The Heart

post 168

So what if you read the previous post, and you can see yourself clearly in that mirror. You recognize your offense to God and you really, deeply, desperately, desire to change it…

But you are just plain powerless to do anything about it?

This post is for you.

* * *

Most people are confident in their knowledge of understanding that the heart is the seat of our emotions; You have your head, and then you have your heart.

And few that I know, have a clue how to control the heart; It loves who it wants, it hates who it wants, it changes its mind whenever it wants, and it seems, for the most part, it usually wants whatever our mind does not want it to want! And the scripture seems to agree;

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

It seems by the evidence that we should not be responsible for what we cannot control, but the very next verse says otherwise:

“I the LORD search the heart, I try (974) the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” Jeremiah 17:10.

Now if we just want to be defensive, we will kick at this verse as generally unfair.

But if we analyze this verse, there is wisdom that will help us figure out why we are responsible. Lets start with the end of the verse and work backwards:

* * *

We do stuff that produces fruit, these are our “doings”:

In the last post we saw that good seed produces good fruit and bad seed produces bad fruit. Not really rocket science here, but scripture has made this fact indisputable.

So far in this verse, we don’t know if the fruit is good or bad, but continuing backwards we see that regardless of which it is; the LORD gives to everybody according to not only the results of what he does, but also according to the doing that ended in the results.

So we see, that a man's ways and the doing are similar but not the same things; His ways get him to where he does the doings, but his doings are what he does when he gets there via his ways.

This is not poetic mumbo-jumbo,

This is wisdom.

If your ways don’t lead you wrong, you will not usually be where your doings result in bad fruit… Usually.

This is the foundational concept behind the wise saying; "Bad company corrupts good manners."

Now lets continue backwards in deconstructing this verse;

The LORD tries the reins to see what reward to give.

We know the reins are the implements to steer the course. The reins on a horse are small cords attached to a bit that when lightly pulled gently changes the course or direction of the large strong animal... if trained.

We see by this verse, and that it follows the previous one, that the LORD tries the reins, Not for the purpose of finding out the course of the man, but to test the reins themselves, i.e. to see if they work properly on the heart (more on this in a moment).

Now the first segment of this verse;

I the LORD search the heart.

Now we are able to understand that it is the heart of a man that carries him in his direction just as the horse on which a man rides. And the LORD does an investigation to discover all that is in the heart, and how it has been trained to receive guidance, which all result in the actual destination and the kind of fruit at the end.

But God does not need to wait until the harvest, he sees it all in the moment he searches the heart and tries the reins. The rest is just obvious after that.

If you have an undisciplined, stubborn heart that will not take direction, how do YOU think things will turn out?

You see the previous verse makes clear that God doesn't need to see if the heart is wicked, that is a given.

But is it trained, is it disciplined? That is what God is looking for.

Try 974 bachan; a primitive root; to test (especially metals); generally and figuratively to investigate:- examine, prove, tempt, try (trial).

So we see here that the heart, which we cannot seem to control, is the motivating factor that gets us into trouble, or keeps us out of trouble by the path it takes us down, where we then plant our seed and harvest the resulting crop… good or bad.

But note: the crop is not the reward, but the natural result or consequence of the seeds we plant. God says he gives to every man ACCORDING, in part, to the crop harvested. So if you go down a bad path and plant bad seed (or good seed in a bad place) you get bad results; and in addition the LORD gives you accordingly.

What does he give you? That depends on where you went and what you did.

* * *

“So stop beating this dead horse already!” you cry,

“I know I am on the wrong path.”
“I know I have planted bad seed.”
“What do I do NOW, since I can’t seem to control where my heart takes me?”

In answer, I want to use another scriptural explanatory concept, but our gender defensive mentality is already so twisted from God’s way of thinking that it will only make most people mad (Genesis 3:16b), so let me simply say; Our mind needs to man up, take control, and rein in the heart. The heart is not capable of making right or wrong choices, it just goes wherever it feels to go, and it usually feels to go bad!

And here is the real crux of the problem. WE think our heart is supposed to naturally lead us wherever it feels right to go, and GOD says he tries the reins. What does that really mean?

Imagine you are riding a horse called Heart.

And God reaches down from the clouds, picks up the reins and gives a gentle tug test.

But the horse resists.

God has just tried the reins.

He sees the heart has not been trained to yield to course correction and so it is obvious that the heart has determined its own course.

God knows the resulting crop before we ever start planting.

But we never learned that we were even supposed to control our heart, and if we did, we certainly have no idea how to go about it.

But here is the part that will really get you;

You have admitted that you really want to follow the right path. You want to turn from the wrong path. You have at times put in great effort to turn your path but failed again and again, and that makes you very sad.

So doesn’t that mean your heart wants to go right but somehow can't?

NO!

In the above example; your heart is the horse, your mind is the rider, and your will is the reins.

Unlike God's test in the above example, you rarely touch the reins but just let the horse have its head to take you wherever it wants to go because you trust your heart. Sometimes you like where it goes, sometimes you don't, and when you don't (or rather, when you think God doesn't) you yell at the heart with your mind, but it doesn't listen.

