February 27, 2024

Who owns your heart? To whom have you yielded your heart [mind/convictions/beliefs]? What motivates you? Where do you focus your pursuits? Is there room in your “must do” schedule for the needs of others, and time for fellowship with Yahweh [God/ studying His Word]… where do you think your heart’s “condition” comes from [is developed from]? In Proverbs 23:7a, we read, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

The opening verse above is from Yeshua’s teachings that we often call “The Beatitudes.” He had this to say of “heart fruit:”

“For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.” luk 6:43-44 nkjv

I think our pursuits in life are a composite [often complex] of the things we choose to study, view [broad spectrum], profess, act upon, play with, family influence, persons of our associations, and much more. We start out as a lump of clay, on life’s potter wheel, and at some point we are formed into a near unalterable finished product… and as time and habits “dry” our clay, we become difficult to reshape into any different form. The heart is as such… This is why Yahweh said He would take away our stony hearts and give us hearts of flesh… His words in Ezk chapter 36; where Ezekiel tells of His future plans or Israel, following their calamitous failures and their backsliden history; including these scriptures:

“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” ezek 36:24-28 nkjv

I count 7 times where Yahweh says, “I will,” and it seems that since He is the master “potter,” that He alone can remake our hardened clay into supple and useful material that He will further use for the work of His purpose. How does that apply to us?

I think we now live in a society of hardened clay losers. We, like ancient Israel have really messed up our lives, and collectively our world. If you think not, you have not looked around you, read the news, seen the corrupt and immoral debauchery we have become as a society. If you disagree, that’s on you… because the Bible clearly underscores what I just said. That is, unless Yahweh’s Word is not your compass. If Yeshua had not come to “rescue” us and instill His Holy Spirit within our hearts, we would be a lost, stone-hearted and hopeless people… some yet are.

Living in the reality of our times [which the Bible implies are “as in the days of Noah”] it can be difficult to deal with the forces of darkness and evil that surround us and continually press us… Even Yahweh’s best spokesmen grew wearied in their duties for Yahweh’s cause… I.e, Elijah, following his destruction of Jezebel’s 450 prophets of Baal, fled from wicked Jezebel when she threatened him; and while sulking in the wilderness concerning his grave circumstances, Yahweh essentially told him to “shape up,” for I [Yahweh] have seven thousand in Israel who have not bent their knees to Baal. (see 1Kings chapters 18 & 19)

Then when Jeremiah was stressed and frustrated with the seemingly prosperous evildoers and their apparent happiness, a despicable people he had to deal with, and was venting to Yahweh, Yahweh said:

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?” jer 12:5 nkjv

It seems Yahweh is more concerned with our attitude and trust in Him than He is with our whining.. it appears He is not impressed with our kicking the slats out of our crib when we lack patience and become weary in the struggles of life. In Ps chapter 38, many of the concerns and perplexities Elijah and Jeremiah wrestled with were also experienced by David… even when he acknowledged his own sins and foolishness; some of his words were:

“I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. 7 For my loins are full of inflammation, And there is no soundness in my flesh. 8 I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.” Then David concludes: “Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me! 22 Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!”

In the end, like David, we must keep our perspective… we must always know where our help and strength comes from:

Thus David proclaims, “Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. 13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. 14 Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” ps 27:12-14 nkjv

Shalom, John