Give God Your Heart — Erlo Stegen

Giving God the Whole Heart

Proverbs 23, verse 26. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. In Afrikaans, I didn't have time to look at the new translation. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. The first, I'd just like to touch on a few points in this text.

The first point, my son. God isn't addressing the heathen here, but his son. God speaks to his son and beseeches him, pleads with him that he should give him his heart. I was pleasantly surprised when we sang the song, the chorus, where we say, Our hearts should be a gift for God.

That God draws close to us and addresses us in such a way. He says, my son, give me your heart. What prompted God to address us in such a way? That he's got such a request that we should give him our hearts.

And that he makes it very personal and says, my son, give me your heart. Any father who addresses his son or his child and talks like this, there's something behind it. There's only one thing. Love prompts this request.

It is only love that seeks after love. We do not care to be loved by people we don't love. So, he cares so much for you because he's got a feeling, he's got a love that prompts him to utter this request.

My son, give me your heart. It's not a natural thing that we can't take it for granted that every son will give God his heart. Let's just think of the prodigal son, the fellow on his own. He left the father with his heart.

He didn't give his father his heart. It's not a natural thing that every son will give his father his heart. The prodigal son is an example of that. We know of a prophet to whom God's word came. And when he heard God speaking to him, he ran away.

You know who that prophet was? Jonah. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He should have gone to Nineveh. What was the reason, just this, that he hadn't given his heart to God, to the Father?

His heart, in other words, his soul, his will, his feeling, his taste, what he liked and what he didn't like, wasn't fully yielded to God and given to God. It is said that a certain man bought a big, huge mansion.

He was a very rich man.

And when the keys had to be handed over to the buyer, the previous owner said, here are the keys, but there's one key missing from the fourth floor and the second key for the attic right on top of the fourth floor.

And he told the buyer, you see, I can't give you that key on the fourth floor. And right on top in the attic, that's a dark room. And I can't give you that key. And the buyer said, I want everything or I don't want anything.

I want the keys for those two rooms up there as well. Because I'm the new owner of this place, and as the master, I want the master key for every room. He said he wanted the whole house. And I don't doubt that when the heavenly father says, give me my son, your heart, he wants the whole heart.

Not just a piece of the heart, because the heart that is halved is killed. God wants the whole heart. With no corners, no rooms upstairs, whether at the bottom in the cellar or right up in the attic, he paid the price.

And he paid a great price at Golgotha. He wants everything. Now a personal question. Have you given your heavenly father your heart? And that we do it consciously, We have now sung three times, take my heart.

Did we mean it or did we just sing? And it was not a conscious thing. We who know confirmation in the Lutheran Church, we know of the best words a person can utter in this world. And we say, But it's just a pity that sometimes we do it superficially.

And we have not really done it consciously and forgotten it again. And do our own business. Give me my son, your heart. And then we get to the next point. So that you may delight in my ways. God's ways aren't our ways.

Yielding to God's Higher Ways

He doesn't hide it from us. Sometimes they are contrary to our ways. And we say, Oh no, I don't see any chance for this. Now, who of us would have expected years ago that God would take common in such a way with only 48 years of age?

Who would ever have thought that my wife, who was much younger than what I was, would leave me behind? God's ways aren't our ways. But never forget, they are so much higher and better than our ways as heaven is above the earth and heaven compared to the earth.

And if we have given Him, yielded our heart to Him, completely, perfectly, fully surrendered to God, come what may, We say, Oh, even if God's ways aren't our ways, but we embrace them. They are the best ways.

He never makes a mistake. God's ways aren't our ways, but we embrace them. Why shouldn't I have a biological mother anymore? Sometimes you go into the house, Mama, and she isn't there. And the husband may say, Mama, I've brought something for you, and suddenly you realize she's not there.

May there never be murmuring or anger against God because of His ways in our lives and in your lives. What God does is best. The Lord Jesus told Peter, Peter, what I do now, you can't understand, but one day you'll realize.

God's ways are perfect. He knows why things have gone this way. You should never fight or kick against it. And if we have given our heart to Him, we say, let your will be done in our lives as it is done in heaven.

Finding Delight in the Lord's Ways

Then it says, Let your eyes be pleased with my ways, that we are well pleased with that which God has done. A few times the voice came from heaven, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The father was well pleased.

Even if we don't understand God's ways, but let's do what the father says. Give me your heart and then you'll have delight and you'll be delighted with all my ways. You'll never be pity. You won't be disappointed.

You'll delight yourself in the Lord. There were two persons, a male, he was 82 years old, a female, 52 years. And they were sick. They weren't related, I'm just using them as an example. And the 82 year old said, I wouldn't like to die now.

I'm so happy with my children and grandchildren. Everything is going so well. Couldn't you pray that God will heal me, that I'll carry on living. The 52 year old lady said, Man, I'm only 52 years. I'd be so happy if my children and grandchildren could still grow up a bit.

Pray for me that I'll be healed. Now God is a sovereign God. He can do anything. He can kill a living soul and he can raise the dead. But still, he has got his ways with us. When they realized that it was getting worse and they had prayed often, like Paul in the Bible prayed three times, Take this thorn out of my flesh.

Grace Sufficient in Suffering

And God said, Wait a bit. You need this. But my grace will be sufficient for you. He accepted it. And when these two people, the 82 year old woman and the 52 year old lady, accepted it and said, Could it be that God's time has come?

Their lives were bright out shining. They shone. They said, We're going to be home soon. And they were a testimony to many people. The Bible says, His spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

And they said, We got the assurance. This is God's way. And they made, by God's grace, the best of it. My son, give me your heart. Let your eyes delight in my ways.

Be well pleased with my ways.

Be well pleased with his ways. Say, We don't see the fullness of it, but by faith we thank God for what he's done. Now, to be delighted, in God's words, Webster's Dictionary defines the word delight as, To take great pleasure in, to find great satisfaction and joy in it.

One can say, Oh, it's impossible. You can't expect such a thing. But by God's grace, God can carry you. And you don't find fault with him. And you are not angry with him, as Jonah was. And he said, I knew before I left home, or when I left, that you would forgive them.

He wasn't satisfied with it. But now, in the Hebrew language, it means something else as well. In Hebrew, anak, the root of that word is to be soft and pliable. That means yielding to God. If this day has got us to the place where we anew give our heart to God, and say, On this day, I've given my heart.

I was conscious of what I do. And I, by God's grace, I'll never forget it. That on Carmen's burial, I gave God my heart anew. And I've given my heart to him by his grace. I want to delight in his ways.

Trusting God's Ways Through Grief

Even if it looks the opposite. Even if it seems to be wrong. Even if we can't understand it. We say, Father, we know you don't make a mistake. Your ways are the best ways. We know for her, it's the best.

She's in a place that hasn't been seen by any of our eyes, or heard by our ears. A house built by God. We can't imagine what that is like. But for us, who stay behind, it's sore, it's difficult, but he promises us that he'll be with us, and turn this into a blessing as well.

Prayer for Comfort, Strength, and Surrender

Shall we pray? We thank you for your holy word. It comforts us, it gives us courage, new strength, and joy and serenity. We thank you, Lord, for your word. There's nothing like it in this world. You comfort us with your holy word.

You inspire us, you strengthen us, you quicken us, and you carry us through on eagles' wings. And may we never take back what we've given to you.