New Living Translation (NLT)

A few weeks ago, I was going through a bit of a rough time. We had just lost one of our animals here at the shelter, I had been sick for a few days, AI scripture music was flooding the internet, and another 1,000 things were happening in the background. So, Jan decided to lift my spirits and decorate a Christmas tree in my recording studio.

People who know me know I'm a sucker for anything with lights, candles, and things that make this cold world a bit more cozy and comfortable. In Dutch, we have a word for that: "gezellig." 😉

Anyway, the next morning, I stepped into my studio and went about my daily routine, totally oblivious to the shining tree with a thousand lights on it. 😅

Only at the end of my routine did I discover the Christmas tree and was overwhelmed with joy!

It was staring me right in the face, but I didn't see it.

And so it is with the people Jesus talks about. Their hearts are hardened. The KJV says "waxed," meaning it didn't happen overnight. To stay in the candle analogy: like a wick dipped in hot wax, repeated over and over until a candle is made.

Because of their hard hearts, they don't see. They don't hear or listen. Jesus goes on to say, "Their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them."

In other words, you need a soft heart to understand. You need at least a crack in your hard heart to turn and let God heal you, to open your eyes.

Now, we tend to think this is about the people in the world, "the people who walk in darkness." And while that's certainly true, these words were first uttered by Isaiah to the people of Israel (Isa 6). Jesus was also talking to His people.

So these words are meant for us, His children, as well.

The truth is, you can spend your entire life in church and be unchanged. If your heart is hardened, "rocky ground," as Jesus calls it, then nothing will grow there. At least nothing good. 😉

That's why God asks in Isaiah 6, "Who will go for us?" It has to be someone with a soft, 'flesh' heart, not a stony heart.

Only in a soft heart, good soil, will His word take root, grow, and change and heal a person.

That's the kind of person He would like to represent Him. They can show you the things that have always been staring you in the face, but you never saw them.

P.S. Please don't send me thousands of emails saying I shouldn't have a Christmas tree. I'm not dancing around the thing; I'm not worshiping it. It's basically just an excuse to have something with a lot of lights in my room. It's "gezellig"! 😉