The
Windows of the Heart
(Minute Meditation - February 2005)
Many years ago the lyrics of a popular song contained the words, “If my heart had windows, you would see a heart full of love just for you.”
It is interesting to think about what it would be like if our heart really did have windows and others could look inside to see how we felt about them. No doubt many would treat these windows the same as they do the windows in their homes. They would put up shades to prevent others from seeing what is inside.
God does not need a window to see what is in our hearts. Jeremiah tells us, “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”
What a sobering thought to realize we have no secrets hidden in the deep recesses of our heart that God does not know about. Samuel told Saul, “The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” We can shield from others what is really in our hearts, but not from God. Ananias and Sapphira attempted to fool Peter when he asked them the amount of money they received from selling their property, but the power of the Holy Spirit sealed their fate.
Jehu claimed that his heart was right, but did not follow through by serving the Lord with all his heart. Right after Jehu became king, as he went to destroy the worshippers of Baal, when Jehu saw Jehonadab coming to meet him, we read that Jehu “saluted him, and said to him, ‘Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?’ And Jehonadab answered, ‘It is.’” But only a few verses later we read, “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.” Jehu did not fool God with lofty words.
David wrote in the Psalms, “From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth – he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.” Solomon prayed to God, “Give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men).”
The problem is, as Jeremiah tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” This is why David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me.”
How do we let God cleanse our heart? First, we need to resolve with all our heart to love God and to desire to obey His commandments. Jesus was quoting Moses when he declared, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
The Word of God can clean our heart, help us to do what God wants, and help us not to sin, but we must fill our minds with it, and meditate on it. David explains, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
God does not need a window to see if we love Him. Our neighbor may not know what is in our heart, but we often reveal its contents by the way we speak. As Jesus tells us, “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” If our mind is full of God’s word, our speech will show it, just as the words of Peter and John signaled to the Jewish rulers that they were followers of Jesus.
Let us join in the prayer of David who said to the Lord, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”
Robert J. Lloyd