Psalm 7:8-9 The LORD shall judge the peoples; Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, And according to my integrity within me. [9] Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, But establish the just; For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.
- My righteousness and integrity within me = heart
Before sin, Human spirit dominant, after sin, mind dominant
- We dethroned spirit, crowned intellect
- John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The spirit of man must contact and know the real Spirit of God, know God.
We do not know God with our flesh, with our hands, nor with our brains.
We know God with our spirit.
The knowledge of God that our spirit attains may be conveyed and is conveyed to us through the medium of our mind, through the medium of our brains.
The effect of God in our body comes through the medium of the spirit of man through the mind of man into the body of man.
This is where our heart comes into play, and becomes vital, crucial, in our relationship with God; our Father in Heaven.
Meditation on the Word
- Proverbs 10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, But violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
- Proverbs 10:21 The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of wisdom.
Food is the word of God
Characteristics of the human heart
Hypocrisy
We try to intercept our heart’s expression, tweaking it with what is more appropriate for a good appearance and reputation.
We seek to hide what is in our heart, and to some extent are able to succeed in not exposing all of its contents.
God deals with what we really are, in our heart.
- Psalm 51:6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
- Psalm 51:10-11 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
- Job 36:13 “But the hypocrites in heart store up wrath; They do not cry for help when He binds them.
- Matthew 15:7-9 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: [8] ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. [9] And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ “
- Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
- 1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
God Relates to the Inner Person of the Heart.
Though we may fool others or even ourselves, we cannot hide our heart from God.
God judges us according to what is in our heart.
Most importantly, God judges us according to what is in our heart.
We are often told he judges us according to our deeds or works. Technically this is not wrong, but it must be understood that our deeds are
- not only the acts that are seen
- or the words that are heard;
Our deeds come from the hidden thoughts and motives behind them.
- Jeremiah 17:10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.
- 2 Chronicles 6:30 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men),
Without knowledge of self-there is no knowledge of God.
Without knowledge of God there is no knowledge of self.”
Without an awareness of our spiritual problems, we would never seek God but just gladly or perhaps sadly remain as we are.
Heart Controls obedience or disobedience toward God
The human life is much more than complex physical and mental life.
- It is a life lived responsibly before God
- The hidden person of the heart has an unfathomable depth that cannot be grasped—except by God.
- Our deepest thoughts and emotions are buried in the recesses of our heart.
- God wants truth in our inward being, duplicity will destroy us and our intimacy with God.
The heart’s control of our life is a constant theme of Scripture.
- Proverbs 25:28 (NLT) A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.
- Ecclesiastes 10:2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, But a fool’s heart at his left.
- Matthew 25:33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
Obedience or disobedience toward God is determined by the condition of our heart:
- Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
This is one of the most significant texts of Scripture for understanding life.
- In other versions of this verse the heart is said to be the place from which “everything you do flows” (NIV);
- the “source of all life” (New English Bible);
- “where life starts” (MSG).
- Literally, the Hebrew text says: “Above all guarding, keep watch over your heart. For out of it are the issues of life”.
Identifying the heart as the source of “the issues of life” is not simply saying that the heart is the fountain or primal source of life.
- It also says that the heart controls the course of life.
The same Hebrew word for “issues” is used in other places to describe the boundaries of a territory.
- It describes the point where the boundary begins and the course that the boundary follows from there
- in other words, it begins here and goes from here to there and to there and so forth.
What God tells us in Proverbs 4:23, then, is that our life not only has
- its fountain in the heart- our heart is not only the spring from which our life flows
- the direction which it takes is determined by the heart. It directs the stream of our life in all of its bends and turns (note the plural “issues”) as it continues its flow..
In sum, the heart is the spring and director of all of our living.
- What do you think about the reality that God knows everything in your heart fully?
- How does this truth affect your relationship with him?