Lord, who may enter your Holy Tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?
Only those who are innocent and who do what is right. Such people speak the truth from their hearts and do not tell lies about others. (vs. 1-2)
God wants honesty. He hates pretense. Take off the mask. It makes Him sick to see you with it on your hypocritical face. Who are you really? He would rather see that. Don't lie about yourself, first of all. Are you living a lie right now? Do you really think you are smart enough to fool God with your whining about being someone's victim? Here's the thing. He knows your heart. And that is all He cares about. You can actually be doing all the right things for the wrong reasons, and He will look the other way. Even if you are not pathological about what you have to say about others, if you are lying about your own stuff, He is tapping His foot and waiting until you get real.
I recently tried to speak with a man who is throwing his life away because he wants to be with a woman who is not his wife.....and, of course, it is his wife's fault. His heart has changed. That is the problem. And from it "flow the streams of life." Guard it!
What is this truth that the innocent speak? Where does it come from? Especially when the Lord says: "The heart is deceitful above all things and cannot be tamed. No one truly understands it." (Jeremiah 17) That sounds like we need a new heart, since the old one cannot be fixed.
"I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people and I will be their God because they will return to me with their whole heart." God is the only one Who can heal the heart. We want what we want. We love our sin. And we will make up any excuse possible to keep doing the thing we love no matter who it hurts.
Sound awful? It is. And God is jealous over the center of our lives. You and I both know that the heart tells the mind and body what to do. It drives our lives. If we live constantly doing what our hearts want, we bypass two-thirds of our own personal trinity. Sometimes we actually need to think or understand. All the time we need to listen to the One Who created us. A heart that is deceived is the most dangerous thing on earth. It is capable of the most heinous crimes known to man. But it can be living in the most unlikely looking person. However, God knows the heart and is interested in motive. The why's of your life and actions.
David strolled his rooftop in the months when the other kings went to war and kept looking at the woman across the way bathing. Go get her. Sleep with her. Bored. Alone. He got his way. Uh-oh. She is pregnant. Bring her husband home to sleep with her. He is too honorable. So have him killed at the front of the battle. And this, a "man after God's own heart." Marry the widow. No one will know. David might have been able to pull it off except God knew...and God was broken-hearted. Nathan, the prophet, comes before the king and declares: "Thou art the man!" The one who took a precious lamb and stole it. David, on his knees now praying for the salvation of the baby. And we all know the story of his most shameful actions. But the moment his heart turned back, God forgave. Consequences, yes. The baby died. Yes. But for the sweet Bathsheba that the Lord also loved, her son, Solomon became the king after David....because, God sees hearts. More important to Him than actions....no matter how bad. If the heart is finally right, God notices and forgives.
"I will give them a desire to respect Me completely, and I will put inside of them a new way of thinking. I will take out the stubborn heart of stone from their bodies and I will give them an obedient heart of flesh...And I will be their God and they will be my people." (Ezekiel 11)
Isn't it amazing that the Lord is primarily concerned with our hearts? At the same time it is horrifying because I know my motives are not always pure. He sorts that out for me and I am beginning to know more and more when the things I do are all about me and not really about Him. But my thinking is directly associated with what my heart is telling me and I am thankful He has given me a new one. I am an "innocent" because He shared His innocence with me. I will see Him one day because He provided me with a new heart. It is a heart I give back every morning because I know it needs to be tamed and taught to love the way He does. It is prone to straying - to wanting what it wants. But I established a while back that I love Him more than what I want...sometimes only a little bit more...but that is enough to keep my heart in His hands.
Only those who are innocent and who do what is right. Such people speak the truth from their hearts and do not tell lies about others. (vs. 1-2)
God wants honesty. He hates pretense. Take off the mask. It makes Him sick to see you with it on your hypocritical face. Who are you really? He would rather see that. Don't lie about yourself, first of all. Are you living a lie right now? Do you really think you are smart enough to fool God with your whining about being someone's victim? Here's the thing. He knows your heart. And that is all He cares about. You can actually be doing all the right things for the wrong reasons, and He will look the other way. Even if you are not pathological about what you have to say about others, if you are lying about your own stuff, He is tapping His foot and waiting until you get real.
I recently tried to speak with a man who is throwing his life away because he wants to be with a woman who is not his wife.....and, of course, it is his wife's fault. His heart has changed. That is the problem. And from it "flow the streams of life." Guard it!
What is this truth that the innocent speak? Where does it come from? Especially when the Lord says: "The heart is deceitful above all things and cannot be tamed. No one truly understands it." (Jeremiah 17) That sounds like we need a new heart, since the old one cannot be fixed.
"I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people and I will be their God because they will return to me with their whole heart." God is the only one Who can heal the heart. We want what we want. We love our sin. And we will make up any excuse possible to keep doing the thing we love no matter who it hurts.
Sound awful? It is. And God is jealous over the center of our lives. You and I both know that the heart tells the mind and body what to do. It drives our lives. If we live constantly doing what our hearts want, we bypass two-thirds of our own personal trinity. Sometimes we actually need to think or understand. All the time we need to listen to the One Who created us. A heart that is deceived is the most dangerous thing on earth. It is capable of the most heinous crimes known to man. But it can be living in the most unlikely looking person. However, God knows the heart and is interested in motive. The why's of your life and actions.
David strolled his rooftop in the months when the other kings went to war and kept looking at the woman across the way bathing. Go get her. Sleep with her. Bored. Alone. He got his way. Uh-oh. She is pregnant. Bring her husband home to sleep with her. He is too honorable. So have him killed at the front of the battle. And this, a "man after God's own heart." Marry the widow. No one will know. David might have been able to pull it off except God knew...and God was broken-hearted. Nathan, the prophet, comes before the king and declares: "Thou art the man!" The one who took a precious lamb and stole it. David, on his knees now praying for the salvation of the baby. And we all know the story of his most shameful actions. But the moment his heart turned back, God forgave. Consequences, yes. The baby died. Yes. But for the sweet Bathsheba that the Lord also loved, her son, Solomon became the king after David....because, God sees hearts. More important to Him than actions....no matter how bad. If the heart is finally right, God notices and forgives.
"I will give them a desire to respect Me completely, and I will put inside of them a new way of thinking. I will take out the stubborn heart of stone from their bodies and I will give them an obedient heart of flesh...And I will be their God and they will be my people." (Ezekiel 11)
Isn't it amazing that the Lord is primarily concerned with our hearts? At the same time it is horrifying because I know my motives are not always pure. He sorts that out for me and I am beginning to know more and more when the things I do are all about me and not really about Him. But my thinking is directly associated with what my heart is telling me and I am thankful He has given me a new one. I am an "innocent" because He shared His innocence with me. I will see Him one day because He provided me with a new heart. It is a heart I give back every morning because I know it needs to be tamed and taught to love the way He does. It is prone to straying - to wanting what it wants. But I established a while back that I love Him more than what I want...sometimes only a little bit more...but that is enough to keep my heart in His hands.
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