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Encouragement for the journey from God’s Word. Today's Scripture: Jeremiah 12:1-14:10 / Proverbs 24:30-34
Well, good Tuesday morning to you. So listen, follow your heart. Do what your heart tells you to do. I've heard songs, pop songs, and of course plenty of people speak along those lines that communicate the idea that you don't want to listen to your head.
You want to listen to your heart. Follow your heart. Follow what your heart is telling you to do. Don't listen to the voices of all the people around you. Do what you think is right in your own heart.
Follow your heart. Listen to your heart. Well, yeah, but listen to what God has to say about that. In Jeremiah chapter 13, those who claim to be God's people are in a heap of trouble because of that very thing.
So listen to what he says. The word of the Lord came to me, Jeremiah says, saying, thus says the Lord, in this manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. I'm going to ruin Jerusalem and Judah.
I'm going to humble them. I'm going to bring them to their knees.
Why?
He says, this evil people who refuse to hear my words, who follow the dictates of their hearts and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing.
So in the previous section of this passage, the Lord gave Jeremiah some instructions about taking a sash and then burying it in the rocks and then going back and getting it later. And when he pulled it out, it was ruined.
It was a mess. And so that was to be an object lesson. The Lord says, my people, those who claim to be my people, they're going to be just like this sash, which is profitable for nothing. And why? Because they followed the dictates of their own heart.
They did not listen to God's word. Again, listen to what he says. You refuse to hear my words, who follow the dictates of their own hearts, which leads them to follow after, to walk after other gods and serve them and worship them.
And listen, that's inevitable. That's inevitable. Listen, I don't know how many times in my four decades of pastoral ministry I have heard people say, after sharing with them, listen, look, you know what God's word says.
You know what the Bible says about this. You know it. I've heard too many times people respond with, but I've got to follow my own heart. I've got to follow my own heart. Something to that effect. I know God's word says this.
I know God's word says that this is wrong, that I shouldn't do this, or I know God's word says this is the right thing that I ought to do, but I've got to listen to my heart. I've got to follow my heart.
Well, when they do that, who then is their God? Themself. Themself. Sometimes, that their heart is telling them to go after a person, a man or a woman, who's not their spouse, and they're going to divorce their spouse to pursue this relationship with the other person.
Even though they claim to be a Christian, they know God's word prohibits this, they know adultery is wrong, they know divorce would be wrong, and there's no legitimate grounds, no biblical grounds for a divorce whatsoever anyway, and yet they say, I know that that would be what the Bible says I should do, but I've got to follow my heart.
I've got to follow my heart. When they do that, either that other person that they're going after rather than their spouse is their God, or their vision of the ideal life is their God, or they themselves are their own God.
What's the end of that? The end of that is, spiritually speaking, they're going to be like this sash, which is profitable for nothing. It says, for as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I've caused the whole house of Israel, the whole house of Judah to cling to me, that they may become my people, but they would not hear.
So listen, Christian, follower of Christ, you claim to be a child of God, you claim to be one of God's people, then God's intention is for you to cling to him. Not to follow the dictates of your own heart, but to cling to him.
Have a heart that is informed by the word of God, and then that heart will be worth following. I want to remind you what the heart is. The heart is that combination of our internal being that includes our intellect, our emotions, and our will.
When our intellect, our mind, is informed by the word of God, our desire is to obey the word of God, and our will is directed to do so, that's a heart, the only kind of heart that you can follow. But if your heart is taking you away from what God's word says, beware, beware.
It isn't going to turn out well. So let's be challenged in that today, to hear the word of God, hear the word of God, and not listen so much to our own hearts. Father, help us with this, our whole culture is telling us just the opposite, that we need to follow our hearts, we need to listen to our heart.
Father, help us, remind us today that we need to listen to you, we pray in Jesus' name,.
Amen.
All right, have a good Tuesday, may God bless you in it.
