How Does God Soften Our Heart?

How Does God Soften Our Heart?
By: Dr. Danny Purvis

As I mentioned last week, in church we are working our way through the book of Habakkuk. If you have never read this extraordinary letter, stop reading this and go read that right now. It shows an amazing encounter between a man of God with the God of the universe. And something amazing happens. It is the same thing that happens every time a Christian encounters the living God through His Word. And what is that same thing that happens? It is this: We are never the same again. It can be in small ways or huge ways…but we are literally never the same again.

Without rehashing too much, let’s take a look at what happens to Habakkuk in the course of this very brief encounter with God. If you remember, Habakkuk is dismayed by the religious, social, and moral decay of his nation. They have an evil king who when reading Jeremiah’s written account of God’s Word, tore it into pieces and burned it. To say that he was an evil, blasphemous, idolatrous king would be an understatement. As a result, he led the Jewish people into that same idolatrous blasphemy. Judah (the southern kingdom of Israel) was in shambles. The people did not worship God and instead embraced idolatry, debauchery, and injustice. The land was a mess.

Habakkuk, being a Godly man…a prophet…rightly communicated his lament to God. In chapter 1, Habakkuk states that it seems as if God is not listening and is not doing anything to punish the wrong doers. In fact he says: “Why do You make me see iniquity, and why do You look idly at wrong” (v.3)? It is clear here that Habakkuk is asking why God is not zapping the evil people leading others into sin. He laments that God is not taking punitive action against these horrible people. God answers Habakkuk and states that he is, in fact, going to punish the people and that He is going to use the Babylonians as the instrument of His judgement. Habakkuk’s response?

God, why are you going to do that? He sounds so much like us when we question God’s actions and why He chooses to act as He does. And God does something amazing here. He gives Habakkuk more of Himself. More understanding of what He is doing and why He is doing it. He does not chastise Habakkuk for asking these questions. Instead, He reveals more of Himself to Habakkuk. Which is what He does for us every time we engage with His Word…every time we pray. Whenever we have an encounter with God…through His Word…we cannot walk away unchanged. And that is exactly what happens here.

One of the most amazing parts of this letter is when Habakkuk, now more in tune with God through His Word, realizes what God is saying. Something extraordinary happens. The letter ends with Habakkuk, now having more of an understanding of Who God is, using the last chapter to cry out paise to God. And listen to what he says after God reveals more of Himself to Habakkuk. “O Lord, I have heard the report of You, and Your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy” (3:2).


Did you catch that last statement? “In wrath remember mercy”. Do you see the significance of that plea? Do you see how Habakkuk has been transformed by this encounter with God and His Word? When Habakkuk started this conversation with God, what he wanted more than anything was for God to punish these people for their sin. And what is he asking now? He is asking God to show mercy on these very same people. The same people he wanted God to blast just a few minutes earlier. So, what happened?

A few minutes before this Habakkuk saw these evil people in one way: People needing to be punished. But when faced with God’s perfect and righteous judgement, his entire viewpoint changed and he began to feel pity for those very same people. God didn’t change. His plans didn’t change. His dispensation of justice didn’t change. Habakkuk changed. His heart was transformed from a desire to see people punished to a desire to see them given mercy. Something incredible happened here. Habakkuk is literally not the same person he was when this conversation started. Why? Because of his encounter with the Word of God.

God’s judgement on unbelievers is just. It can’t be anything else but just because He is perfectly just. However, as Christians, we should not rejoice over the pain that is caused by God’s judgement. Understand it? Yes. See it as true justice? Yes. Be happy about it? I don’t think so. God’s judgement is righteously terrible. Hell is a terrible place that all people are deserving of. He chooses to save some…He chooses to execute judgement on others. That is up to Him. But we should never feel good about the pain that the ungodly are going to experience. It should break our heart. We should never rejoice that people are going be judged. That they will “get theirs”. Because truth be told, we all deserve God’s wrath.

The more we are pleased that people will get their punishment, the less likely we will be to tell them of the horrors that await them. It cannot be personal to us. That leads to a hardened heart. Habakkuk’s heart was hardened to the reality of the punishment he so desperately wanted God to dispense. When he was exposed to that reality, he began to mourn for those folks. And that’s the point.

Habakkuk, a Godly man, was transformed by the power of God’s Word. He radically changed his entire view of the situation so that his wrath was now replaced with mercy. This is an incredible example of how we are transformed by the Word of God. We cannot encounter the living God through prayer and His Word and not be changed. And just like Habakkuk was not the same after hearing God’s Word, I am now forever changed by the reading of His Word. I am not the same person I was before I read Habakkuk. And that happens every time we engage with His Word. And how cool is that?

-Dr. Danny Purvis