Key verse:
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good and an evil man out the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. Luke 6:45 [Ladies make it a point to memorize your key verse or/and other verses God lays on your heart as you work through your study each week.]
Yesterday at study we read through the beginning paragraph on pages 1-2 listing many of the "heart" phrases we use in the English language. For instance, being softhearted, cold hearted or even faint hearted; wearing your heart on your sleeve or even having a change of heart; doing things that do a heart good and doing a job heartily, going at it heart and soul, just to name a few.
Amazing how much we use the word "heart" in so many ways so often in our everyday life. It's also interesting that God's Word references "heart" over 750 times in the Bible. For that reason we much sit up and take notice. For when a word is so prevalently used in our culture and in the Bible then it is a word which demands to be understood.
Take a look at the definition of the word "heart" below.
A term used especially of the non material part of a person; it can refer to what might elsewhere be described as the mind, the emotions, the will, the spirit, etc.
The source and center of emotional life, where the deepest and sincerest feelings are located and a person is most vulnerable to pain [Encarta Dictionary]
[If interested in the original Hebrew and Greek definitions they are listed at the bottom
of the page] When we consider all the different emotions, good and bad, which we face on a day by day basis we might picture a rubber band ball (Trinket to Treasure - pg 8) because of the complexity of the moods and emotions that are bound up in our hearts. And those moods can be triggered at a moment's notice by a complex range of different things - circumstances; relationships; the weather; health issues; our thought life; worldly media; sights, sounds and smells; holidays; unconfessed sin, just to name a few.
King David, a man after God's own heart and great biblical hero, was one who dealt with a wide range of emotions himself as he struggled through many changes in his life. In Psalm 25:16-18 (pg 3 #4) David cries out to God,
Turn to me and have mercy on me,
because I am lonely and hurting.
My troubles have grown larger;
free me from my problems.
Look at my suffering and troubles,
and take away all my sins.
Take a look below at some of the difficult things David endured and decide for yourself if he had good reason to be an emotional mess.
Before being anointed as king over Israel David spent a great deal of time running for his life as King Saul sought to have him killed. His best friend Jonathon is killed. After becoming king he commits adultery and murder. He eventually repents but then later on has major problems with his children. His son Amnon raped his half sister Tamar creating such anger in Absalom that he kills Amnon out of revenge for Tamar. Absalom flees and he and his father David war against each other for many years. David ends up with many physical ailments, most assuredly as a result of all the crises in his life.Two other great man of the Old Testament was Jeremiah and Elijah. Jeremiah spent more than 40 years exhorting God's people to repent and turn back to God, to no avail. He became discouraged, at times wanting to "resign" his appointed post as prophet. Enduring hostile oppressions, beatings and imprisonment Jeremiah also found himself with a bundle of emotions ruling over him at times. The book of Lamentations (to cry aloud) is a very sad picture of Jeremiah's pain after God allowed Babylon to come in and destroy Jerusalem and take the people captive. In chapter one, verse 12 he states, "look and see if there is any pain like my pain." His pain was so intense because his crises were intense. Yet in chapter 3, verse 19-24, Jeremiah, after once again recalling all the pain he'd experienced, remembers where his hope is rooted.
But I have hopewhen I think of this:
The Lord’s love never ends;
his mercies never stop.
They are new every morning;
Lord, your loyalty is great.
I say to myself, “The Lord is mine,
so I hope in him.” NCV
Even Elijah after doing mighty things in the power of Almighty God (1 Kings 17-18) found himself running for his life out of fear when Jezebel threatened to have him killed. Finding himself in a weak and discouraged state he said to God in 1 Kings 19, "Now, O Lord take my life." God, instead sends angels to minister to Elijah with food and drink so as to restore his strength and revive his heart.
David, Jeremiah and Elijah, all three were great men of God, chosen to be vessels of God for His kingdom work. Yet we look and see that these men struggled through a great many difficulties. They were at many times plagued by a bundle of emotions just as we are due to, as we listed above: circumstances, relationships, unconfessed sin, etc. We are in good company.
