God alone knows the hearts

God alone knows the hearts. We've all heard it, and we've all said it I'm sure. But do we REALLY believe it? First let's have several key scriptural references laid out that irrefutably show that God, and God alone, knows the hearts of men; and men do NOT know the hearts of men. You will have to look these scriptures up because I don't have time or space to list them in their entirety: (I Sam. 16:6,7; I Kin. 8:39; Prov. 21:2; Psm. 129:33; Jer. 17:9,10; Lk. 16:15; Acts 1:24; Acts 15:8; I Cor. 4:5). I think that is a sufficient reference list of scriptures to thoroughly confirm that God alone truly knows the totality of the hearts of men, and that men do not. And as the passage with Samuel shows, real men of God are included in the number of those who do NOT know the hearts of men, though God is able to reveal men's hearts if he so chooses. But that is rare, and it would usually accompany a powerful gift of prophecy, and only in a rarely given circumstance. And even then God would still more know about a person's heart than what he would reveal to anyone, so that kind of brings us back to square one. Okay, here is the real beauty of this truth, and here is where we find out whether we have been, or whether we choose to truly believe this truth. Jesus told us plainly, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (Jn. 7:24). What this means is that we do not know what someone really is in their heart by what we see them do. Now I would like to list several scriptures that show in succession just exactly what I'm talking about. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:1,2). "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy" (Mat. 5:7). "For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment" (Jas. 2:13). "Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?" (Jas. 4:11,12). "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death" (I Jn. 5:16).

If you need to, then by all means read through these passages again, because these passages of scripture show us very plainly what it REALLY means to believe that God alone knows the hearts of men. It is in the truest sense of the saying, none of our business to condemn anyone. Period. If we are called to follow after the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are called to "abound in love one toward another, and toward all men" (I Thess. 3:12). Don't misunderstand, loving someone very much includes calling out their sins at times, even as Jesus said and the scriptures plainly show (Lev. 19:17,18; Prov. 27:5; Prov. 28:23; Mat. 18:15-17; I Tim. 5:20; Tit. 1:13). That is a good list to read through as well. However, as Galatians 6:1, which is stated above says; "Let them that are spiritual, restore [someone who sins] in the spirit of meekness." What that means is that reproving someone's sin is not after a godly manner unless it is motivated and done by the love of God, in a caring manner; though in some cases that caring manner may be bold and robust. So we should be very careful my friend, how we think, and feel, and speak about someone who doesn't seem to be making the grade in our eyes. As Jesus clearly told us, it is a dangerous thing to have a condemning, less than merciful spirit about someone else's fault: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Mat. 7:1,2). What goes around truly does come around, because God alone knows who is who and what is what, and he alone remains "the Judge of all the earth;" and it is "his judgments [that] are in all the earth" (Gen. 18:25; Psm. 105:7). Amen.