PROVOKE. Hebrews 3:16
How insulting it was to God for them to think He was unable to keep His promise and give them the inheritance He had promised Abraham and could fulfill through them. They had lost their faith in the promises of God and, as a result, in God Himself. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him" is not just a statement about the past. Faith is needed for us to live and please God today and in the future.
Israel was permitted to send spies into Canaan even though the Lord had promised them the land that was theirs. They provoked God by believing the report of ten unbelieving spies and ignoring the testimony of Caleb and Joshua, who knew God was with them. The promise of God and the message of grace were ignored, disbelieved, and rejected. If Moses hadn’t interceded for them, the entire nation would have died, and Moses would have taken their place.
Hard-hearted people are stubborn, and "stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." It is like setting oneself up as knowing what is right and wrong without considering God's will and word. There is a pattern that is followed, leading to this dry clay, a hard clod of dirt, and a hard-hearted attitude. For some reason, when a person is attracted to what they know is wrong, and they go ahead and do it anyway, they excuse themselves and silence their conscience. Then, instead of "confessing and forsaking" that sin, they try to cover it with denials and seek to minimize its seriousness. Next, they try to convince themselves it isn't that bad because "others do it and it works for them."
But a series of consequences follows, where Bible reading loses its appeal, prayer becomes routine or is completely abandoned. Gathering with the Lord's people no longer feels as essential as it once did, and it can feel awkward to attend after being away for so long. The pursuit of business and pleasure then takes up all of one's time, and many choices to ignore God's will lead to a hardened heart. God will turn away from those who resist His will and ignore their growing hardness, much like a worthless piece of hard bread that has no use for anything positive in the things of God.