Just as physical or emotional numbness carries a cost, spiritual numbness does as well—but its cost is far greater. Frostbite may cost fingers or toes. Emotional numbness may cost empathy, intimacy, or relationships. Spiritual numbness, left unchecked, costs everything. What begins as dullness ends in loss, because the slow freeze of the heart never stops on its own.
Spiritual numbness blinds us to the true condition of our lives and the state of our souls. Paul warns that “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4). Deception thrives where sensitivity has been lost. Our own hearts participate in this blindness, for “the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer. 17:9). When the heart grows numb, we believe all is well even as we drift further from the voice of God.
This numbness also leaves us increasingly vulnerable to sin and temptation. James explains that temptation does not begin outside us, but within: “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14–15). As spiritual sensitivity fades, resistance weakens. Desire speaks more loudly, and obedience grows quieter. The result is a vicious cycle in which sin becomes easier to justify and harder to resist.
As this cycle continues, the heart becomes increasingly hardened toward God’s judgment. The writer of Hebrews issues a sober warning: “Exhort one another every day… that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). Deceit and hardening work together. The longer sin is tolerated, the less its consequences are feared. What once alarmed the conscience barely registers, and the slow freeze deepens.
Over time, this numbness produces a wasted and fruitless life. Jesus warns in the Sermon on the Mount that “a healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit” (Matt. 7:18–20). A life responsive to God bears good fruit. A life numb to His voice cannot. When the root is diseased, the fruit reveals it. Eventually, what bears no good fruit is cut down and destroyed. The evidence of spiritual numbness is not found in intentions or appearances, but in what the life produces.
Above all, spiritual numbness costs us our relationship with God. Isaiah makes clear that the separation is not on God’s side: “The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save… but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isa. 59:1–2). As numbness deepens, fellowship with God fractures. Prayer grows distant. God’s presence feels absent—not because He has moved, but because the heart can no longer feel.
With the loss of relationship comes the loss of joy and peace. After his sin, David cried out, “Cast me not away from your presence… Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Ps. 51:11–12). David’s numbness was broken through loving confrontation, and repentance thawed what sin had frozen. Yet not everyone responds this way. Some refuse correction and continue down the icy road of resistance. God warns of this outcome in Psalm 81: “My people did not listen… so I gave them over to their stubborn hearts” (Ps. 81:11–12). There is a terrifying moment when God stops restraining a hardened heart and allows it to follow its own counsel.
Spiritual numbness is never harmless. It blinds, hardens, and separates. It freezes slowly, quietly, and persistently—until the heart no longer responds at all. And in the end, it costs everything. #BreaktheIce #SpiritualNumbness
Adonai's Appeal 
These have been sooo good, Autumn.
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