Lessons from The Psalms part 1
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139v23-24
“Follow your heart, and listen when it speaks to you.” Susanna Tamaro
“Follow your heart, do the things that make you happy.” Anonymous
“Believe in yourself and follow your heart.” Anonymous
“Sometimes following your heart means losing your mind” Anonymous
Have you ever seen quotes like these? They sound so appealing! They sound so freeing! They sound so courageous as you shake of all that restrains you and just plunge into following your own instinct and deep-seated desires! But they are so dangerous, and so anti God.
David was a man after God’s own heart and He prayed that God would search his heart and test him, and know all his deep-seated thoughts and desires. The purpose in David’s request was that God would show him how deceitful and wicked his heart really was, and that God would point out all the evil things lurking there so that he could repent of them and walk in God’s everlasting ways.
David knew he could not trust his own heart. He knew that if he trusted in his own thoughts and his own desires, they would lead him away from God. Sinful nature will always want its own way, even if it is dressed up to look like a “good thing”.
Working hard is a good thing, but not if it is purely to gain personal success, wealth, social status etc.
Being careful with our money is a good thing, but not if it leads to stinginess and storing up wealth for ourselves when there is a world around us in desperate need of the basics in life.
Sexual intimacy is a good thing, but only within the confines of marriage the way God intended it to be.
To become a man, or woman after God’s own heart we need to pray the prayer that David prayed. Search me, point out everything that is not of You, lead me in Your Ways, for they alone are the ways of everlasting life.
When we passionately follow our truth, rather than God’s revealed truth, we may feel good about ourselves, we may have very happy times, we may feel content and confident in our own decisions, but we are ultimately following a lie that in the end will consume us.
We walk in truth, only when we walk with God. His Word is the way to know Him. His Word will cleanse our hearts and renew our minds so that his thoughts become our thoughts, and his passions become our passions. His Word reveals His heart, and that is the heart to follow to everlasting life.