(1samuel 16:1-13, Matthew 5:8, Jeremiah 17: 9-10, Psalms 24: 3-5)
The heart of a man is the centre of life. The physical heart pumps the blood throughout the body. As long as the heart is right, the man is alive and kicking. When the heart stops, the man dies. It marks the end of life. Life is in the heart. It is the seat of soul, will and mind. The heart represents the engine of a man. It is the heart that drives a man. The heart also happens to store the emotions, aspirations and intentions of a man. The heart stores love, desires, expectations, hope, faith, peace, anxiety, fears, lusts etc.
Men love with their hearts and hate with their hearts. The heart devices and schemes evil/good.
The heart of a man is complicated and sophisticated. What is in ones heart cannot be known by another person. No one can understand the heart except God. The man looks on the outside because he cannot see the inside. What is on the outside can be deceptive for it does not represent what is on the inside. God looks on the inside. He looks in the heart and knows the intentions of the heart. God is keen on the heart and not so much on the outside for it is the inside that shapes the outside. It determines the intentions, directions, drive, motivation and destiny.
In 1Samuel 16: 1-13 gives an account of how David was anointed as the King of Israel. When God rejected King Saul, he asked Samuel to stop mourning for him. God told Prophet Samuel that he had provided for himself a King among the sons of Jesse and that he should go and anoint him.
Samuel sanctified Jesse and his seven sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Samuel looked at Eliab and said, surely the Lord’s anointed is before me. But the Lord said to Samuel; Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him: for the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. All the seven sons such as Abinadab and Shammah appeared before Samuel but God refused all of them.
When Samuel sought to know from Jesse if he had another son, he said he had the youngest who was looking after the sheep. You see, even Jesse did not consider David to be important. He had chosen the best by appearance who could make a king. David was despised as a child and insignificant but God had a different opinion about him for he looked into his heart and knew he could make a king. Samuel demanded David to be searched immediately and be brought to the sacrifice before they could proceed further.
When David appeared, God said to Samuel; arise, anoint him: for this is he (verse 12). David was also handsome on the outside and people admired him. He was both good on the outside and on the inside. David is said to be a man after God’s heart. He loved and feared God.
We see here that man is deceived by looking on the outside appearance. We are tempted to look at various qualifications/qualities to make our decisions. We find ourselves often making the wrong choices and decisions because of this terrible human weakness. We are tempted to depend and trust in man and not God because we look with our physical eyes. We walk by sight and not by faith. We are carnal minded and walk in the fresh. We have no discernment. We do not even take time to pray and seek the will of God for our situations/problems/challe
From the beginning God looks at the hearts of men. What are their intentions, motivations, plans, desires etc. Is the man obeying the voice of God or not?. In Genesis 6:5, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:6 says – And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. The judgement of God comes to man when he looks at the intentions of their hearts, that they are evil.
The bible says in Jeremiah 17: 9-10 that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it. I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. God examines and tests the hearts of men. Below is how the hearts of men are described in the bible:
• lifted up – proud, arrogant, forgetful of what God has done/can do e.g. Deut. 8:14
• Hardened heart – not responsive, obedient, faithless, unbelieving e.g. Deut 15:17, Joshua 11:20
• Imperfect heart – not right with God. Turned away from God e.g. Solomon. 1King 11: 4
• Deceived heart – lost in other gods e.g. Deut. 11:16
• Slow heart – Luke 24:25. Slow to believe what God has said.
• Evil heart – Hebrews 3:12.
• Deceitful and desperately wicked heart. Jeremiah 17:9. Incredibly evil and ungodly.
• Double heart – indecisive, flattering lips, says one thing and means something else. Psalms 12:2, Matthew 15:8. Appearing to God with mouth and honouring him with lips when the heart is far from him.
• Tender heart – humble and repentant heart. Willing to obey the voice of God. 2 Kings 22:19
• Pure heart – honest, right with God, clean and humble before God. Psalms 24:4, Matthew 5:8
• Clean heart – Psalms 73:1
• Good heart – clean, just, honest, means what he says. Luke 8:15
We can see that God is concerned with a man’s heart and desires that the heart of man turn to him for salvation. God would like men’s hearts to be clean, pure and right with him. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). God looked into the hearts of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Job, David and all the great men in the bible.
God searches the hearts of men and rewards them according to their works (Jeremiah 17:10).
The heart keeps the treasure of man. Where the treasure is there also is the heart of man. A good treasure of the heart brings that which is good while an evil treasure of the heart brings out that which is evil ( Matthew 6:21, Luke 6:45)
The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34, Luke 6:45).
The things which proceed (comes) out of the mouth come out from the heart and they defile the man (Matthew 15:18-19) – evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
God sent his beloved son; Jesus Christ to redeem mankind. God saves the heart and turns it towards him. He cleans it with the blood of Jesus Christ. He creates a clean heart (Psalms 51:10).
We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. When we love Christ and keep his words, he and the father comes and makes abode in us (John 14:23).
Faith in Jesus comes by hearing and hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). We believe in our hearts for righteousness and confess with our mouth for salvation (Romans 10:9-10). We need to have faith in what we have believed in our hearts – hide the word of God in our hearts so that we don’t sin against him - in spite of the circumstances (Psalms 119:11).
Therefore, if we have to be right with God and have a clean and pure heart, we need to desist and confess the sins of unbelief, pride, arrogance, wrong attitudes, cares of this life (Luke 8:14), fear, selfishness, dishonesty, greed, lusts, wickedness, hypocrisy, covetousness, immorality, strife, hardness of heart, evil thoughts, betrayal, murder, dependence on man and not God etc. All these turn and drive our hearts away from God. We then lose identity, authority, credibility and integrity. We become part of the World and seek after the things of the World (money, food, clothes, recognition, wealth, power, relevance etc). Remember God knows what we need and has enough for each one of us. We need to seek first the Kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto us. We need to turn to God and do the right thing.
Seek to have a clean and pure heart so you may have a good relationship with God. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8)
Ask God to create in you a clean heart and to renew the right spirit in you (Psalms 51:10)
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, he who has not lifted up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully shall appear before God. He shall receive blessings from God (Psalms 24:3-5).
Amen...............
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