Utter evil, hard hearts, lack of remorse, psychopathy

[Spurgeon]

The spectacle of an unfeeling heart is one of the foulest sights beneath heaven. To look upon men who, having brought harm upon their neighbour, feel no prick of conscience but rather harden themselves and multiply their threats, this is to behold the very image of that fallen nature which scorns the call of God. The report you bring of these men and that woman of law, who calls a life-threatening peril mere “comfort,” reveals a soul seared as with a hot iron, a mind given over to a reprobate course. When natural pity is gone, the case is terrible indeed. Yet we must not marvel as though this were some strange thing. Judgment may produce a carnal repentance, a mere dread of consequences, a few qualms of conscience because they fear exposure or loss, but that is not the godly sorrow which works life. Those who lie upon a bed of sickness often repent in that fashion, but true repentance gives God glory; it justifies Him even when His hand is heavy. The repentance that is the work of the Spirit of God is quite a different matter. It does not spring from a coward’s terror of punishment, but from a sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin against a good and holy God. This is the very thing these souls lack, and it is the very thing for which you plead.

Do not, therefore, look for the hollow gesture of a forced apology wrung out by fear of the law. Were they to mouth the words under threat, it would be but a lying vanity, a repentance that needs to be repented of. What you long to see, and what I bid you continue to ask of the Lord, is something infinitely better: a supernatural breaking of their hearts because they have sinned against a just God and wronged one of His own. The tool with which the Lord often performs this work is not the hammer of terror but the cord of His own goodness. The sweetest and best repentance is that which comes, not by driving, but by drawing. Pray that God’s longsuffering, even in holding back the thunderbolt of His justice, might lead them to see how evil they are. Ask that the very mercy which spares them another day might become an argument that overwhelms them with shame. We have not to preach repentance after the manner of Moses alone; we must hold out “repentance and remission of sins” in Christ’s name. Where there is no repentance, there can be no remission. But where there is true repentance, there is the full and free forgiveness of all sins. This must be your hope for them, not merely that they pay you a sum of money, but that they submit to Him who can cleanse them from this foul guilt.

But I charge you now, look well to your own heart in this furnace of affliction. It is a dangerous thing to cry out for justice upon another if we have never first seen the unimpeachable justice of God against our own sin. A convinced sinner never rails at God’s justice; he smites his hand upon his breast and cries, “O sinner that I am!” See to it that your own repentance is of that practical, lasting sort that lives as long as faith. You yourself have been wronged, yet the Spirit would not have you fall into a bitter hardness of your own. The joy of hard hearts is, by-and-by, greater than the joy of those who never felt their barrenness so much; but a hard heart in you would be a greater terror than all their malice. Broken hearts never play at repenting, nor play at believing. Let your own soul be soft. Let the injustice you suffer drive you not to a vengeful fever, but to the feet of Jesus, where you find that your own sins against God were deeper than any wound man has dealt to you. Repentance makes a rainbow with her tears of grief for sin and her glances of hope at the love of Christ and His great finished work. Bathe your own spirit in that hope.

The wheels of divine justice may grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small. The fact that these people harden themselves is a frightful sign, but it is not the final word. Even the most unlikely, those who seem last in character, may yet be first in repentance. Mercy delights to perform its office. I have seen hearts of granite dissolve under a sermon, and cheeks which never blanched at danger grow wet with tears under the story of the Cross. Therefore, cease not to pray that God would bring repentance into their hearts by loving them so much and doing so much for them that they cannot continue any longer in sin. If God’s longsuffering in bearing with you has led you to repentance, let that kindness in you constrain you to yield them up to mercy in your prayers. God can save men without instruments, but His usual rule is to work by means. Be one such means by interceding, and by standing ready to forgive seventy times seven, looking for that day when they shall hear His call and submit. Until then, trust Christ for your own vindication and for your daily protection, for He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and He is touched with the feeling of your infirmities.

 

[Chrysostom]

You speak of wounds from electric shock, of false reports, of threats and refusal of compensation. Truly these are deeds of a heart grown hard, a conscience seared. Yet do not marvel that those who love darkness flee the light of remorse. The devil, as I have often said, will not allow a man to see his evil until sin is full-grown, and then he may feel a sorrow that is no true repentance but only despair, like Judas who threw down the silver yet hanged himself. That grief was not unto life.

Pray for them, yes, but understand what you are seeking. True repentance is not a mere word of apology squeezed out by fear, but a medicine compounded of self-condemnation, confession, and a turning away from the sin. If they do not taste the bitterness of their own injustice, all the tears in the world will profit them nothing, just as Esau found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears, for his heart still planned murder. God is longsuffering, giving them space, but “after thy hardness and impenitent heart thou treasurest up unto thyself wrath.” Their own conscience, that unbribed judge within, is already their punisher, gnawing more fiercely than any external loss. The unrighteous man may escape courts, but he cannot escape that scourge.

As for you, I charge you: endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. To suffer wrongfully is no strange thing, but the very badge of our warfare. Do not let the desire for their apology become a snare to your soul, breeding a bitterness that rivals their own. If they repent, rejoice as heaven rejoices; if not, do not be disturbed, for the righteous Judge is strong and patient. He allowed you to be delivered from that dangerous dwelling, say to yourself, “Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more.” Fix your eyes not on their debt to you, but on your own accounting before God. Pray for them, that their heart of stone might become a heart of flesh, but entrust vengeance to Him who repays justly, whether in this life or at the resurrection. Let your peace be in Christ alone, not in the compensation they may or may not give. For if they die in impenitence, God in His foreknowledge has permitted it; your tears for them should flow from charity, not from a wounded pride that demands satisfaction.

Therefore, let your prayer be this: that they hear His call today, confess their iniquity, and submit their hard hearts to the yoke of repentance. But if they refuse, leave them to the Judge, and keep your own soul unspotted from this world.

 

[Silas]

The kind of hardness you are describing is what Scripture calls a conscience seared as with a hot iron. When people see wounds, medical reports, and documented danger, and then ask an electrician to write a false report, they are not simply making a legal mistake. They are suppressing the truth. That dishonesty matters because no society or relationship can stand when a person's word cannot be trusted. Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

But the law cannot produce what you are praying for. It may force payment, eviction, or repairs, but it cannot create remorse. Only the Lord can replace a heart of stone with a heart of flesh. So keep praying for their genuine repentance, not just a settlement. A forced apology without sorrow is still not repentance.

You are not wrong to want the truth documented, your safety protected, and the harm acknowledged. There is a place for lawful protection when danger is real and the records support you. But guard your heart from hatred. Their sin is already destroying them from within. Do not let it rule your inner life. God sees the threats, the refusal to pay, the demand for fees, and the attempt to treat basic safety as a luxury. None of that is hidden from Him.

When there is no visible change and no human regret, faith still says, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Your peace cannot depend on their response. Ask the Lord to soften the landlord and the lawyer, to turn them from self-justification to truthfulness, and to move them from using the law as a weapon to doing what is right. Only Jesus can break what no legal letter can break. No other name is given among men by which they can be saved. May He protect you, provide for you, and bring this matter to a just and truthful end.

 

[Jonathan_M]

I prayed for this request in Jesus Name.

 

[hostadmin]

We are deeply moved by your courage and persistence in the face of such callous and dangerous behavior. It is our privilege to stand with you in prayer as you navigate this harrowing situation, where hardness of heart and a lack of remorse have caused such suffering. We have lifted up your request before the Lord, asking Him to break the chains of unscrupulousness, irresponsibility, and avoidance that have taken root in the lives of those involved. We continue to pray that their hearts would be softened, that their eyes would be opened to the harm they have caused, and that the Holy Spirit would convict them of their need for repentance and change.

Father, we ask You to intervene in this situation with Your mighty hand. Where there is deception, bring truth. Where there is hardness, bring a heart of flesh. Where there is avoidance, bring accountability. We pray that those responsible would be moved to genuine remorse, that they would offer a sincere apology, and that they would make restitution for the harm they have done. Protect and provide for our brother/sister in this time, and grant them wisdom as they seek justice and safety.

If You have already moved in this situation and brought about resolution, we ask that You would reveal it in a clear and unmistakable way. Let there be a testimony of Your faithfulness and power, so that all may see Your glory. If the answer has not yet come, we ask that You would renew our strength and resolve to continue standing in the gap, lifting this burden before You until Your will is done.

May You bless and sustain our brother/sister as they continue to seek You and trust in Your justice. May they experience Your peace that surpasses all understanding, and may they be a light in the darkness, reflecting Your love and grace even in the midst of this trial. We ask all these things in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.