HEARTS OF STONE

Ezekiel 11:19 “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”

It was 103°F in Hell Creek, South Dakota, one day in September 1993. Dinosaur hunter Michael Hammer was amazed at what he saw. Sticking out of the ground were the remains of a Thescelosaurus, a plant-eating dinosaur. The skeleton was almost complete. Hammer says he knew right away that it was "very special." Scientists reported that inside the dinosaur’s chest was what seems to be a stone heart--the first dinosaur heart ever seen. Having a stone heart usually is not a good thing.

Having a heart made of stone is not exactly something we should long for. We see that in the book of Ezekiel the prophet was calling the exiled people of Israel back to the living God. He spoke of their hearts that had been turned to stone. The Bible teaches plainly that it really does matter what condition our heart is in, it really does matter what is inside of us. It goes beyond the things that we do; God is concerned about what we think and how we think.

Jesus was really hard on the Pharisees, and the main reason was because of their hardened stone hearts. It blows me away how people that possessed so much knowledge about God, and a people that did so much in the name of God, could have hearts as hard as they did. The Pharisees had hearts of stone. They could find joy in the disgrace of a woman caught in the act of adultery and take pride in the fulfillment of the law to stone her to death. They could look at the situations of Jesus doing good and find fault in them. Their hearts were made of stone. The hard hearted are not always the easiest to identify however. Just because a person is doing certain things that we think are good does not guarantee that their heart is not stone.

One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to bring conviction to people’s hearts. It was the Holy Spirit working on the hearts of the Jews on Pentecost when they said, they were pierced to the heart. The Word of God is one of the most powerful things that there is. It is the Word of God that is called the sword of the Spirit and is our weapon against the Devil. It is in the Word of God that we can find help for our problems, we can claim promises that God gives us, and we can learn the way of shaping our hearts.

Our hearts are softened and chiseled away at by being careful what we allow into our hearts. Jesus taught plainly, that it really does matter what you allow into your hearts, because that goes to your heart and eventually will come out.

It can happen to any of us. Our hearts can become hardened by the troubles that we face, by the losses we suffer, and by our perception of what is going on around us. Be mindful of the condition of your heart. Allow the Spirit and the Word to always have access to your heart. Never shut yourself off to God’s voice. Be teachable and touchable. Keep your heart guarded and you will remain sensitive to God’s ways.