The Heart

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

Have you ever really listened to a human heart? I’ve heard them with my ear pressed close, through a stethoscope, on a fetal monitor, amplified through speakers in surgery, etc. (I worked as a Para-Medic for a while in the dark, distant past), and the heart is an amazing piece of work. I was listening to one the other day, and what I heard disturbed me. When disturbed, it’s time to reach for the phone and call the Physician.

I’ve also listened to “heartfelt” conversation, “confessions” of the heart, and people everywhere “speaking” from their heart, “following” their heart, and “giving” their heart away.

In Jeremiah 17:9 we hear God speak about the heart. Obviously He is not talking about our physical heart that moves our blood throughout our bodies, but rather our innermost being, the very “heart” of whom we are. One really has to go back to verse five (5) of that chapter to get a clear understanding for verse nine (9). We must know and understand that we cannot trust in our flesh, our self, our strength, depart from the Truth, and slip away from our Savior and Lord. When we abandon the direction of the Father in our lives, and allow our fleshly nature to control what we say, what we do, where we go, and how we live, we discover the deceitful nature and desperate wickedness of our way as opposed to His.

God is in the process of a daily “listening” to our heart. He is searching our operation, testing our thinking, weighing our actions, and rendering His judgments for our works.

Just as surely as I would urge you to call your physician should your physical heart become abnormal in its operation, so I urge you to examine your innermost being and determine what is going on there. The Scripture clearly tells us that God will “give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings” (vs. 10). Listen to your heart! What does it say? Is it telling you to “trust in the Lord and hope in the Lord” (vs. 7)? That will happen only when your have surrendered your whole heart to the Father. You can do that.

If you don’t know how, contact me. I can tell you!