They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance. – Psalm 17:10

Today's Scripture Reading (August 6, 2025): Psalm 17

I get a lot of unsolicited mail. Some of it is the run-of-the-mill spam that we all seem to receive. Whether it's unwanted emails or phone calls, it appears that there are many people trying to scam us in some way or another. Sometimes, it makes me angry, and at other times, it makes me sad. However, my strongest emotion may be one of fear, especially for the older people in my life. In the last years of my grandmother's life, I began to suspect that she was receiving some calls claiming that she owed money or hadn't paid her taxes. As a woman who had passed the century mark, this world of people phoning and making accusations must have seemed both a strange and scary place to live.

Many years ago, a friend of mine fell victim to one of these schemes. At least, I think he did. He had built a relationship with a young mother on a social media site. The two had never met in the real world, but my friend started sending her small amounts of money to help with rent and food. The amounts were never huge, but over time, he gave a significant amount of money to this person. I tried to explain that the young mother he had been helping was likely a male teenager living in his parents' basement and using the money to support his Xbox habit. But even though he had never met or even spoken to this young mother, I was never able to convince him that she probably wasn't what she claimed to be.    

For my generation and younger, we have hopefully learned the lesson of those who want to take advantage of us. Our hearts have become callous to the claims we receive. My nephew is not really in jail and doesn't need to be bailed out. My taxes are paid, and that phone call telling me that the police are on their way is a lie. For many of us in the age of smartphones, we have stopped even answering calls from numbers we don't recognize and no longer respond to emails from people we don't know. Our hearts have become callous as a matter of survival. The world around us will take whatever it is that we are willing to give to it.

However, sometimes a callous heart can be a problem because we don't react when a reaction is precisely what is necessary. David accuses his opponents of having callous hearts and of speaking with arrogance. They have stopped seeking the truth because they believe they already possess it. They have stopped hearing and reacting to the world around them. They dislike David because they are unfamiliar with him, and they misinterpret his intentions. If only God could soften their hearts and remove their pride. However, in our world and in David's, that is often almost impossible to do.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 18