Soft Hearts, Hard Hearts

A Heart That Grew Hard

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Pharaoh saw a rod turn into a serpent. He saw it swallow the magicians' serpents. Then “Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said” (Exodus 7:13).

What the heart is. In the Bible, your heart is the real you on the inside: what you think about, what you love, and what you choose. A hard heart is one that has decided not to listen to God.

It starts small. Hearts do not usually turn hard all at once. It happens little by little. Each time we ignore God, it gets a bit easier to ignore Him again.

Pharaoh's story. Pharaoh said no to Moses' request, no after the rod became a serpent, and no again and again through the plagues. Every no made the next no easier.

Seeing is not the same as listening. Pharaoh saw the sign with his own eyes. He knew something powerful had happened. But knowing about God's power is not the same as listening to God. A person can see a lot and still refuse to obey.

Sin tricks us. Hebrews warns, “exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). Sin lies to us. It tells us that saying no to God is no big deal.

Listen today. “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). The Bible says “today” because the best time to listen to God is right now.

A wise warning. “Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity” (Proverbs 28:14). Calamity means disaster. Pharaoh's hard heart brought disaster on all of Egypt.

Signs of a soft heart. A soft heart says sorry quickly. It listens when a parent corrects. It feels sad about sin. It wants to obey God, even when it is hard. It is quick to forgive others too.

Signs of a hard heart. A hard heart makes excuses. It blames others. It does not care when it hurts someone. It keeps doing wrong even after being warned.

God still wanted to be known. Even with Pharaoh, God's goal was that His name “may be declared in all the earth” (Romans 9:17). God was not hiding. Pharaoh was refusing.

What to do. When you know God wants you to change something, do it quickly. Say, “Yes, Lord,” instead of “Not now.” A quick yes keeps a heart soft.

The Bible describes the hardening of Pharaoh's heart in three main ways. Each one teaches us something about God and about our own hearts.

God hardens. God announces, “I will harden Pharaoh's heart” (4:21; 7:3), and later Exodus says the Lord hardened it (for example 9:12). God is sovereign over Pharaoh's resistance.

Pharaoh hardens. Several verses say Pharaoh “hardened his heart” (8:15, 32). His refusal is his own choice, and he is fully responsible for it.

The heart grows hard. Other verses, like 7:13, simply say “Pharaoh's heart grew hard.” Whatever the cause, the result was the same: Pharaoh's heart was set against God, and he would not let Israel go.

Seeing without heeding. Pharaoh's problem was not a lack of evidence. He saw the rod become a serpent and swallow the magicians' rods. The refrain “he did not heed them” (7:13) shows that the heart, not the eyes, was the problem. Jesus later said that some would not be persuaded “though one rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31).

Both are true. God is sovereign, and people are responsible for their choices. The Bible teaches both, and we should not drop either one. Many Christians understand Pharaoh's case as God confirming him in the choice he had already made. Paul uses Pharaoh in Romans 9:17 to show God's freedom to display His power and His name.

Hardening as a pattern. Psalm 95:7-8 and Hebrews 3 apply the same language to Israel in the wilderness: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” Israel, freed from Pharaoh, was capable of the same sin. The people who watched Pharaoh harden his heart soon hardened their own at Massah and Meribah (Psalm 95:8).

Two Hebrew verbs. Chazaq (say: khah-ZAHK), to make firm or strong, and kaved (say: kah-VED), to make heavy, describe the hardening. The first speaks of stubborn resolve; the second of dullness, a heart too heavy to respond.

The end of hardening. Proverbs 29:1 warns that the one who “hardens his neck, Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Pharaoh's story ends at the sea. Hardening is not a neutral state; it leads somewhere.

Application. The question for us is not first about Pharaoh's heart but about our own. Where do we keep saying no to God? The call of Hebrews is urgent and hopeful: “Today.”

A New Heart

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If a heart can grow hard, can it become soft again? The Bible says yes, but not by our own effort. Only God can do it.

We cannot fix it ourselves. We can try to be nicer and stop doing wrong things. But we cannot change the deepest part of us by ourselves. Sin is a heart problem, and it needs a heart cure.

God's promise. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). A heart of stone is cold and hard. But a heart of flesh is alive and soft.

David's prayer. After David sinned, he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). He knew only God could make his heart clean.

Through Jesus. God gives new hearts through Jesus. Jesus died on the cross to take away our sin, and He rose again to give us new life.

A new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Trusting Jesus is like starting over with a brand-new heart.

No one is too hard. Some people think their heart is too hard for God to change. But the Bible tells about many people whose hearts God made new. Paul once hurt Christians, and God changed him into a man who told the whole world about Jesus.

The Holy Spirit helps. When we trust Jesus, God gives us His Holy Spirit. He lives in us and helps us want to obey God. He keeps our hearts soft.

God wants everyone. “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22). God offers a new heart to people everywhere, even people who once said no to Him for a long time.

Keep listening. Even with a new heart, we still need to listen to God every day. We read the Bible, pray and spend time with other Christians who remind us of God's truth.

Help each other. Hebrews says to “exhort one another daily” (Hebrews 3:13). That means encouraging each other to keep following God. Friends can help keep each other's hearts soft.

What to do. Pray David's prayer this week: “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” If you have never trusted Jesus, you can ask Him today to give you a new heart.

God's law shows us that we have a heart problem, but the law alone cannot cure it. The prophets promise that God Himself will do heart surgery.

Ezekiel's promise. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). The next verse adds, “I will put My Spirit within you.” The new heart and the indwelling Spirit belong together.

Stone and flesh. Stone is unresponsive; flesh is living and sensitive. The image is the opposite of Pharaoh's heart that “grew hard.” God does not merely soften the old heart; He replaces it. The verb “give” stresses that this is a gift, not a reward.

The same story twice. Ezekiel spoke to Israel in exile, a people whose own hearts had hardened over centuries. Like Pharaoh, they had heard and refused. Unlike Pharaoh, they receive a promise that God will act inside them. The difference is not their goodness but God's mercy.

David's confession. Psalm 51:10 uses the verb bara' (say: bah-RAH), create, the same verb as Genesis 1:1. A clean heart is a new creation that only God can make.

New covenant fulfillment. The New Testament announces that these promises are fulfilled in Christ. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Regeneration, being born again, is God's gift through the Spirit (John 3:5-8).

From Pharaoh to the nations. Isaiah 45:22 widens the invitation to “all you ends of the earth.” The God who hardened Pharaoh also calls the nations to turn and be saved. Judgment on the hard heart and mercy for the repentant heart both flow from the same holy God.

Ongoing softness. A new heart still needs daily care. Hebrews 3:13 tells believers to encourage one another “daily, while it is called ‘Today.’” Christians help keep one another's hearts soft toward God's word. Reading Scripture, prayer, worship and confession are the ordinary ways God keeps a renewed heart tender.

The cross as the turning point. Christ bore the judgment that hard hearts deserve and rose to give new life. The response asked of us is repentance and faith, which are themselves signs of a heart God is renewing.

Application. Pray Psalm 51:10 honestly, and identify one person you can encourage this week to keep following God.

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