The Cure for a Hard Heart
“He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1, NKJV).
The Hebrew word for reproved in this verse refers to corrective teaching. Without remedy means “without a cure, without any possibility of deliverance.” This verse first tells us that the hardness of the heart comes as a result of rejecting repeated warnings and pushing aside all truth.
Secondly, it tells us that such hardness becomes impossible to cure over time. So who are the people who most often hear these warnings? They are supposedly Christians, those who sit in God’s house each week listening to sermons of reproof.
What exactly is a hard heart? It is a heart determined to resist obeying God’s Word, impossible to stir, and immune to the convictions and warnings of the Holy Spirit.
The tragic truth is that despite hearing fiery messages sent from heaven, multitudes of Christians do not practice what they hear. They refuse to allow God’s entry into certain areas of their lives, and hardness begins to set in as they continue to listen without heeding.
However, there are many sinners whose hardness of heart has been cured. At first, they cursed Christ and shook an angry fist in God’s face, yet their hearts melted when they heard the gospel and felt the pure, loving reproof of the Holy Spirit. They repented and turned to Jesus.
The life of Madalyn Murray O'Hair’s son illustrates this. He had been reared in probably the most atheistic household in America, and he later worked for his mother, crusading against God and religion. When he heard the gospel, he got gloriously saved and became a minister, preaching Christ instead of cursing him. This man’s hardness was curable because when he sat under sermons of reproof, he accepted them.
In my experience, the hardest, incurable hearts are often cured within earshot of Holy Spirit-anointed preaching. Such hearts do not melt in cold, dead, formal churches where the gospel has been corrupted for generations. No, it is always found where a pure word is preached from the pulpit and where repentance begins in the pews.
