Hardness of Heart

Hardness of Heart
Words of Faith 2-1-2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Mark 10
[1] Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again, crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.
[2] Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
[3] "What did Moses command you?" he replied.
[4] They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away."
[5] "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. [6] "But at the beginning of creation, God 'made them male and female.' [7] 'For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, [8] and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. [9] Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate."

The issue of divorce is a difficult one. Jesus only addressed it a couple of times, but what he said both lifted up the sanctity of marriage and condemned the culture of easy divorce.
We must remember that Jesus was teaching in a time when divorce was both common and highly unfair. Only men had the "right of divorce" and could exercise it for any reason. Wives had no such right. For any reason, a man could literally "write off" his wife with a writ of divorce. One famous rabbi taught that a man could divorce his wife for burning a meal or simply because she was no longer pleasing to him. Jesus brought correction to this view.
In the time of Jesus, men had taken the law of God, which required at least a proper decree for divorce (Deuteronomy 24), and turned it into "divorce on demand." The decree was intended to allow a woman to show that she had been divorced by her husband and had not run away.
Jesus made it clear that the practices of the day were never God's intention. It was because of the hardness of man's heart, such a provision was made, and as hearts grew harder, divorce grew more commonplace.
So don't miss this. The primary point of this text is not to batter the divorced but to address the hardness of the heart. The Pharisees were asking such questions of Jesus because of their own hardness of heart. They were trying to entrap Jesus. The reason God had provided for a decree of divorce through Moses in Deuteronomy 24 was because men's hearts were hard.
Jesus also clarified why marriage holds such a high place in the heart of God. Marriage was the very first institution God created, before there was government, church, or anything else. "At the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one."
God created and defined both the participants and the nature of marriage. Marriage is the union of one man and one woman. They become one before God and by the work of God. Man, government, or policy cannot re-negotiate or redefine this.
This is why divorce is still such an issue. "Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." God is the primary actor and participant in joining a man and woman in the union of marriage. They are no longer two but one. This is why divorce is so serious and so painful. The separation of two that have become one is a painful amputation. I have known people who would testify that field amputation of a limb would be less painful than the agony of divorce.
But this is genuinely about the hardness of the heart. The truth is that no divorce would ever occur between two people whose hearts were tenderly surrendered to the Lord. If one is tenderhearted toward God, they will be tenderhearted toward their spouse and work things out. Divorce was common in that day and in our own because of the hardness of the heart.

Lord, break through the hardness of my heart that I may know You. Transform my heart so that I may love as You love. Melt my heart that I may approach You with tenderness and those around me with compassion. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2024 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.