You too, ladies, are chosen vessels of God, chosen women for God's mighty purposes. First and foremost for an intimate relationship with Him if you have indeed given your heart and life to Him through faith in His work at the cross.This relationship can never be taken away from you. Even as everything else in your life is in a state of flux - your circumstances, your relationships or even your health changes God will always be your "constant". He never changes and loves you beyond measure. And your crisis, even though different than those men listed above and different than those around you it is still your personal crisis and He wants you to know you can cry out to Him much like David did so many times in the psalms.
Secondly, God has purposed you for tasks only intended for you in his kingdom. Much like the godly men and women of old you have a calling on your life. And the things you go through are there to draw you close to Him and transform you day by day into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Take a look at many of the New Testament people as well, like Paul and Peter and you will find they too struggled greatly with a bundle of emotions. Even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before his crucifixion, dealt greatly with emotion you and I could not even comprehend. As it states in Matthew 26, He was "grieved to the point of death." His emotions were way too deep for anyone of us to comprehend when we consider what Jesus knew he was about to face at the cross, the onslaught of sin upon his shoulders and the separation for a time from his Father.
Knowing Jesus' endurance of so much in his short 33 years on this earth in human form we realize from Hebrews 4:14-15 that He understands the depth of our emotions more than we realize:
Since we have a great high priest, Jesus the Son of God, who has gone into heaven, let us hold on to the faith we have. For our high priest is able to understand our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way that we are, but he did not sin. NCV
The very next verse offers even more hope:
Let us, then, feel very sure that we can come before God’s throne where there is grace. There we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it.
It's encouraging to know that we, like David, Jeremiah, Elijah, Paul and Peter, can approach God's throne of grace. This place where He knows everything about us - our tangled and complex bundle of emotions; our circumstances, our tough relationship, our crazy thoughts, our poor choices and even the sin deep in the recesses of our hearts. And yet He says "Come" so that He might offer us healing balm and apply it ever so lovingly to our wounded and sick hearts. That is where the hope lies, in his loving hand.
Ladies, let me close by encouraging you to take Paul's exhortation seriously in Colossians 3:16a (pg 6, #9) to "let the word of Christ dwell richly within you." Let His very words as written in His Holy Bible live abundantly inside your heart. For this is where the power to get a grip on those emotions which currently have a grip on you can be overcome. Make it your life's mission to search out, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength those truths God has laid out for you.
Hebrew definition of heart:
3820 לֵב, לֵב קָמָי [leb /labe/] n m. A form of 3824; TWOT 1071a; GK 4213 and 4214; 592 occurrences; AV translates as “heart” 508 times, “mind” 12 times, “midst” 11 times, “understanding” 10 times, “hearted” seven times, “wisdom” six times, “comfortably” four times, “well” four times, “considered” twice, “friendly” twice, “kindly” twice, “stouthearted + 47” twice, “care + 7760” twice, and translated miscellaneously 20 times. 1 inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding. 1A inner part, midst. 1A1 midst (of things). 1A2 heart (of man). 1A3 soul, heart (of man). 1A4 mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory. 1A5 inclination, resolution, determination (of will). 1A6 conscience. 1A7 heart (of moral character). 1A8 as seat of appetites. 1A9 as seat of emotions and passions. 1A10 as seat of courage. [Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon]
Greek definition of heart:
2588 καρδία [kardia /kar•dee•ah/] n f. Prolonged from a primary kar (Latin, cor, “heart”); TDNT 3:605; TDNTA 415; GK 2840; 160 occurrences; AV translates as “heart” 159 times, and “broken hearted + 4937” once. 1 the heart. 1A that organ in the animal body which is the centre of the circulation of the blood, and hence was regarded as the seat of physical life. 1B denotes the centre of all physical and spiritual life. 2A the vigour and sense of physical life. 2B the centre and seat of spiritual life. 2B1 the soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavours. 2B2 of the understanding, the faculty and seat of the intelligence. 2B3 of the will and character. 2B4 of the soul so far as it is affected and stirred in a bad way or good, or of the soul as the seat of the sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires, appetites, passions. 1C of the middle or central or inmost part of anything, even though inanimate. [Strong’s Greek Lexicon]
Managing Your Moods by Women of Faith [Thomas Nelson Publishing]
Can be ordered through Christian Book Distributors
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