What’s in Your Heart?

As I sat in church on a recent Sabbath, the pastor was preaching about prayer. He was making a point that God wants to know what’s in our hearts. He doesn’t see us as others see us; God looks at our hearts.

 “If you cut open your heart, what will God see?” asked the pastor. Hmm. This got me thinking. I couldn’t focus on the sermon anymore. I began to think about my heart and what was really in there. What does God see? My life hasn’t been a Disney movie. There has never been a happily-ever-after for me. I thought about my day at church and what was in my heart just that day. I knew that in my heart, I had pain, hurt, grief, loneliness, sadness, and remorse. And that was just from that day.

 So, thanks to my smartphone, I began a search for the word heart in the Bible. Many texts came up. I needed to find out what I could do to have a heart that is acceptable to God. As I searched the Scriptures, I found several promises that gave me peace, assuring me that I could be acceptable to God, regardless of my heart condition.

 First, 1 John 3:20 reads, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things” (KJV). OK, so God knows my pain—hallelujah! He knows my life experiences that have caused my heart to hurt. Then in Ezekiel 36:26, I found this promise: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony [painful, hurting, lonely, grieving, remorseful, sinful] heart . . . and I will give you an heart of flesh” (KJV).

In Proverbs 3:5, I read, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (KJV). So instead of trusting myself and my feelings, I must trust God to work out my life for me.

And last, I discovered that I must “delight [myself] also in the LORD: and he shall give [me] the desires of [my] heart” (Psalm 37:4, KJV). My heart desires peace. My heart desires to be free from loneliness and pain. My stony heart wants to be replaced with a heart of flesh, so I can be available for God to go where He leads me.

Eva M. Starner