by David Brenneman
Jeremiah 29:23c "and I am He who knows and am a witness,” declares the Lord.’”
"Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” Genesis 16:13.
"But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7.
"The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests hearts." Proverbs 17:3.
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds." Jeremiah 17:9-10.
We are the first to deceive and secondly to deceive others by that which we have put in our hearts.
Quite often Satan's gotten the blame for what we convinced ourselves to do.
Note what the Lord says to Cain. He said nothing to Cain that implied that Satan was at fault. He made sure that Cain knew that He knew Cain's heart.
"Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him." Genesis 4:4-8.
When Nathan confronted King David after his murder of Urriah, Nathan made it clear to King David that the Lord knew David's heart.
Read in Hebrews 11 the "hall of faith" chapter. Person after person we have a list of people whom the Lord knew their hearts...and in the here and now...He knows your heart and mine.
We cannot trust our own hearts. We will convince ourselves of our own greatness and success means we're doing right by God and others. Not a good standard to compare to. The Pharisees and Sadducees thought the same of themselves and they were shown how far away from God that they really were.
But why am I going through what I am going through? Because the Lord knows what it will take to grow your heart in the way it needs to in order to glorify God.
Without rain, trees don't grow.
Without storms, tree roots don't go deeper.
Without troubles our hearts don't grow closer to Jesus.
Our successes are not measured as the world measures them. In the world's economy our treasures are either in our homes or in some bank or financial institution somewhere. In God's economy our treasures are stored in Heaven where moth and rust do not destroy. Where thieves cannot break in and steal.
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Luke 12:34.
So where's your heart? Are you keeping what God's blessed you with rather than it flowing through your heart and hands to others?
Are you wrapped up in loving things of this world and pursue them rather than a full pursuit of your relationship with Jesus?
The Disciples lived and taught that a life lived is in full pursuit of a right relationship with Jesus.
What does your heart show you that you are pursuing?
What comes out of your mouth about other people? Jesus didn't stop loving even the Pharisees and Sadducees any more than He could ever stop loving you. Jesus had the sins of all humanity piled on Him on the cross. Including those of the Pharisees, Sadducees, the likes of King Nebuchadnezzar, Hitler, Stalin, and any other human beings in history.
Jesus said He came to seek and save the lost. We often read of His knowing people's hearts.
He knows your heart.
You can and will lie to yourself about what's in your heart but nothing is hidden from Him with whom we have to do. Everything is laid bare to Him. Hebrews 4:13.
You and I must ask Him to show us what needs to change, what needs to go. He knows our hearts.
We shouldn't trust ourselves that our lives are good. By our own standards we will always look good. We can easily be satisfied by our own views on life.
We will stand before Jesus to give an account of our lives. Every single person. Ask Jesus to do what He says He needs do do in your life and heart.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
(C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.
A corporation not for profit.
La Habra, CA All rights reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment