Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart
Paul Stow
In Psalm 139 David wrote, ‘For you created my inmost being you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made’. In this majestic Psalm King David, in an attitude of praise and worship, is acknowledging how our Creator God is the one who made him – who created Him.
How Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and Earth and of all living things (Genesis Chapter 1) is the one who placed Him in his mother’s womb and how, whilst he was in the womb shaped, formed, and knitted together every muscle, cartilage, sinew, bone, blood vessel, vein, artery, sinew, organ, cell of skin, cell of DNA, droplet of blood; who gave him his mind, spirit, and soul; and who gave him life.
By declaring how he has been ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ by God, David is declaring how he didn’t just ‘evolve’ over thousands of years, which of course is central to the teaching of Evolutionists, but rather he was uniquely created and designed by God for a specific purpose which, ultimately, is to know Him, to live in relationship with Him, and to love Him.
And what was true for David, is also true for us. We too have been ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’. And nowhere is this more evident than in the incredible internal organ God created that enables us to live life, namely the heart.
The human heart is a muscular organ which beats continuously throughout life. It keeps life giving blood moving around the body, and in addition to the heart delivering oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body, it also carries away unwanted dioxide and other harmful waste.
The right side of the heart receives blood from veins in the body and pumps it to the lungs. There it picks up fresh oxygen, releases carbon dioxide, and then passes through to the left side of the heart. The left side of the heart receives oxygen rich blood from the arteries in the lungs and pumps it through a main artery called the ‘Aorta’ which in turn delivers the oxygen rich blood to the rest of the body.
Each day a fully developed heart pumps about 100, 000 times and pumps about 5000 gallons of blood around the body.
But in order for the heart muscle to do the job God designed it to do, it too needs oxygen, and this is supplied by the coronary arteries. (Source British Heart Foundation). From the moment we begin to develop within the womb, from the moment we are born, and up to the moment we die, it is our beating, pumping heart, that sustains physical life.
However, within the pages of scripture, not only is the heart being the ‘control centre’ of our physical life, it is also the ‘control centre’ of our spiritual, emotional, and behavioral life. It is regarded as the place where our emotions, feelings, desires, thought processes, reasoning, actions, reactions, decisions, will, attitudes, beliefs and unbelief’s are located and begin, and this includes our attitudes, beliefs and unbelief’s about God.
Consider the following Biblical passages: –
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God”. – Psalm 14 v1
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3 v 3 & 4.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? – Jeremiah 17 v 7
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery’. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”. – Matthew 5 v27 & 28.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. – Matthew 6 v 21.
“You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks”. – Matthew 12 v 34
One of them, an expert in the Law, tested him (Jesus) with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment”. – Matthew 22 v 35 – 38
‘For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened’. – Romans 1 v 22
‘But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed’. – Romans 2 v 5.
‘Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver’. – 2 Corinthians 9 v 7.
‘Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart’. – 1 Peter 1 v 22.
“The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith we are proclaiming. That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved”. – Romans 10 v 8 – 10
These are just a few of over a thousand verses within the Bible that speak about the heart within a spiritual, emotional, behavioural, and phycological context. And again, what they collectively reveal is how the heart is not just a vital part of the human anatomy, but it is the core of who you are as a person. The heart is essentially YOU and ME. ALL of our life comes from the heart.
Now whilst the physical heart is indeed wonderfully made by God, sadly, and like the rest of the human body, it can also suffer the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle. Excessive smoking, drinking of alcohol, eating unhealthy food, lack of exercise, being overweight, all take the toll on the heart in the form of heart disease which, more often than not, leads to a heart attack and which, in many cases, can prove fatal. (Heart disease is the biggest killer in the UK with an estimated 170,000 people a year dying from heart disease – Source British Heart Foundation)
A heart attack occurs when the blood supply, together with the oxygen supply to one part of the heart muscle, is cut off. This happens when the Coronary Artery becomes temporarily or permanently blocked causing permanent damage to the heart.
As many of you know, back in May I suffered a heart attack which was due to a build-up of Cholesterol in my Coronary Artery. (Cholesterol is a type of fat which come from 2 sources – the liver and food. Food containing saturated fat in particular, can cause Cholesterol levels to increase and overtime they stick to the walls of the Coronary Artery causing the Artery to narrow which leads to blood flow to the heart being restricted)
In my case, the Cholesterol not only narrowed the artery which reduced the blood supply, but it also led to a blood clot forming in the artery, and it was this combination that led to the heart attack.
