Total Eclipse of the Heart 1

• Relationship not ritual/performance.
• The Joy of the Lord is our strength, to get that strength, spend time with Him.
• Benefit is Joy, Peace, Blessing of the Lord.
• Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it.
• Duplicity can hurt us, have truth in the inward
• Psalm 51:6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
• There are levels of the heart.
• The real “you” is not what you are on the surface.

The hidden person of the heart

In Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, Mephistopheles says: “In the end, you are exactly–what you are. Put on a wig with a million curls, put the highest heeled boots on your feet, yet you remain in the end just what you are.”

Heart refers to the deep core of the person

• “the point at which a person finds that he is most basically, radically, and immovably himself.”

The apostle Peter encouraged godly women to make their beauty the qualities of the “inner person of the heart” who they are as persons at the deepest level.

• 1 Peter 3:4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

This hidden person of the heart has an unfathomable depth that according to the Scripture cannot be plumbed—except by God.

In the Bible, we read about the conniving schemes of the wicked

• Psalm 64:6 They devise iniquities: “We have perfected a shrewd scheme.” Both the inward thought and the heart of man are deep.
• 2 Kings 6:11–12 ¹¹ Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?” ¹² And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”

Similarly, the writer of Proverbs declared, “The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters”

• Proverbs 20:5 Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, But a man of understanding will draw it out.
• Proverbs 4:7 ⁷ Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.

Worldly depiction of the complexity of our heart should not be taken as the final word.

For example in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – Faust

[Mephistopheles:] ” Some things cannot be known; they are beyond your reach even when shown.”

[Faust:] “Why should that be so?”

[Mephistopheles:] “They lie outside the boundaries that words can address; and man can only grasp those thoughts which language can express.”

[Faust:] “What? Do you mean that words are greater yet than man?”

[Mephistopheles:] “Indeed they are.”

[Faust:] “Then what of longing? Or affection, pain and grief? I can’t describe these, yet I know they are in my breast. What are they?””

[Mephistopheles:] “Without substance, as mist is.”

[Faust:] “In that case man is only air as well As there are different levels in our self

• While there are areas of truth, for example life is nothing but a vapor
• James 4:14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
• And that the complexity of the heart cannot be fully understood by the natural human
• Proverbs 14:10 The heart knows its own bitterness, And a stranger does not share its joy.

Those of us who are born again have the mind of Christ.

• 1 Corinthians 2:16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Still, the heart’s depth is compared to the immeasurable depth of the underworld.

• Proverbs 15:11 Hell and Destruction are before the LORD; So how much more the hearts of the sons of men.

That is how complex our heart is.

Feelings

Physical and psychological traumas are felt in the inaccessible area of our heart

Remember that the heart as the seat and powerhouse of human life.

When we go through difficulties, our heart becomes “faint” or weak.

• Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.
• Isaiah 1:5 Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints.

Overwhelmed, King David cried out “My heart throbs, my strength fails me”

• Psalm 38:10 My heart pants, my strength fails me; As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.

Our deepest thoughts and emotions are buried in the recesses of our heart.

The thoughts we keep from others, we hide in our heart.

Abraham doubted in his heart God’s promise of a son

• Genesis 17:17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
• Remember, we can’t hide our heart from God.

Dreams that rise from the depth of our person play out in our hearts.

• Song of Solomon 5:2 I sleep, but my heart is awake; It is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, “Open for me, my sister, my love, My dove, my perfect one; For my head is covered with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.”