Young Adults' Group

The Heart Of The Matter Is The Heart

by Pastor Mark
June 13, 2019

God looks at the heart

God sees things not as man sees. When the prophet Samuel was looking for the next king to anoint that would succeed King Saul, he was looking at the physical appearance of the sons of Jesse. However, this is what the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)

It is not the external appearance of a man that matters, which man tends to see, even Samuel himself. God sees the heart for what it is. God chose David as he was a man that was after His own heart. (1 Sam 13:14)

God searches the heart

God does not only look at the heart, but He also searches deeply what is in the heart. We may not be able to see the heart for all that it is. The heart can be very deceptive in fooling ourselves that we are fine. It is vital that the Lord searches our heart for us, “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.” (Jer 17:10)

God searches the deep and dark recesses of the heart. He would test the mind and the heart thoroughly through the circumstances of life to see what is embedded in our heart. He will evaluate our hearts according to our ways…the fruits of our doings. Let us learn how the Lord will search and evaluate our hearts.

God tests the heart with the Word of God

One of the key ways in which the Lord would test the heart is whether we would diligently keep the Word of God. Moses wrote, “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” (Deu 8:2)

The Lord sought to humble and test the heart of the people of Israel by leading them through the wilderness. God allowed them to go hungry and fed them with manna. The challenge was for the people to learn in their heart “that man should live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deu 8:3) How we respond to the circumstances of life would reveal our regard for the commandments of God that is truly in our heart, whether we would have a desire to live by the Word of God or not.

Keeping the Word of God in our heart

The challenge for us is to keep the Word of God in our heart diligently. Solomon wrote, “My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart;” (Prov 4:20,21) King David consistently sought to challenge Solomon to give attention to the listening of the law that was passed down. They should not depart from his eyes. The Word should be kept in his heart. The law should always dwell in the midst of our heart.

When we truly keep the law in our heart, what would happen? The author wrote, “For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.” (Prov 4:22) The law gives life. It gives health to the flesh. Let us be challenged to diligently keep the Word of God deep within our heart and not to depart from it always.

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