Although I survived and blood is flowing freely again through the Artery courtesy of a Stent being fitted in the Artery, my heart is now permanently damaged, and this damage is classified as ‘Heart Failure’ because my heart has now become ‘less effective’ at pumping blood around my body either while I am resting or when I am active.
In addition to the Stent, I am also now on medication for the rest of my life which not only helps strengthen my heart, but it also supports my heart during the pumping process. And having had time to reflect upon my heart attack, I now have no doubt that what happened was of my own making.
I have no doubt that lack of regular exercise combined with years of eating foods that were high in sugar, salt, and saturated fats led to my heart attack, and I thank God I am still alive to tell the tale.
Ultimately, it was an unhealthy lifestyle that led to my heart attack and to my heart being permanently damaged. And from a spiritual perspective, our failure to take care of our hearts spiritually can also cause our hearts to be damaged spiritually.
You see, the Bible teaches that something spiritually unhealthy is also located in our hearts and begins in our hearts, and that something, is sin. Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’. – Matthew 15 v 19 & 20.
Before we turned to Jesus in faith, our hearts were far from God because of sin in hearts. (Matthew Chapter 15 verse 8). But when we decided to turn to Jesus in faith, God ‘gave us a new heart; He put His Spirit in us; He removed our hearts of stone; and he gave us a heart of flesh’ – Ezekiel Chapter 35 v 26.
God effectively gave us a ‘heart transplant’. When we confessed Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, not only did God give us a new and clean heart, but He also placed His Holy Spirit within our hearts, and it is the Holy Spirit who enables us to keep our hearts clean and free from sin by prompting us to regularly confess, repent, pray, read God’s Word, learn from God’s Word, meditate upon God’s Word, and live our lives by God’s Word.
In saying all that however, the Bible also teaches that we each still have a ‘free will’ to either choose to keep our hearts clean and healthy OR we can choose to NOT keep our hearts clean and healthy by allowing sin to penetrate our hearts and by acting upon it which, if we do, will certainly cause spiritual damage to our hearts.
In the same way an unhealthy physical lifestyle can cause physical damage to our hearts, an unhealthy spiritual lifestyle can cause spiritual damage to our hearts. If we allow sin to take control of our lives, and if we live our lives by way of the world instead of by the ways of Jesus Christ, our hearts will ‘fail’ to function as they were meant to function.
In 1 Samuel Chapter 16 v 7 we read these words of the Lord. “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”. And in Jeremiah Chapter 17 v 10 we also read, “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve”.
Friends, as the Lord looks into your heart and searches your heart, what will He discover? Will He discover a heart that is far from Him, or will He discover one that is close to Him? Will He discover a heart of flesh, or will He discover a heart that has returned to stone? Will He discover a heart that is clean and healthy, or will He discover a heart that has been damaged by sin and by an unhealthy spiritual lifestyle? What condition will He find your heart in?
Following him being confronted by the prophet Nathan over His adultery with Bathsheba, King David prayed, ‘Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me’ – Psalm 51 v 10.
Psalm 51 is essentially David’s prayer of confession and repentance, and it is also an acknowledgment of what his sin has done to both him and God. However, in His grace, love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness, God restores David and renews his heart (see 2 Samuel Chapter 22), and what God did for David, He will also do for anyone who follows David’s example. God is unchanging. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. AND HE WILL DO IT. AMEN
Prayer
Lyrics
Refiner’s Fire
Brian Doerksen
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold, Lord
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold
Refiner’s fire
My heart’s one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin
Deep within
Refiner’s fire
My heart’s one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will
Ready to do Your will
Ready to do Your will
Change My Heart Oh God
Vineyard Music
Change My Heart Oh God
Make It Ever True
Change My Heart Oh God
May I Be Like You
Change My Heart Oh God
Make It Ever True
Change My Heart Oh God
May I Be Like You
You Are The Potter
I Am The Clay
Mould Me And Make Me
This Is What I Pray
Change My Heart Oh God
Make It Ever True
Change My Heart Oh God
May I Be Like You
Jesus Oh Jesus
Come And Fill Your Lambs
Jesus Oh Jesus
Come And Fill Your Lambs
1 thought on “Man looks at the outward appearance”
Change my heart oh lord, cleanse me of the sins and mindless thought that flow. Make me the man you desire me to be. Allow my blood to flow freely through my veins, to energise me and spread the glory of your name Jesus!
Amen