Who Can Understand the Heart?--I

The Hebrew word for "heart" is lebh or lebhabh. It occurs 860 times in the Hebrew Bible. Obviously the human heart is predominant in godly Christian living. In the next several blogs, we will deal with some of the concepts in the Bible about the role of the heart in the Bible.

One should begin with the broad perspective of the heart in Proverbs 4:23:
     KEEP YOU HEART WITH ALL VIGILANCE,
          FOR FROM IT FLOW THE SPRINGS OF LIFE.

I. God has "wired us" so that we cannot avoid our inner being.
    a. People often attempt to PRETEND they are one kind of person while IN THEIR HEART is very different. We have the capacity of "masking" or "camouflaging" who we really are. Accordingly, we have the ability of DECEIVING many people in life.
    b. Jeremiah approaches Yahweh with this question:
          Why does the way of the guilty prosper?
              Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
           You plant the, and they take root;
               they grow and bring forth fruit;
           YOU ARE NEAR IN THEIR MOUTHS,
                YET FAR FROM THEIR HEARTS. (Jeremiah 12:1c-2).
    c. The composer of Psalm 55 describe one of his close friends who pretended he was true to him but in his heart planned to destroy him. Psalm 55:20-21 says:
        My companion laid hands on a friend
             and violated a covenant with me
         with SPEECH smoother than butter,
             but WITH A HEART SET ON WAR;
         with WORDS that were softer than oil,
              but IN FACT were drawn swords.
     d. Paul tells Titus about the reality of dishonest Christians in Titus 1:15-16:
          To the pure all things are pure,
          but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure.
          Their very MINDS and CONSCIENCES are corrupted.
          They PROFESS TO KNOW GOD,
          but they deny him BY THEIR ACTIONS.
          They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

II. These texts demonstrate that the HEART has to do with a person's intentions and desires.
     a. The reason that Yahweh destroyed humanity at the flood is that "every INCLINATION of the THOUGHTS of their HEARTS was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5; 8:21).
     b. When the Pharisees and the scribes  rebuked Jesus because his disciples were eating with defiled hands, Jesus responded in Mark 7:20-23:
         "It is what comes out of a person that defiles.
          For it is FROM WITHIN, FROM THE HUMAN HEART.
          that EVIL INTENTIONS come:
          fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit,
          licentiousness, envy, slander, pride folly.
          All these evil things COME FROM WITHIN, and they defile a person.

III. It is typical of human beings to emphasize GOOD external words and deeds.
      a. A big topic for everyone is politics, the election of the new president of the United States.
      b. Another big topic is sports: baseball, football, track, hockey, tennis, soccer, etc.
      c. Another big topic is the movies.
      d. Another big topic is new novels.
      e. Another big topic is all types of digital materials: iPhones, iPads, Verizon, Dell, etc.
      f. All these and many other external things are interesting and seize the imagination of many people, but God's people MUST get above and beyond all these external activities, and focus on the HEART.

Share YOUR experiences and surprises and dreams and beliefs and reversals with others. Let me hear from YOU.

John Willis