I am concerned about my heart. Jeremiah wrote of its deceit. It seems there is no remedy for a deceitful heart. How often do we look around at those around us and wonder why they do what they do. The fact is we have to get to the heart of the matter.
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I have been writing this post for over a week now, but I didn't seem quite to be getting to the heart of the matter. It didn't seem that I had learned all I had to about the heart that I needed to before completing this post. By no means am I an expert now, but I have learned more during the last week.One of my favorite Bible verses is:
Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
This verse always excited me as I anticipated God giving me all I wanted. Unfortunately, that did not happen. I have come to realize that my heart was not in the place where it needed to be. My desires never lined up with God's desires. James said:
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:3
King Solomon understood this all too well. He spent his life fulfilling all his cravings. Later, when he looked back at his life he admitted that all his self-gratifying works were meaningless. Far too often, we too are seeking to fulfill our desires, with all the good things in life. We seek out a nice house, a nice car, a good looking spouse and even a church that makes us comfortable. Yet, these wants may not be what God intends for us.
Psalm 37 advises us to wait patiently for the Lord. However, our yearnings lead us to move ahead of God. We do what we want and then ask Him to bless it. Our heart's motives are wrong as we strive to please ourselves and then we wonder why God isn't blessing us. It is because He knows our hearts, and our hearts are not yielded to His will and His way.
Our pride gets in the way. Second Chronicles outlines the rise and fall of King Hezekiah.
But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the LORD’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the LORD’s wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah. 2 Chronicles 32:25-26
Leaders who succumb to their pride will fall. Regrettably, those who are under their authority also most times follow the leaders' decline. We need to repent when we have given way to pride. Repentance, however, is not just saying we are sorry, but our actions must prove that we have turned away from prideful actions, such as proving ourselves to others, or believing we should be better off because we are so gifted, or seeking people's gratitude and praise, or always being concerned about our reputation.
Rick Elias' lyrics in his song, "Man of No Reputation" says:
It was said this man was of no reputation
Yet He could stop the rising storm
With a gesture of His hand
But He chose to use His hands to heal
Hearts of darkness, hearts of stone Just like mine would be revealed
Jesus was a man of no reputation. Nevertheless, we his followers are so concerned about ours. We need to have Jesus reveal what is in our hearts. We should not be self-pleasing or man pleasing, but rather our aim should always be to please our Heavenly father by walking in faith and trusting Him. He will show us the heart of the matter so that we can have His heart.
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