Hard hearts, blind eyes and dull ears

^{Mark 8:16} They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”

¹⁷ Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸ Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?

I've been thinking about my own walk with God a lot lately. I wonder why there are times of passion and love for God and then times of coldness. I can't tell you how it happens, but it does in my life. And then I came to this passage a few days ago. I began to see a pattern in my life....a pattern of coldness that makes me unable to see God's word clearly or hear his voice well. It's what Jesus described as a hardened heart. I hate to admit it or tell you about it, but I'm a victim of my own problems more than I want to admit. I'm really good at letting my heart become hardened to the things of God and then my ears and eyes are affected as well. It's a strange malady. One that the disciples, living in the presence of Jesus himself for three years, suffered from as well. Becoming dull, cold, insensitive, unable to see God's work and word well are all part of a hardened heart. When it happens we miss what God is doing. We don't see it, we don't hear him, we miss Him.

Jesus' words to his disciples are haunting, "Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?" These are words that speak to me. Is my heart hardened? I think that today it is. I'm working on it. The remedy? A step away from the roar of the world, the distractions around, a time to pray and be quiet, a time to ask God's spirit to break up my hard heart so I can see, so I can hear, so I don't miss him as he works in my life.