Heart

What does it say in Psalms 51:7-10 in David’s repentant prayer about the heart, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

King David, like all of us, needed a new heart and the Spirit of God living inside, without that we will always lean towards our wants and our desires and sin will always be crouching at the door of our hearts.  Read what Jeremiah 17:9 says,“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”  Our hearts have leaned towards sin since the day we were born, and I am not talking about the muscle in the center of our chests that beats and helps keep us alive, no, I am talking about our emotions and our very being so we have no control over our thoughts and emotions because our sin nature is bent towards sin every single day. Without a clean heart and God’s Spirit living within us, we are enslaved to sin and there is nothing in ourselves that we can do about it.  God’s Word makes it very clear that we are all born sinners no matter how we try to get away from that this is the truth.  We are all born with an incurable decease.

Think about leprosy in bible times, I realize that there were different sicknesses called leprosy in those days, but I am talking about the one that caused your body to basically fall apart, rot and decay and death was the outcome, for there was no cure.  That’s the kind of effect that sin has in the body, it is a death sentence with no cure that you can be given from a doctor or bring about on your own, ever.  Sin is the reason we get old and our bodies wear out and we die a physical death and a spiritual death also.  Sin is like a disease that has crept into our lives and has taken us captive to do its work, tearing down and destroying everything good and meaningful in life, altering our thinking and the way we respond to circumstances and situations, it depletes us of inner peace, joy, contentment and hope.  It is never satisfied; it is a consumer and never gives without expecting something in return.  It is the big reason why jails and prisons are overflowing and divorce is so high, along with abortions, porn, prostitution, sex trafficking, racial problems and identity and pedophile problems plus many other things that take place.

But even with all this bad news there is good news and that is that God made a way that we could be set free of the sin that enslaves us and we can have a new heart.  God said this in Ezekiel 11:17-20, “Therefore say, thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”

God would give a new heart to those who loved Him and would turn away from their sins and would walk in His statutes and keep His ordinances.  God spoke of this again to Israel in Ezekiel 36:26-27, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

You might read this and think it was just for the Jews but it was also for the Gentiles who would forsake their sins and turn to God.  Please read Acts 15:6-11, “And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.”

God is still in the business of purifying hearts and saving people from their sins.  

What God seeks is the humble and contrite heart, so if you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit over the sins that you have willfully committed and you are ready to forsake and turn from them and give your life fully over to God, then speak to the Lord about them and ask Him to forgive you and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness.  And don’t be in a hurry but let the Lord fill you with His perfect peace, love and joy, then find a Bible believing church and start growing in your faith.  Then you will truly have something to thank and praise the Lord about.  But, like I said don’t be in too much of a hurry, take your time and pray through and share with someone what the Lord is doing in your life.  Something to think about!  May you have a great day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!