FUNCTIONS OF THE HEART (2)

“Hear, my son, and be wise; and GUIDE your HEART in the way” – Proverbs 23:19

In order to be guided aright, we need to better understand the FUNCTIONS of the HEART: “Hear, my son, and be wise; and GUIDE your HEART in the way” (Pro.23:19). Yesterday, we meditated on three functions of the heart: cognition, affection, and volition. Today, we’re examining more functions of the heart in order to deepen our understanding of its workings. First, let’s meditate on few vital references to the heart in this passage in which a teacher (representing our Father-God) addressed his disciples as children:

Verse 7: “For as he THINKS in his HEART, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.” The primary reference is to the miser (v.6). He is not really friendly and hospitable, as his words would imply, but grudges every morsel one takes, calculating its cost. That’s how deceitful some hearts can be. “His heart is not with you”: means he has no sincere kindness, but inwardly grudges what he outrwardly offers! But this verse also reveals a powerful principle: We become our thoughts!

Verse 12: “Apply your HEART to Instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.” Here is a parent admonishing the child to give his heart to the Scriptures. The inference is that the heart must be fed and continually exercised with instruction for it to operate optimally and take delivery of the issues of life for a colourful and enviable destiny.

Verse 15: “My son, if YOUR HEART is wise, MY HEART will rejoice – indeed, I myself.” God is greatly concerned about our hearts. It gladdens His Heart and He rejoices when our hearts display His wisdom through right attitudes, choices, decisions, and actions.

Verse 26: “My son, GIVE ME YOUR HEART, and let your eyes observe my ways.” The heart is one gift that’s worthy of acceptance which we can offer to God; and the only one God desires to haveYet, it is an offering which we often try to keep for ourselves, substituting for it alms, outward religious observances, and fleshly prayers. God demands to have our hearts more than our works.

The heart is the source of thought and reflection: “Make the HEART of this people DULL, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and UNDERSTAND with their HEART, and return and be healed” (Isa. 6:10). The functions of the heart precede those of the ears and eyes. A dulled heart is defective in thinking and reflecting. This scripture also affirms that the heart is the arena of understanding. It takes the heart to understand God, His dealings, and spiritual realities.

Wisdom to live and lead effectively resides in the heart. God told Solomon: “…See, I have given you a wise and understanding HEART, so that there has not been anyone like you before, nor shall any like you arise after you” (1Kgs.3:12). The fulfilment: “Now all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his WISDOM, which God had put in his HEART” (2Kgs.10:24).

The heart discerns good and evil: “The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know, as your HEART acknowledges, all the wickedness that you did to my father David…” (1 Kgs. 2:44a). What the head forgets and the lip denies, the heart never forgets! It keeps record of everything that happens to us. That’s why, the heart shall stand in judgement before God.

The heart controls our Will and Conscience. On one occasion when David had the chance to kill Saul, he only “cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.” Even so, “David’s HEART troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe” (1Sam.24:5). His conscience – the voice of his spirit – was speaking: “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord” (1Sam.24:4-6). What a spiritually enlightened and sensitive heart! No wonder David was a man after God’s Heart! We can begin to align our hearts in line with God’s Will and become men after His Heart!