Understanding the Heart

"Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word" (Isa. 66:1,2). God simply is not impressed with anything that man can do at all. How could he be? After all, like he said in Isaiah, he made man and everything man has to work with. But there is something that he is impressed with, and it's exactly what he said in the stated text above; a poor and contrite heart in a human being who fears him. God really doesn't have any particular affection about the things that people accomplish, or their degree of education, or how much money they make, or how comely their house or yard is, or any other external things. The only thing he cares about in regard to any of these kinds of things is how we feel about what we're doing with it all. He cares about us, meaning our person and the state of our person; and all the other stuff is just superfluous. I'll never forget a testimony I heard about a former atheist college professor who was quite accomplished and renown among his peers, and was around the age of sixty. He had a near death experience where he met three angels who spoke to him about many things, particularly things in his life. The angels were just totally indifferent about all of his accomplishments and achievements that he had worked so hard to come to in his life. They also told him that the main highlight of his entire life was when he was young, and his little sister came in the house one day crying, and he held her and comforted her until she calmed down and was feeling better about things. You see, that is exactly the way that God thinks and how he sees things. We need to think like God thinks, and not how Satan and man think: "Get thee behind me, Satan... for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men" (Mat. 16:23).

God told the prophet Samuel when he went to anoint one of the sons of Jesse to be the next king, "The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (I Sam. 16:7). God cares about what our heart is motivated by, and how we are dealing with and affecting the hearts of others. It's not external things in this life that break the hearts of people, but rather it is what is going on with other people that does that. Neither is it external things that lift up the downhearted, but rather it is usually other people that do that as well. God has a heart scale, and my heart and yours are on that scale being weighed at all times: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits" (Prov. 16:2). God's scale has two sides, and our motives and our deeds are determining whether our hearts are weighing heavier on the good side of that scale or the bad side. We surely do not want to end up with the report that Belshazzar, the ancient king of Babylon received from God: "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting" (Dan. 5:127). No wonder the scripture admonishes us to "keep [our] hearts with all diligence," and to "purify [our] hearts, even as he is pure" (Prov. 4:23; I Jn. 3:3). And no wonder Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Mat. 5:8). A heart that is pure and free from sin is a heart that is filled with God's Spirit of love and holiness. That my friend is the kind of heart that cares about the hearts and concerns of others, and demonstrates it; as it is also written: "Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right" (Prov. 20:11). So let me say once more for repetition sake, that God just isn't impressed with anyone's external success in any area of life, nor is he disappointed with the lack thereof for that matter. What he loves to see is an honest and humble heart in someone that will motivate them to "love [their] neighbor as themselves" (Mat. 19:19). Amen.