The Bible has an unapologetically way of describing the condition of man, his heart and states it to be evil. In fact, as I was reading Jeremiah this week, I landed upon the famous verse that says “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). This is quite different from what we often hear in the world or say to each other when talking about men. We would say things like, “he’s such a good boy, or she’s such a good girl” or even “he/she has a good heart”. Whenever we say those things, we do not refer to the condition of the heart as Jeremiah points out, but we talk about the kindness of a person in specific situations. What Jeremiah referred to was our condition prior to Christ, our sinful nature, our predisposition to act evil when left to our devices. Fortunately, when we believe in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross, we are given a new heart, a heart of flesh and not of stone (Ezekiel 36:26). This new heart allows us to apply the commandments of God, it allows us to be receptive to God, to return to God when we sin and to love him wholeheartedly. Without this supernatural help from God, we would be trusting in ourselves which would have amounted to our ruin as we see in Jeremiah that the man who trusts in the flesh is cursed (Jeremiah 17:5). As I was reminded this week, our hearts are not to be trusted, and we must pay attention to the Lord’s nudging instead of ourselves.
Jeremiah’s prayer in chapter fifteen spoke to me this week. In fact, as I read it, I said to God that this was the state of my heart and when I continued to read for God’s answer, I was shocked to see that it was a rebuke and not an encouragement. You see, like Jeremiah, I wondered “Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?” and then I continued like him with the statement “Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?” (Jeremiah 15:18). Although this was a question, underneath was really an accusation. Like Jeremiah, I blamed God for my problems, wondered where His hand was all along when He had been there. The feeling of lethargy and disappointment plagued my understanding, and, in a moment, my faith faltered. Like Jeremiah, my speech was not truthful, I did not utter what was precious in the Lord’s eyes, instead, I uttered what was worthless. That is why, the Lord’s rebuke was right. He called me to return to Him so that I can be restored. And indeed, He has restored me. Why do I bring this story today? It is simply to draw your attention to the fact that far too often, our hearts grow callous without us noticing it. We are so good at going on autopilot that we seldom realize when we are in the wrong. If it weren’t for God’s goodness and mercy, many of us would not repent. We would continue in our sins. Remember the story of David and Bathsheba when the prophet Nathan came to tell him what the Lord had to say (2 Samuel 12)? David did not believe at first that the story the prophet was narrating was about him, as he heard the story in the third person, David was quick to pass judgement but when Nathan told him that he was the culprit, the wicked man in the story, it then dawned on David. My point is, sometimes, it takes God sending a third party to show us our sins.
In fact, this too happened to me this week (yes, I know, another blow). I was in a conversation where it was reported that I approved of a family member’s adulterous lifestyle because that family member had told me about it, and I had not said a thing. As I pondered upon that statement and the discussions that followed, it dawned on me that my action or inaction indeed gave a clear message that I approved of the lifestyle. I also realized that I had not been honouring to God in my conduct as I sent mixed messages, so I had to repent for my sins. I had to repent for essentially condoning sin by not being clear to the family member living the life of sin of my position and where God stands. It took that report to make me see that I had missed the mark myself not because I did not believe the family member was in sin but because I did not think it was my place to speak up and truly I did not think in the moment of the impact my action or lack of it thereof would testify about God and His institution and how I honour Him. This encounter made me realize how often we paint a bad picture of God to the watching world and wonder why we are not making an impact. By the grace of God, I was able to see my folly and I repented but like in the case of David, I would not have seen it had God not brought that conversation to my ears and thank God I listened. Indeed, were it not for God’s mercy, I would not have realized that keeping quiet was not the way to go. At other times, God’s mercy manifests itself through calamities. As we have already said, God will often bring judgement upon us so that we will repent and return to Him. This is often a last resort for God where He leaves us to reap the consequences of our sin. When I think of the many ways we sin against God and how He continues to love us, I am amazed and grateful. Truly, our God is wonderful, who is like Him in all the earth? There is none beside Him!
This goodness of God, this mercy of God has an expiry date on this earth. Indeed, a time will come when His goodness and mercy will no longer be available. A time will come when God will bring His judgement full swing into this earth, the time of the consummation of His salvation. The Bible warns us that we do not know the day or time when the LORD will return (Matthew 24:36), and because of that we ought to be ready for the LORD’s coming. This readiness means two things: first, knowing Him as your personal LORD and saviour and second, remaining in Him until He comes. It is important to know God as your LORD and personal saviour because without this understanding and belief, you are still standing in opposition to God, you are standing in condemnation with God because of your sin that separates you from a holy God. The only way for you to be spared of that judgement is by accepting that Jesus Christ, God’s son who was without sin came into the world, lived a perfect life that you could not live, took your sins on the cross, died the death you deserved and rose again to give you his righteousness and eternal life. Salvation belongs to God and is only through faith in Christ Jesus. It is not something we can achieve on our own but simply receive from the LORD. This requires a life of total surrender to the LORD. Second, remain in the LORD. No matter how long the LORD seems to tarry, do not give up, do not go back to your old ways, do not fall back but remain steadfast in Him, relying on the help of the Holy Spirit which God has given us when we became His children.
I hope you were able to see that our hearts are sinful and cannot be trusted unless they are regenerated. Regenerated hearts follow the spirit and not the flesh. Let us strive to live humbly, always be quick to listen to a rebuke from the word of the LORD and being obedient to His teaching. Like the Psalmist, we should gladly say “let a righteous man strike me – it is kindness; let him rebuke me – it is oil on my head; let my head not refuse it” (Psalm 141:5). And above all, let us guard our hearts, for they are the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23). Amen!
A Word Aptly Spoken 