condition.  And it’s quite probable that one’s spiritual lifestyle could bring about a spiritual hardening of the heart.

Pride and rebellion are direct symptoms of the hardened heart.  Removing yourself from the presence of God through prideful imagination and a rebellious spirit results in your inability to hear God’s voice.  You begin to only hear your own voice and your own desires.  And you begin to believe that your will is God’s will.  Your heart becomes hardened, and you begin to believe that you are master of all that you survey.

Take, for example, Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar.  After corrupting the sacred vessels and utensils of God’s temple, Belshazzar is shocked to see a mysterious hand come from the wall and write the words, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.  The king’s astrologers and soothsayers are stumped.  So Daniel is called in to interpret the handwriting on the wall.  Daniel has been offered gifts and rewards for his correct interpretation.  Daniel tells the king the direct interpretation of the words:  You have been weighed and found wanting.  But Daniel goes on to tell the king the why of the handwriting on the wall.  And so we read in Daniel 5:17-22:

17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. 18 O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: 19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. 20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: 21 And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. 22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;

The real issue with Belshazzar was that he was a witness to the sudden downfall of his father Nebuchadnezzar.  He knew that his father became prideful and arrogant and then had his mind stripped from him for seven years.  He knew that the God of Israel was not to be mocked.  And yet, here he was:  pridefully and arrogantly defiling the holy implements of God’s temple.  Belshazzar had inherited Nebuchadnezzar’s hardened heart.  And now he would inherit God’s immediate wrath.  We read in Daniel 5:30:

In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

We know from our own families how members of the same family tend to look alike and even act alike.  Whether environmental or genetic, we have seen sons and daughters behaving like the example set by their parents.  We’ve seen younger siblings trying to emulate their older brother or sister.  This was the case with Belshazzar, and with Zedekiah, brother of Nebuchadnezzar.   Both Belshazzar and Zedekiah were quick to emulate the pride and arrogant behavior of Nebuchadnezzar.  But the hard places in their hearts stopped them from learning from the seven year lesson that Nebuchadnezzar had to endure.  We read in 2 Chronicles 36:11-13:

11 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD. 13 And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel.

Now Zedekiah swore to his brother, Nebuchadnezzar, that he would rule Jerusalem under God’s authority.  But he apparently had no intention of keeping his promise.  He not only turned on his brother, he rebelled against God.  But there were consequences waiting for Zedekiah.  Because Nebuchadnezzar knew the power of God; he had experienced it first-hand.  We read in 2Kings 25:1-7:

1 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about. 2 And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 3 And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. 4 And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. 5 And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him. 6 So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. 7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.

Here, as with Belshazzar, God’s chastisement for the hardened heart can be fatal.  But just as it is necessary to discipline our children, in much the same way, God must deal with our challenges to His authority.  The word tells us in Hebrews 12:6-11:

6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

There we have in just a few, brief sentences the entire substance of what it means to be a parent and a child of God.  Just as we want our children to grow up to be decent, God-fearing, productive citizens, so does God want the best for us.  And that best is that we be holy and righteous, so that we might be in God’s presence. 

The last individual who attempted to put himself in God’s position became the author of chaos and confusion.  We read in Isaiah 14:12-15:

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

The word clearly tells us that Lucifer will be cast into the pit of hell for his sin of pride and rebellion.  Ultimately, for each of us, pride and rebellion leads to eternal separation from God’s presence.  This is something to avoid at all costs.  Because we were formed in the image of God, separation for eternity from our creator will be more than we can bear.

So the purpose of God’s chastisement is simply put in the previous scriptures:  that we might share in His holiness and produce the fruit of righteousness.  And in doing so, we can abide in God and He in us.  In His loving chastisement is where the heart, hardened by the continual apologies of an unrepentant spirit, stiffened by the pride of life and sinful rebellion, is softened and renewed into a heart that is for the Lord.