Thine heart

     "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no."  In this, the third post on this scripture, we will be considering the heart, or the importance of knowing what is in our hearts.  We're not talking about blood, ventricles, or aortas.  We're going to look at what the Lord was meaning when he said "know what was in thine heart".  As in previous posts, He is not referring to what He needs to look at in our hearts; He already knows us.  Our hearts are open to him like a book, and all He needs to do is turn the pages.  The point of the scripture is so that he might expose to US what is in OUR hearts.

     There are many verses throughout scripture that speak of the heart; both in temporal terms, as well as spiritual terms.  Again, we will be looking into the spiritual meaning of the heart in this post.  Let's consider a few, both negative and positive.  Genesis 6:57 reads: "And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying, Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so, when they begin to grow up sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good."  Genesis 7:23 tells us "And the called his people, Zion, because they were of one heart and of one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there were no poor among them."  In the Psalms, we have two opposite views as well: "I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvelous works." and "His mouth is full of cursing and deceit; and his heart is full of fraud; and under his tongue is mischief and vanity."  How can these two extremes exist in the same heart?  They really can't.  It reminds me of the old story of an Indian who claims he has the spirit of two wolves fighting inside of him; one kind and gentle, the other mean and dangerous.  When asked which one will survive, the Indian pronounced "which ever one I feed".  Such is the truth with our hearts.

     Let's for a moment consider our natural heart.  It is the means by which the life blood is pumped throughout our whole bodies.  Without it, we would die.  Abuse what we take into our bodies, and the heart pumps the poison all through our being, making us sick, or even bringing us death.  Provide our bodies with good things, and we will be filled with life giving nourishment.  Such it is in the spiritual life also.   The Bible uses the word "heart" primarily to refer to the ruling center of the whole person, the spring of all desires. The heart is seen as the seat of the will, intellect and feel­ings. "Character", "personality" and "mind" are approximate modern terms for the Bible's meaning of heart.  According to the Bible, the heart is the center not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. "Heart" and "soul" are often used interchangeably (Deut. 6:5;26:16; comp. Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33), but this is not generally the case. The heart is the "home of the personal life," and hence a man is designated, according to his heart, wise (1 Kings 3:12, etc.), pure (Ps. 24:4; Matt. 5:8, etc.), upright and righteous (Gen. 20:5, 6; Ps. 11:2; 78:72), pious and good (Luke 8:15), etc. In these and such passages the word "soul" could not be substituted for "heart." The heart is also the seat of the conscience (Rom. 2:15). It is naturally wicked (Gen. 8:21), and hence it contaminates the whole life and character (Matt. 12:34; 15:18; comp. Eccl. 8:11; Ps. 73:7 ).  

     Our problem, to some extent, is that we look TOO much at the sin, and not the heart.  Sin is the fruit of what lies in the heart.  Consider this: you and your companion are ready for bed.  It's late, and you have had a long day.  Suddenly, one of you remembers that there are a sink full of dishes waiting to be cleaned.  After bringing your companion to the attention of said dishes, you suddenly hear water being run into the sink.  Then, you hear the cleaning and rinsing of dishes.  Shortly after it becomes quiet, your 7 year old comes and stands before you.  With a big smile, this little servant announces that the dishes are done, and you can go to bed.  As good, respectable parents, you get up, go into the kitchen, and inspect the work.  You find that there is still food crusted on all of the plates still.  There is dried egg in the tines of several forks, left from that mornings breakfast.  Yes, your determination is correct- these are not good works.  But then, you look into the beaming eyes of your little one; so proud to have helped, filled with the desire of showing love to you; perhaps the works aren't perfect.  But the heart of this little one is!  This is what the Lord desires of each of us.  When our hearts are perfect, we become pliable in the hands of the potter.  When we reach this point in our lives, then the righteous works will follow.  In Matthew 5:10, Jesus says it best: "And blessed are all the pure in heart; for they shall see God." 

 

     A heart wholly devoted, a whole heart, a pure heart are commonly understood terms for any "first-love" relationship (Revelation 2:4) with the Lord. It is the "hot" rather than the "lukewarm" of Revelation 3:16.  There is one more expression to consider. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord God with all one's heart, mind, soul and strength. It may be unnecessary to draw the distinction, but if a whole or pure heart is a perfect quality, then "with all one's heart" is perfect quantity.  To this end, may we labor together, for the good of His Kingdom.  God bless.