Wednesday • 4/6/2022
Wednesday of 5 Lent, Year Two

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:145-176; Exodus 7:8-24; 2 Corinthians 2:14–3:6; Mark 10:1–16

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92)

Exodus: hard heart disease. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go’” (Exodus 7:14). Over the years, Jewish, Christian, and secularist interpreters have wrestled mightily with the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. Ten times the book of Exodus says that Yahweh hardens Pharaoh’s heart. Nine times the book of Exodus says that Pharaoh hardens his own heart or simply that his heart is hardened. I confess the dynamic remains a mystery to me.

But because the locus of the problem for Pharaoh lies in the heart—the center of our being that is oriented toward, or away, from God—the plagues do challenge all of us to do a checkup on our own hearts.

If our heart is inclined towards him, bad things will cause us to bless his name no less than good things. If our heart is tilted away from him, good things will contribute to our disdain for him no less than bad things. A financial windfall can be as detrimental to our spiritual heart condition as a huge loss. A bad medical diagnosis has as much capacity to lead us to a deeper love for God as does a good one. Everything that happens to us either pushes us further away from God or pulls us further toward him.

2 Corinthians: a heart that takes ink. “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” — 2 Corinthians 3:2–3.

I take pleasure in writing notes by hand. Utilizing a wide-nib fountain pen or a wide rollerball pen and luxurious card stock, I delight to see words take shape. After a few lines, I find myself writing with a flourish. It’s irritating, by contrast, to have a restaurant server expect you to sign a bill with a dried-up fine-point ballpoint pen on thin glossy paper that won’t even take ink. I try to redeem every instance in which that happens by quietly praying: “Lord, let this not be me. May my heart be a luxurious place for you to write — may my life unfold as a living epistle under your hand.”

May this Lenten season, in which we examine ourselves, repent, pray, fast, deny ourselves, and read and mediate on God’s holy Word, be a time in which we freshly discover the Lord’s own joy in finding our hearts luxuriously receptive to the ink of his hand.

Mark: a heart given to relationship. The surest gauge for whether our hearts are turned toward God is whether they are turned toward people. If we love God, we’re going to love those who bear his image. Jesus says two of the biggest tests for that are how we are doing with the image-bearer to whom we are married (if, indeed, we are married — and if not, there are principles here that apply to our relationship with God and with others) and how we’re doing with the “little ones” in our life.

In our marriage, we are 1) keeping the back door open—just in case, 2) if our career is more important than our home, 3) if we are keeping a little something on the side, or 4) if we are invested in a fantasy-world, then there’s a heart-problem. On the other hand, if we’re “all in” emotionally, mentally, spiritually, our heart is where it needs to be.

If our attitude toward the children in our life is condescending, and if our treatment of them is unkind and indifferent, then there’s a heart-problem. If, on the other hand, the amazing “tiny humans” in our lives know they are not only safe with us, but that we value, respect, and cherish them, our heart is where it needs to be.

Lord, forgive us when our hearts grow hard against you. Grant us a “heart of flesh” instead of a “heart of stone.” May we see your providing hand in every part of our lives. May we receive with grace the writing of your story into ours. May we find joy in serving you in those you place close in our lives.

Be blessed this day,

Reggie Kidd+

Image: Adaptation, Pixabay