A Heart That Remembers

When Hearts Grow Hard

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After Jesus walked on the sea, His disciples were amazed. The Bible gives a sad reason: “For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened” (Mark 6:52).

What they had seen. Just hours before, the disciples had handed out bread to five thousand men from five loaves and two fish. They had picked up twelve baskets of leftovers (Mark 6:43).

What they missed. They saw the miracle, but they did not see what it showed: Jesus does what only God can do. So when trouble came on the lake, they did not expect Him to help.

The heart. In the Bible, the heart means the inside of a person: thinking, feeling and choosing all together.

A hardened heart. A hardened heart has grown thick and slow, like the tough skin on a worker's hand. It does not feel God's love or listen to Him the way it should.

Not enemies. These were Jesus' friends. They loved Him and had left their homes to follow Him. A hard heart can happen even to people who follow Jesus.

It happened again. Later the disciples worried because they had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat. Jesus asked whether their hearts were still hardened and whether they remembered what He had done (Mark 8:14-18).

Counting the baskets. Jesus asked them how many baskets were left after the five thousand ate. They said twelve. After the four thousand ate, there were seven (Mark 8:19-20). He wanted them to remember.

Forgetting leads to fear. When we forget what God has done, the next problem looks too big. God's people did that long ago too: they “forgot His works And His wonders that He had shown them” (Psalm 78:11).

A warning. “Today, if you will hear His voice: ‘Do not harden your hearts’” (Psalm 95:7-8). A heart grows hard when we hear God and keep ignoring Him.

Jesus was patient. Jesus did not give up on His slow disciples. He climbed into the boat with them, and He kept teaching them.

A soft heart. A heart that is soft toward God listens to Jesus, believes what He says and remembers what He has done.

What we learn. Seeing what Jesus does is not enough. We need hearts that understand who He is and trust Him.

What to do. Pray and ask God to keep your heart soft toward Him. Then listen for what He shows you when you read the Bible this week.

Mark 6:52 gives the reason for the disciples' amazement on the lake: “For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.” The feeding of the five thousand should have prepared them for that night.

Understood. The Greek word syniēmi (say: soon-EE-ay-mee) means to understand, to put things together. The disciples had all the pieces. They had not put them together: Jesus is the Lord who provides.

Hardened. The word is pōroō (say: poh-ROH-oh), to harden or make thick, like a callus that has lost its feeling. It describes a dull heart more than a defiant one.

The heart in Scripture. The heart is the center of a person: mind, will and feelings together. A dull heart affects how we see, what we expect and how we answer God.

Hard hearts among His enemies. In the synagogue, Jesus was grieved by the hardness of heart of those who were watching to accuse Him (Mark 3:5). Their hardness came from rejecting Him.

Hard hearts among His friends. His disciples were different. They followed Him, yet their hearts were dull. When they worried about bread, Jesus asked whether their hearts were still hardened, and whether they had eyes but did not see and ears but did not hear (Mark 8:17-18).

Remember the baskets. Jesus walked them through what they had seen: twelve baskets after the five thousand and seven after the four thousand (Mark 8:19-20). Then He asked how they still did not understand (8:21). Remembering was meant to answer their worry.

Psalm 78:11. Israel “forgot His works And His wonders that He had shown them.” The same people who crossed the sea on dry ground later doubted that God could give them food in the desert (Psalm 78:13, 19-20).

Psalm 95:7-8. “Today, if you will hear His voice: ‘Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.’” Hardness grows when God speaks and we keep putting Him off. The cure is to respond today.

Not beyond hope. The very next day, in Capernaum, Peter said to Jesus, “We have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:69). After the resurrection, Jesus opened the disciples' minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45).

Application. Hearts grow dull slowly, often while we are busy and even while we are serving God. When God keeps showing you the same truth and you keep putting it off, answer Him today.

Remembering What Jesus Has Done

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A hard heart forgets what God has done. A soft heart remembers. God gives us ways to remember, and He even helps us do it.

Forget not. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits” (Psalm 103:2). Benefits means the good things God gives us. David told his own soul to remember.

Stones by the river. When Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground, God told Joshua to have twelve men each carry a stone out of the riverbed (Joshua 4:4-5). Joshua set the stones up at Gilgal (Joshua 4:20).

A question to answer. The stones were there so that children would ask, “What do these stones mean to you?” (Joshua 4:6). Then their parents would tell them how the Lord stopped the water of the Jordan (Joshua 4:7).

A memorial. “And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever” (Joshua 4:7). A memorial is something that helps people remember.

Remember the way. Moses told Israel, “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way” (Deuteronomy 8:2). Looking back at how God led us helps us trust Him for what is ahead.

A new heart. God promised, “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). Only God can change a hard heart.

A Helper who reminds. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit: “He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit helps us remember Jesus' words.

They remembered later. After Jesus rose from the dead, His disciples remembered what He had said, and they believed (John 2:22).

Jesus gave a reminder too. On the night before He died, Jesus gave His followers bread and a cup and told them to share it “in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:25).

Be still. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Slowing down to think about God helps us remember who He is.

Your own stones. You can write down prayers God has answered. You can tell your family about something God did. You can read the Gospels and see again what Jesus has done.

The biggest thing to remember. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again the third day. Every other kindness of God comes to us through Him.

What we learn. God changes hard hearts, and the Holy Spirit helps us remember Jesus. Remembering what He has done helps us trust Him in the next storm.

What to do. This week, start a remember list. Each night, write down one thing God has done for you or your family.

The cure for a dull heart is not trying harder to feel something. God Himself softens hearts, and He gives His people ways to remember what He has done.

Psalm 103:2. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits.” David speaks to his own soul and tells it to remember. Remembering God is something we choose to do, not only something that happens to us.

Joshua 4. After the Lord stopped the Jordan so Israel could cross on dry ground, twelve men carried stones from the riverbed, and Joshua set them up at Gilgal (4:1-8, 20). God built remembering into the life of His people.

Stones that start a conversation. When children asked, “What do these stones mean to you?” the parents were to answer that “the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord” (4:6-7). Remembering was meant to be passed on.

So that all may know. The stones also pointed beyond Israel: “that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty” (4:24). What God has done for us is meant to be told.

Deuteronomy 8:2. “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way.” Israel's years in the desert were to be remembered as God's leading, not only as hardship. The disciples were meant to remember the loaves the same way.

Ezekiel 36:26. “I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” A heart of stone cannot soften itself. The new heart is God's gift to everyone who is born again through faith in Jesus.

John 14:26. The Holy Spirit “will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” The Spirit is a Person who teaches and reminds. Much of what the disciples missed at the time, He later brought back to their minds (John 2:22; 12:16).

A reminder from Jesus. On His last night, Jesus gave His followers bread and a cup to share “in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:25). From then on, His people have had a reminder at the center of their worship.

Psalm 46:10. “Be still, and know that I am God.” A rushed, distracted life is a place where hearts easily grow dull. Quiet time with God is where they are made soft again.

The center of the remembering. Everything else God does for us comes through the cross and the empty tomb: “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Application. Keep your own memorial stones: a written record of answered prayer and of what God teaches you in His Word. Read it when you are afraid, and tell someone else what God has done.

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