We must begin with the heart. We read quite a bit about the "heart" in this chapter:
"When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you again and gather you from all the nations He scattered you." (v.1-3)
"The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live."(v.6)
"The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." (v.9-10)
"But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed." (v.17-18)
The word "heart" is listed 867 times in the Bible. "Mind" is listed 95 times. I wonder if there is any significance to this fact. I did some studying about the "heart" and was fascinated by what I learned.
One commentary I read says the following:
The heart represents a person's inner being, including one's desires, feelings and thoughts. Contrary to philosophies and world views that are based on what is perceived as the "best" human values, efforts and achievements, human nature is not essentially good. It is not good advise to "follow your heart" if that heart is not in communion with the heart of God.Apart from God, the human heart is desperately evil and corrupt, and the path it would choose leads to destruction. Human nature leans toward selfishness. It seeks ways that are contrary to the ways of God. The corrupt human heart cannot change by itself. The only remedy is to experience God's grace - His undeserved favor and mercy- to be forgive and "born again" spiritually through faith in Jesus Christ. Only God can totally transform a person's life and give him or her a new heart - one that hates evil and delights in going what God desires.
1. The heart is the center of the intellect. The Bible describes people as knowing, praying and meditating in their hearts. They are able to think, doubt, ponder, believe and sing in their hearts, which all involve the mind.
2. The heart is the center of the emotions. The Bible speaks about the heart being glad, loving, fearful, courageous, repentant, anxious, angry, revived, anguished, delighted, grieving, humble, excited, troubled and burning, which all involve the emotional nature.
3. The heart is the center of the human will. The will can be defined as one's desire, motivation, purpose, determination or ability to choose. The Bible provides examples of hearts that are hardened to resist God and refuse to be obedient to His commands, hearts that are yielded or submitted to God, hearts that intend to do something, hearts devoted to pursuing a deeper relationship with God, hearts that decide and hearts that received, which all involve acts of the human will.
Jeremiah 17:9 says "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"
Is it possible rebellion begins in our hearts. We are not satisfied. We look for satisfaction in other places. I always thought it began with simple distractions and temptations that get our minds thinking and wavering which then leads to rebellion. Perhaps, if our heart is not beating for the Lord, then it can be easily swayed. Is this why Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Guard your heart. A guard for a King or President would do anything to save those whom they are sworn to protect. Can we look at our hearts as worthy of protecting and saving?
I believe my heart was hardened for a long time. I don't know how it happened. I don't exactly know when it happened. I just know it happened. I didn't feel the same in my walk with God. And though we must remember that we can't judge our faith by how we are feeling, there was a time that my heart wasn't beating for the Lord as strongly as He would have wanted. Th truth is, this is real life. We go through seasons and I believe God understands this. He just doesn't want us to stay where we are for too long when it's one of our distant seasons. I think He misses us too much. I think we miss Him even more. My testimony has always been that from the time I was a little girl, I was always drawn to the Lord. I can see His fingerprints all over my life and believe He was drawing me to Him from a very young age. I knew about Him because of what I learned from my parents and at church. I loved Him because He allowed me to. I believe He had circumsized my heart to want to know Him more and I am so thankful for that. Then I went to college and realized my life was no longer my own. I realized everything didn't revolve around me but about Him. He took me to a knew level with Him and I was completely changed. I tell people that a majority of young people go to college to get a degree. I felt like God took me to college to grow in my relationship with Him. My heart loved Him even more. Fast forward awhile and then we run into some rough waters. He was still there. I just wasn't always. I know that I knew I loved Him in my mind but didn't always feel it in my heart. The desire to seek Him wasn't as strong. I still went to church and Bible studies, served Him in different capacities and talked with Him at times. But our relationship was distant and I believe it was because my heart wasn't surrendered fully to Him.
I have entered a new season, one unlike any I have ever known before. Every single day, I have followed through on my commitment to the Lord. I told Him that I would trust Him. I told Him that I would seek him. I told Him that I would let Him change me. This time, I held up my side of the bargain and He has been holding up His. I am experience breakthrough because I am relying on Him. I am far from perfect and always will be, but I am learning the secret to finding true peace, contentment and freedom is by surrendering my mind, body, spirit and heart to the Lord in every way possible. As I surrender, I truly believe that my heart - which I fully surrendered to God long ago and that was made pure through my faith in Jesus - is being renewed and even made new because of my communion with the heart of God. Matthew 5:8 says, "Blessed are the pure in hear for they shall see God." The irony is that as I seek Him more, He is purifying my heart so that I can see Him more. And I am so thankful.
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparable great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength that He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age and but also in the one to come." Ephesians 1:18-21 Amen.
Now Choose Life.
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