God doesn't consider this good horsemanship.

The problem is that in your understanding, you have wrongly combined the heart and the emotions.

BUT YOUR HEART IS NOT THE SEAT OF YOUR EMOTIONS;

Your mind is.

* * *

It is the thoughts and understanding of your mind that creates emotions.

Now once created, they too can be hard to control, but they still are just a result of mental input. This is why you can have great anger toward someone, then be informed of a factor you were not aware of, and instantly the anger is gone. But after learning your spouse has been cheating on you, although you are instantly angry you cannot stop loving them with your heart; that takes time *1.

If you understand this concept of separation between the thoughts of the heart and the emotions of the mind, you then have a great power to begin controlling the heart because you are no longer using the wrong tool for the job.

Horses don't respond well to anger, or pleading, or crying, or logic. But they do respond to the reins if trained. Your heart is the same way.

The answer to a wayward heart is, with your mind, prepare a set path for your heart and guide it on that path making sure to faithfully eliminate as many of the distractions as possible along the way, especially at the start, and have a tight hold on the reins with your will, to immediately yard it back onto the trail when it turns its head to a distraction.

This pre-planned understanding is acquired by the mind and put to the task by the will while the heart is dragged kicking and screaming in protest.

But do not cave to its tantrums. Remember, it is in the nature of the heart to love whatever it becomes intimately familiar with. So by time and proximity to the ways of God and the nearness of God, the heart will learn to love God… Except;

 If you do not remove the things it already loves then you cannot turn its head even in the proximity of God. The heart is very strong and very stubborn, and even more deceitful of its intent. In fact most people who are ruled by their hearts cannot overpower it until faced with a crisis. Their will is the weak servant of their heart and the mind has been put out to pasture, or has determined to wholly follow the heart wherever it leads. This is unacceptable to God as it is a perversion of his creation;

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” Proverbs 4:23 (see also; Deuteronomy 4:9).

* * *

So how do I gain power over my heart if it is now dominate?

Because of original sin, the heart has a nature to want to dominate your mind and will, but it also has the underlying design to be most contentedly compliant when led with a strong confident hand (Genesis 3:16b), I know I’m on dangerous ground but the nature of a horse will validate my claim.

This is why if you simply begin to exercise your will and stop giving in emotionally to the heart’s cries of stubborn complaint, your will can quickly grow stronger than your heart and in time your heart will comply happily.

But its a real battle at the start, after having let it learn to go where it wants!

Picture a cowboy breaking a wild horse and you get the idea; Sometimes it throws you but you climb right back on and give it another go. Keep with it, be diligent, be consistent, and eventually the heart will learn that your will is determined and dominate and it will learn to comply and eventually learn to love the leadership, congrats; you are on your way to properly breaking your wayward heart.

* * *

“Remember this, and show yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” Isaiah 46:9-10.

I have been using this Blog to bring to memory things which America has forgotten in order to take pleasure in the wayward desires of her heart. I have shown how God is actually in virtually every aspect of life from our history to our future. With this reminder you can renew your mind and strengthen your will to master your heart before it leads you to utter destruction which is the ultimate reward for such a course and such a harvest, as our Jeremiah study verse describes.

* * *

But there is something you should know before you begin this endeavor:

The heart is very conniving, manipulative, deceitful, and stubborn like nothing else! but it is your job to rule over it with strength and understanding; Not in hate or resentment or anger, but to control what it loves so that it will take you into abundant blessing and a favorable reward of the LORD.

The word "heart" is used in this exact form 823 times in scripture, then there is the plural, the possession, the “hearted”s; brokenhearted, fainthearted, hardhearted, merryhearted, stiffhearted, etc., etc., not to mention the topic without using the actual word. The scriptures have quite a lot to say about the heart.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

This is not a cute saying; it is a warning.

There are many things in life that are deceitful, but the heart is master deceiver of them all. And with its very desperate wickedness how are you supposed to believe anything it tells you?

How many times have you heard someone say; “I know in my heart that (such and such)…”

There is only one thing you can know for sure when you let it lead;

YOUR HEART IS DECEIVING YOU!

How many times have you heard the line; “Follow your heart”?

We now know this is the surest path to destruction and hell.

Why? Does your heart hate you?

No, it just doesn't know any better, after all, it ain't your brain.

By nature it wants to be boss and thinks it’s a good boss, though it does a lousy job of leading anywhere but to ruin.

God does not require you to fix the nature of your heart, but he does require you to humble (control) it (Daniel 5:22 and many others).

So to maintain the control for itself, your heart will lie to you and tell you that you love God. And with its cooing warm and fuzzy manipulation you will believe it, because you want to believe it.

So how can you know for sure what is true?

There is only one sure and rock solid value by which to make a judgment; That is the word of God.

Such as:

“and hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” I John 1:3-4.

So although your heart comfortingly reminds you that you gave your heart to Jesus back in summer camp of ’86, the scripture tells you something is not quite right.

