"The Absolute Negative"

 "They understood not that he spake to them of the Father." (John 8:27 KJV) 

  "Then I heard the Lord asking, "Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?" I said, "Here I am. Send me." And he said, "Yes, go, and say to the people, 'Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.' Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing."" (Isaiah 6:8-10 NLT)

 Maybe this is a good time to put forth a positive message? Something alone the line, saying, "Can't we all just get along?" Better yet, pray! There is really nothing else that anyone can do, as it is, there are only so many ways to get a point across; and those that hold the truth, hardly make a fuss. 

 As it turns out, John is showing us the result of a hard heart: "They understood not!" The title of this post is the perfect example of how that is made possible, as the opposite of something good and positive is, 'The absolute negative!' 

 First of all, we must understand who it is that hardens the hearts of those that care not for God's ways, His love, and for His hand being extended out to them for healing: it is none other than the father of lies, the devil! Any time that it says, "and the LORD hardened their hearts," He allows this to happen, but God is not the one that will actually do something against His nature. 

 Not everyone will agree with that opinion, which is to be expected! Quite frankly, just God saying that we need to be saved, even though it is truth, is enough to cause someone's heart to harden; so, is that God's doing, or is it someone else? When God spoke to Cain, warning him to not sin, Cain's heart was hardened, but it was not God that made it happen; it was because Cain did not do what God suggested that he do. 

 That is just the way the cookie crumbles! As my mom would say, and as I never really understood what she meant! Basically, it meant, "That's exactly the way things happen, and there is really nothing we can do about it." When you drop a cookie on the floor, it is bound to break apart! When you tell someone that thinks they are right, that they are wrong, then you are not going to fix them, but cause them to harden their heart. 

 The same thing happened to Pharoh, as it says, "God hardened Pharoh's heart," but it was not God that touched his heart with some sort of hardening power; God showed him His power, and Pharoh's heart was made hard because he did not care to see it! It caused him to fight against God, which, if you are looking for a prime example of the cookie crumble thing, that is by far the greatest of them all...

"If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God." (2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NLT)