“Natan said to the king, ‘Go, do everything that is in your heart, for Adonai is with you.'”-2 Samuel 7:3
One day at my recruiting job, the consultant I was supporting said to me about a candidate he was representing…
“I just know, absolutely know, this candidate is going to get an offer from my client! I can feel it in my heart!“
Long story short, that candidate never placed.
He was dropped in the first interview for leaking confidential information about his current employer.
So much for my colleague’s gut-feeling intuition.
He had just fallen for the biggest New Age BS fallacy that has pretty much infested the whole church.
I’m talking about the idea that if something seems right in your heart, it must be a signal from the Lord.
This is dangerous.
Why?
Because the Scriptures tell us the exact opposite.
Every failed business ever started without doing proper market research and was just based on what the founder felt in his heart is a testament to the fallacy of this way of thinking.
Ya feel me?
Here’s what the prophet Jeremiah had to say about the state of our hearts.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in Adonai;
Adonai will be his security.
He will be like a tree planted near water;
it spreads out its roots by the river;
it does not notice when heat comes;
and its foliage is luxuriant;
it is not anxious in a year of drought
but keeps on yielding fruit.
“The heart is more deceitful than anything else
and mortally sick. Who can fathom it?
I, Adonai, search the heart;
I test inner motivations;
to give to everyone
what his actions and conduct deserve.”
-Jeremiah 17:9-10
Jeremiah’s point is clear.
Trusting in the Lord is NOT synonymous with relying on our hearts.
In fact, it is dangerous to do so.
Furthermore, let’s not forget that in the Biblical era, the heart was NOT considered the seat of emotions.
The heart was considered the seat of our rational thinking processes.
In other words, the heart was believed to function how we scientifically know our brain functions today.
This applied to BOTH the “Old” and New Testament eras.
The sad thing is a lot of folks will mistakenly quote the prophet Natan out of context and say he was giving David good advice when he told him to do everything that was in his heart.
That is the absolute worst advice you can be given.
It will destroy your walk with the Lord and could very well destroy your life.
Let’s revisit what the prophet Isaiah said about our ways versus the Lord’s ways:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
‘As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.‘”
-Isaiah 55:8-9
So here’s a key question I think we should ask ourselves.
if there’s such a HUGE gap between our thoughts and our ways and the Lord’s thoughts and His ways…
Wouldn’t it stand to reason that it’s at least a little dangerous to rely on our own “hearts”?
Or our own logic and rational thinking processes?
Ya feel me?
See, the problem with Natan is that he put David on a pedestal.
Since David was a Godly man appointed by the Lord to be King, Natan wrongly assumed that whatever David desired was automatically aligned with the Lord’s Will.
He was WRONG.
Got that?
Lemme say that again.
Natan was WRONG…
And as a result of his error, he impulsively told David to follow his heart.
So here’s the takeaway for today.
Nothing could be a worse measuring stick than your own logic when it comes to determining God’s Will.
So don’t decide to do something because you feel in your heart it’s the right thing to do.
The reason Eve ate from the fruit of the tree is because she felt in her heart it was the right thing to do.
David desired to build a magnificent Temple to the Lord because he felt in his heart it was the right thing to do.
And finally, consider this…
Jesus would’ve never gone to the cross if he had followed his heart…
Or his feelings…
Ever thought about that?
In fact, he was so dead set against it, he begged His Father to let him bypass having to be crucified.
Thank God for us that he didn’t listen to his heart on the matter.
I leave you with these words from the Book of Proverbs.
“Whoever trusts in his
own mind is a fool,
but he who walks in
wisdom will be delivered.”
-Proverbs 28:26
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight”
-Proverbs 3:5-6
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Going a little farther,
he fell with his face to the ground and prayed,
‘My Father, if it is possible,
may this cup be taken from me.
Yet not as I will, but as you will.'”
-Matthew 26:39
Leave a Reply