It’s tough to live in this world, whether we admit it or not. Temptations lurk in every corner, dilemmas keep blocking our paths, worries and fears hinder happiness and peace, and trials keep testing our strength. But our heart is above all of these tribulations we face; it determines how we are to deal with them and what our outlook in life will be. Yet, do we always remember this in times of despair? Speaking from a personal view, I suppose not. As we are sinful in nature, we sometimes (or even, often) do things that are wrong. This causes us to drift farther and farther away from God because sin slowly corrupts our being and keeps us from being the righteous person God intends for us to be. We may not notice it but we are what we dictate ourselves to be. It says in the Bible, “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.” (Proverbs 27:19)
The content of our thoughts reflects who we really are, not simply by our actions and words. That’s why the Lord doesn’t look at a person’s outward appearance and weight of one’s actions, he examines our hearts. It says in 1 Samuel 16:7, “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’”
As I re-read my collection of devotions (which I started writing in a small notebook during the summer), I stumbled upon the one that struck me the most at the time. Its passage was of Proverbs 4:23-27. The passage says:
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.”
Here, King Solomon advises us to “guard our hearts.” But he refers to it as an inner core of a person, his/her attitude, will, desires, thoughts and even feelings. To guard our hearts is to watch our mouths, eyes and feet because just as our physical hearts can become weak and hardened, so can our spiritual hearts. Hardening of the heart occurs when we are presented with God’s truth, and we refuse to acknowledge or accept it. So, if we don’t take care our spiritual hearts, the farther we’ll drift from God.
There’s a story in Exodus where Egypt was stricken with one calamity after another when the pharaoh refused to release the Israelites from their bondage. He hardened his heart against the truth that God Almighty intended to deliver His people from Egypt. It was even mentioned three times from verses 7 through 9. But King David (in Psalm 95:7-9) pleaded with his people not to harden their hearts in rebellion against God as they did in the wilderness. Guarding against a rebellious spirit and cultivating a spirit of submissive obedience to God’s Word, therefore, is the first step in guarding the heart.
Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
Don’t make promises you can’t keep, don’t use your words to pull people down, and don’t say things you aren’t willing to carry on. The sins of the tongue hurt the one who speaks, and does not in any way help the ones who hear them. People usually engage in complaining, gossip, disputes, and contention, but we are instructed many times to avoid grumbling, murmuring, and complaining. “Do all things without grumbling or disputing” (Philippians 2:14).
Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
On a personal note, I see this as a reminder to fix our eyes on Jesus and nothing else. Because when our gaze shifts from the savior to temptation, it gets difficult to guard our hearts. When we put Jesus at the center and allow Him to guide us, sin that continuously and relentlessly creeps up on us can be avoided as we are in the hands of the one who will surely protect us and help us through any hardship.
Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.
Often times we get lost and confused as to where we should be right now in our lives. But the Lord reminds us to be steadfast, meaning firm and unwavering. Submitting to the will God has in store for us isn’t as easy as we hope for it to be, but at the end it will all be worth it. God will send us places we don’t even plan going ourselves, but remember that sometimes, the plans we have for ourselves aren’t even close to the best plan the Lord has for us. The world will continue to shape our thinking and influence us with ways that contradict God, but He reminds us to stand firm for He is moving in our lives and will not lead us to harm.
We’ve all been broken to the extent of despair and depression. But bad days don’t last, even when it feels like it does. With all the problems we have to face everyday, little or not, it becomes hard to trust in the Lord and keep our hearts from perversity. Yet we have control over our hearts, over our thoughts and actions, it’s just a matter of filling them with the right things. When your mind is clear and right with God, when you think the thoughts of Christ after Him, when you’re being transformed by the word and Spirit of God in your thought life, then you’re going to be doing the will of God. And maybe, the things that hinder us from God will eventually push us to grow stronger in Him so that we may not stray from him anymore.