The Proverbs have eighty-two references to the heart! This number is eclipsed by only one other book in the Bible. Our heart is the part of us that God sees and knows us to be. So much instruction is offered concerning the heart of man, it’s clearly a priority for a well-lived life. Look at Mark 7. Jesus has just ended another exchange with the Pharisees, who are criticizing Jesus’ disciples for eating food with unwashed hands. Jesus says, “Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear…And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” (Mark 7:14-23)
Perhaps a thousand years before the days of the Pharisees, God’s servant, Job, understood that no outward cleansing could purify his heart. “If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me” Job 9:30-31.
Back in my college days, one of our instructors, a very wise, humble, and sincere man, often quoted the following to us: “At the heart of every matter, is a matter of the heart.” He pulled this out whether he was dealing with Old Testament character studies or student relationship problems. The God Who created me knows my heart and has the power to change my heart. David cried in the Psalms, “Create in me a clean heart!” These words were said by the one man with the testimony of being after God’s own heart. Was it his perfection that made him so? No, it was his communion with the heart of God and his plea for transformation. Every action of life proceeds from the heart.
We know this, of course…
“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom. 10:10)
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” (Luke 6:45)
“…doing the will of God from the heart.” (Eph. 6:6b)
No wonder my teacher’s quote was always accompanied by the following proverb, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” Prov. 4:23. (V.K.S.)
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