Today I go to a cardiologist to find out if I have a heart. Odds are against it. Seriously, though, they're checking for calcification of an artery in my leg. So I will have to do things, many things, to discover my heart health. I only know that I'm so very sleepy after no caffeine for 24 hours plus and I'm hungry after no food for the past 12 hours.
I only know this, as did David, "I cry out loudly to God, loudly I plead with God for mercy. I spill out my complaints before him, and spell out my troubles in detail."
As I was in line yesterday at the grocery, the check-out lady and I talked about growing older. I used my line, "Every day I rise and attempt to figure out what will be hurting today." She agreed wholeheartedly with only a slight laugh as she pondered the sentence. The sentence fit too closely to her life to make it completely funny.
In scripture we can find a number of duties of the heart, none of which include pumping blood to the body. The heart can be set (on someone), the heart can sink (as in become despondent), the heart can be hardened (as in become unmovable or unchangeable or even unyielding), the heart can be the center of something, the heart can be moved, it can be humbled, it can melt in fear, it can be a measuring stick as in loving with all your heart, it can be inclined towards God, it can even be proud. Heck, the Bible says it can even be circumcised, which is a feat I do not want to have happen to me today in the doctor's office. Nope, not at all.
God even tells the people of Israel to "fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads."
The Israelites, you see, understood the heart to be the center of emotions, but also the place where wisdom was stored.
As Daniel said to King Nebuchadnezzar, the wisdom of God is not revealed so that we who share it can show off or be glorified, but so that we and our listeners can be edified, so that we may all have the thoughts of our hearts revealed to us. The person who truly looks into the depths of Scripture will see his heart revealed in the light of the heart of God, and such revelation must move us to repentance and greater faith.
So today when they have me walk the treadmill and put some sort of dye into my body, they're seeking the physical health of that created device that pumps blood throughout my body. Sunday when I walk from pulpit to altar rail and sometimes beyond, I'm seeking the spiritual health of a congregation of people, by virtue of a created device that pumps the Holy Spirit through out bodies.
Here is my challenge for us all today: let us come to Scripture with a new heart, seeking God’s Word with new purpose.
Yes, we can come to know God’s love and God’s will for our lives through studying the Bible. But each time we come to God’s holy Word, we need to start by setting our minds to one purpose: to see our own hearts revealed in the light of Christ and His gospel
Let us turn to Scripture daily, seeking to know God so that we also are known, seeking His wisdom so that we understand the hidden recesses of our own hearts, seeking signs of His mercy so that we truly understand our need for repentance. Ultimately, let us look to the Bible not only to better understand who we are but also to know who we can be through Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
Holy God and Father, I thank You today for Your holy Word, for this Book that You have graciously given us. As I come to Your Bible each day, Lord God, help me to understand myself, to know Your will for my life, to truly see the amazing gift of Your mercy. In Your Word, let me see myself through Your eyes, through Your love. Help me to see Your Christ so that I may become more like Him. Truly, eternally open our hearts and let the Spirit of God in fresh and new each day.
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