I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. – Jeremiah 24:7

Today's Scripture Reading (July 6, 2023): Jeremiah 24

At the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem while Ezekiel was with the captives in Babylon. It is incredible how much these two men agreed with each other despite being separated by distance and circumstances. Listen to these words of Ezekiel. "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give to them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God" (Ezekiel 11:19-20).

I remember after Michael Jackson's second child abuse allegation and trial, a trial where Jackson was eventually acquitted, listening to Michael's brother, Jermaine, speaking about his younger brother and the child. Big brother said of Michael, "He's just too nice. We all are. Something has to be done about that." In another interview, he remarked that Michael liked to rescue people.

After the trial, other people who supported the singer picked up the same theme. Throughout the week, those on Michael's side continually insinuated that there had to be a change in behavior that Michael would have to make. It was not a change in behavior concerning Michael's attitude toward boys, but rather, a hardening of the heart, a ceasing to be nice, and a restraint from his desire that drove him to rescue the hurting boys he came across.

What Michael Jackson needed was a hardening of the heart. It is a process that many of us have gone through. We get hurt, our heart breaks, and we add things to our "I'll never do that again" list. A callous begins to form on our feelings, and the next time we experience a negative stimulus, the hurt isn't quite as bad. The problem is that it was never intended to be that way. And I don't know where we got the idea that life was to be lived without pain.

Deep down, we know it isn't supposed to be that way. A modern-day Philosopher poet wrote:

Take away, take away my eyes
Sometimes I'd rather be blind.
Break a heart, break a heart of stone,
Open it up, but don't you leave it alone (Alice Cooper and Dick Wagner).

God says that is precisely what I am going to do. Biblically, one of the effects of a heart of stone is that it can no longer feel the touch of God. So, God comes in the middle of our lives and says, "I am going to break their heart of stone; I'm going to open it up so they can see how far from me they really are. I will replace their heart of stone with a heart of flesh. I will give them a new beginning with a new heart and continue to do it until they get it.

And so, Jeremiah tells those still in Jerusalem, I am going to do something different in you. For the remnant who will eventually return to this place, God will give them a new heart, one whose hardness has been broken so that they can know God. Then they will return to God with everything they are, and they will be his people.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 25