Your heart will hold dear the mental photo album of being a Sunday school teacher back in your college days, or it will even keep reminding you of some great spiritual success you actually had not long ago proving that you are just fine. But do not believe your heart.

Your heart should not be your source of information on which to establish your course. Your heart is designed by God to go happily where you determine it will go, and it will be content to love whatever it finds along that path.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” I John 2:15-16.

Now for those of you already master of your heart, you have no problem with this passage, you understand that you are accountable for what you love and you now know why. But for those of you led by your heart, this passage seems like someplace you definitely don’t want to go;

“How boring,

How limited,

How restricting.”

Forgive my offense; usually obese people are fat because they have acquired an appetite for things not good for them. There are now many studies and diet programs that declare for the most part it is not the volume of food that is the problem, but the kind of foods you eat.

Likewise physically weak people are weak usually because they have acquired an appetite for sedentary lifestyles and a distaste for physical strenuous activities, etc.

These are not special people with special problems as they like to suppose, they have simply acquired a harmful appetite (I am not referring to the few rare cases of legitimate medical causes).

Any appetite acquired can be replaced, with the effort of the will. The first problem then is;

Do you really want to?

This is a choice of the mind. But if you have allowed your heart to rule long, what can a weak mind hope to do against it? This person needs to start small; find something small but harmful that the heart loves, then stamp that tiny foot of your shriveled will and say;

“Not this one, No more; I refuse to allow my heart to take me there any longer”.

Then stick with it. Sweat it out. Battle your heart until you have dominance in that area. Then pick another. Be sure to replace that time or activity with something godly as a new focus for the heart to become familiar with, I recommend prayer, or scripture reading, a bible study group, or even a good TV preacher or podcast (yes there are several good ones), something that will turn your attention to God himself and not religion. Your heart will hate it at first, expect that; it wouldn’t be training if it already liked it.

The world is full of consequences to conditioned harmful appetites, and for the most part, once acquired, the heart defends it with vigor because it has learned to love it by familiarity, just like every young man’s dream girl who wont leave the boyfriend who beats her.

Christians and non-Christians alike are often godless because they have acquired harmful appetites that consume the time or energy that should be spent with God, and the heart has learned to love this schedule even if the mind resents it!

Another manipulative trick of the heart to get its own desires, is to condemn us for our faith that results in lawful works.

“Say what?!”

…"For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things" I John 3:20.

Now with this knowledge, lets go back and read the rest of this confusing passage and you will understand what it is saying!

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things"

I John 3:10-20.

If our heart cries; "That's not righteousness!" or "You are trying to earn your salvation!" We can assure our heart before God that we know we are of the truth because we love in deed and truth.

Then as our heart quiets down with this assurance, we read the next verse;

"Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God" I John 3:21.

Confidence comes when the heart and mind are working in unison, because there is finally nothing dragging its feet.

* * *

“Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge” Proverbs 23:12.

For myself, the longer I spend guiding my heart down the path my mind has instructed my will to enforce, the greater my heart becomes attached to the things on this path and the less interest and longing it has for old things it is now kept away from. And now I find that over time, the things my heart used to love are no longer much of a distraction even when they come along.

But because I know for sure I can't trust my deceitful heart, I never let it choose the path (unless that is where I intended to go anyway), or even pause in dangerous old territory, nor do I let it wander unattended, all to protect it from harmful things that might quickly steal its attention.

I never believe my heart, yet I love its counsel as added input to my choices.

and if along the good path it happens to fall in love with something my mind is pleased it loves, and led it down that path for that purpose, Then well; Oh the ecstasy of joy the tender heart can bring to the mind and life.

* * *

How do you control your wayward heart?

You simply comprehend that the heart is not made to lead you.

Recognize with your mind the destruction of the path you are presently on because of it, then command your will to rein in your heart, and determine to steer it on the right path of God. In otherwords;

“…Repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” Acts 26:20.

The key is DON’T follow your heart!

* * * * * * *

*1 Side Note:

If you choose to be angry at someone for a while, your heart will often choose to be angry too. But your heart can't have the emotion of anger so what it does is hate.

Like love, this is hard to turn once it takes root.

Pride is also found in the heart - II Chronicles 32:26.

I believe bitterness is also found there - Proverbs 14:10,

among many others - Proverbs 19:21.

These are not actually emotions (that belong to the mind), these are much more base that that, which is the realm of the heart.

Am I saying the heart has no place in our life? Of course not!

The scripture has a lot to say about the role of the heart and although more often than not, we are warned about the counsel of the heart, nonetheless we find in Proverbs 20:5; "Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out." The heart does indeed have great deep ideas based upon much more than intellect, but it is not very good at simply expressing those depths in simple form and it takes understanding to separate the good counsel from the deceitful heart.

But a heart of stone or a heart of flesh, neither has the rightful role to lead us, even if the idea is good. Yet like a rider with no horse, without the unified participation of the heart we would not get very far.

The Heart is extremely complex and I regret only a single post where it would take a book to due it justice. I highly recommend a bible study of the Heart to understand its proper role.

*