Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:12-13
When you have heart pains, you should go to a cardiologist. The word comes from two Greek words cardia and logia. The first word is translated, “heart”; the second means the study of something. Thus, a cardiologist is one who has studied the heart, a heart doctor.
The word itself is interesting. It’s been around for a long time. Used as far back in the Greek as Aristophanes and Homer, the word not only referred to that part of your anatomy that pumps blood, but was also applied to the inner you, or the control center of your life.
The writers of the Bible, however, were the ones who popularized the word. They used it in a variety of different contexts. Actually, the first mention of the word referred to God’s heart which had been filled with pain because of the sins of the people immediately before the flood.
Moses talked about Pharaoh, who hardened his heart repeatedly when Moses, as God’s spokesman, said, “Let my people go!” The Biblical text also tells us that as Pharaoh hardened his heart, God also hardened the same—a synergism of difficulty.
On the door of every religious Jewish family, you will find a mezúzah or a tiny box with a scroll within. It bears the message of Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Now, the Law of Moses ordered a king not to multiply horses, wives, or wealth lest these should lead his heart astray (Deuteronomy 17:17).
When somebody gets into trouble, the press almost always talks to the person’s mother, and she says, “Oh, the boy has such a good heart,” or “He’s a good boy at heart.” Well, Jeremiah the prophet would have disagreed. Jeremiah, who was often on the receiving end of punishment meted out by his brethren, said “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9)—which didn’t leave much room for optimism. Jonathan Edwards, the early preacher in America, in the spirit of the Puritans, agreed with Jeremiah. He said, “The heart is like a viper, hissing, and spitting poison at God.”
Most of the time the image we project to others is different from the one we know is within. In the darkness of the night when we look deep into our hearts, we often see gremlins that are frightening at best. When God chose to destroy humankind at the flood, he asserted that man’s goodness was totally gone, and that “every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5)—not very good marks!
But there’s good news regarding the heart, and it’s encouraging to end on a positive note. When we whose hearts have become darkened turn to God and really mean business, God responds because He knows we are sincere.
Jeremiah 29:13, records His invitation, saying, “You will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” God said, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Did you notice that phrase, “all your heart?” Only you know when the needle on the meter hits the peg meaning your heart is completely committed to God.
“I love you with all my heart,” we often tell our wives, and kids, and our husbands. Yes, that’s possible, and that is also the way you can know and love God—with an undivided heart and singularity of purpose.
Your heart is you! And only you know what’s within your heart. So, guard it well, friend, because out of the heart, come the issues of life. That’s it on today’s edition of Guidelines.
Resource reading: Jeremiah 29:1-14
