When Jesus asks a question, it is not a sign of His ignorance, but of His right to challenge people's thinking.  The scene for this tutorial with the disciples is a fishing boat.  The disciples were discussing their forgetfulness to buy enough bread for their journey (Mark 8:14-16).  Even though they had recently witnessed more than 9,000 people being miraculously fed by their Master (Mark 6:30-44; Mark 8:1-8), somebody was to blame, and the others were worried – it was up to them to get the bread and they had failed.

Jesus' questions probed their hearts and minds.  By asking them eight simple questions, He unmasked their illogical thinking and wrong conclusions.  The connection between what they had seen and what it meant, was glaringly absent.  Even though they have been with Jesus, they did not trust Him.  That is why He said that they had hard hearts.  Although they have seen five loaves feeding 5,000 and seven loaves feeding 4,000; although they had personally collected nineteen baskets full of left-overs for their own consumption - they still did not believe that Jesus would provide for them.  

Why?  Their hearts were so hard, that they were unable to trust the God who made them.  What they needed to understand, was not so much what Jesus could do for them, as, who Jesus is.  If they had realised that they were in the presence of the Creator of the universe, Messiah of the Jews, King of heaven and Lamb of God – they would have been awestruck. But instead they were bothered about going hungry!

Hard-hearted people believe that the future is in their hands, through their intellect, planning, wealth or connections (Matthew 6:25-27).  A soft-hearted person believes that the future is in the Lord's hands, and is willing to come to Jesus confessing weakness, inability and failure; and ask for help (Mark 9:24).  The problem with hard hearts is that they ignore the objective evidence of the Lord's power, kindness, mercy and grace.  Instead, such people can only see themselves and what they can achieve.  They draw their conclusions about the future from what they can do, rather than the evidence of what God has done.  Religiously they are earning their future through works rather than trusting Christ for grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).  They cannot see beyond the petty horizons of their own strength or imagination.  The soft-hearted person confidently follows the Lord beyond the personal boundaries of what they can see or dream (Ephesians 3:20).  If you have seen what the Lord has done and still think that your future is in your own hands, your heart is hard.  It is time to hear the Lord's rebuke and repent.