Do You Not Yet Perceive or Understand?

Do You Not Yet Perceive or Understand?

“Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?” Mark 8:17-18. These truly are extremely important questions that need to be answered by every one of us; they are questions that are addressed to Jesus Christ’s true disciples—those whom He Himself has chosen to follow Him in His steps and become like Him!

What kind of hardness was this? It was certainly not hardness in the usual sense of the word, according to the usual understanding of it, the imperfect light which almost everyone has. However, it was a kind of hardness in the deepest sense of the word and according to the light Jesus had. In other words, their hearts were somewhat hard and thereby less receptive. The miracle they had recently witnessed had not made a sufficient impression on them. It was almost as if they had not witnessed it at all! They had not learned anything from it.

As profound and as serious as God’s work is, the impression that each single Word of life makes on us when we read it or hear it shows how great or small our receptivity is! The less we are affected by it, the worse off we are, and the slower the process of being thoroughly saved and transformed inwardly, the harder it is in our heart! Whout realizing it, we have become more or less hardened.

Unfortunately, it is quite common for a person not to realize this and consequently not to acknowledge it either. If you do not understand God’s Word (Matt. 13:23) or its meaning, there must be some hardness in your heart that is at the root of it and is the cause of this lack of receptivity. This hardness of the heart also causes you not to see what is really written; in other words it causes a kind of blindness! For example, when it says, “Pay heed to,” you understand it this way: “It is nice to pay some heed to it.” Of course, that is not at all the way it is written. Far from it! This is also why the Word has so little effect or no effect at all! If it says, “always,” this hardness, or lack of receptivity, or blindness, changes it to: “more often,” or “often,” or “if I have time,” or, “I hope it can get better.” Then you read or hear to no purpose, thanks to your hardness of heart! The word “now” or “today” is likewise changed to “later” or “another time.” Or “fervently love one another with a pure heart” is changed to “I miss this from the others.” Then there is no doubt at all that you are hardened!

Hardness appears in many and various degrees. But it is reprehensible if it appears even in the least degree. If God has wonderfully helped you in a given situation, and you get anxious afterwards or lose your composure when you are in difficult situations, then your heart is hardened to some degree. See Mark 6:52, 8:17. Unfortunately, this kind of hardness is quite common.

In the worst case, God can get so angry at us that He hardens us Himself. See Rom. 9:18, 11:7. Many people possess very little of God because their heart is more or less hardened! Despite the fact that they know that many unspeakably glorious and useful and necessary things are written in the Bible, they have very little knowledge of all this. They don’t bother to read much and think much about the glorious things that are written down for their very best; they only nibble a little bit at it as if the whole thing mattered very little or not at all. What hardness!

There are so many people who know very well that things ought to be much better and that they ought to get converted. But in spite of this, they do not do it! What disastrous hardness!

There are very many people who earn a lot money, but they give away comparatively little! How hard and cold such people are! What hardness! Many people know very well that they ought to do and say both this and that; for example, asking for forgiveness for something, but they have not done it! What hardness that is! Many people do not even understand the simplest word of Scripture! Oh, what hardness!

To address Jesus as Lord without having reverence for Him and with the idea of obeying Him in everything is absolute foolishness. Then Jesus’ words apply: “Do you not yet perceive and understand? Is your heart still hardened?” We are exhorted to obey our masters according to the flesh. If we criticize them and do as we think best—instead of obeying them—our heart is hard.

“Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you . . . .” Matt. 28:20. The meaning of these words is one hundred percent clear. If this does not leave a lasting, deep impression on us, then we are in unspeakably great need of a radical softening of our hard hearts!

In several areas and in many cases the words that were spoken in those days (Mark 3:2-5) still apply: Jesus looks at us with anger, full of grief, because of the hardness of our hearts!

There are so many glorious words in the New Testament that were written for our eternal benefit and happiness, but there is still so pitifully little interest! God has done unspeakably much for us; He has offered us so much, yet the results are pathetically small in com parison to what they could have been! We can be sure that, by and large, we are as stubborn as a mule! But what about the future from now on?