Daily Devotional

As I get older, I am realizing the importance of taking care of my heart.  Each day I exercise by walking one to three miles, depending on the amount of time I have.  This discipline helps me with my blood pressure and exercising my heart muscle so it can be strong.  When I walk, I try to not only exercise my physical heart but also to exercise my spiritual heart.  The Bible reveals that it is very important what I do with my heart.  If I don’t exercise it by filling it with the right things, the wrong words and actions will result.  Solomon tells us to, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) Jesus said it this way, “For from within, out of the hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery, deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.  All these evil things come from within and defile the person.” (Mark 7:20–23) Biblically the heart is the most comprehensive term for the authentic person, it is the place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity.  Jesus is telling us that it is very important what we put into our hearts and what our hearts dwell on because it affects everything in our lives.  We need to exercise our hearts toward godliness.

As God selected a future leader for Israel, He instructed Samuel to anoint the man of God’s choosing for the throne.  The Lord told Samuel, “…Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him (Eliab, David’s brother).  For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) God was more interested with the inner being of the future leader of Israel then his outward appearance.  Through years of walking with the Lord, I realize that God is more interested with my interior then He is with my exterior, what I allow others to see of my life.  I need to have a heart that follows God, just as characterized David.

As a young shepherd boy, David was developing a relationship with God.  While tending his father’s sheep, he was seeing God at work in his life.  In fact, as David grew to be a leader of Israel, he was stated to be a man after God’s own heart.  As a shepherd he learned what it meant to have the right kind of heart.  1 Kings 9:4 states that as he grew from being a shepherd boy into adulthood, “David walked in the integrity of heart and uprightness.”  Today, this should be our desire also.

One of the greatest dangers of our day is that we as believers will become complacent about our relationship with God.  That we would begin to take for granted and ordinary, the great things God has done and is doing in our lives.  Today our love and devotion for God flows out of our heart.  God is concerned that our daily life and ministry result from a heart rightly related to Him.

David knew that he must pursue God with all his heart.  Whenever he sinned, he needed God’s cleansing.  The reason David was called a man after God’s own heart was not because he was perfect but because when he did sin, his heart was tender toward God.  He would confess his sin to restore his relationship with the Lord.  David wrote, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23–24)

The verb “to search,” is also used in verse 1 of this Psalm in a statement about God. David asked God to test him as a refiner tests metal.  (Bible Knowledge Commentary) Examine me and see if I have not represented my feelings as they really are. Keep on always searching me out.  (Pulpit Commentary)

Even as David longed for God to know him intimately, he knew that God was the only One who truly understood his heart.  He wanted God to search it and to point out anything that brought Him displeasure.  

Today, our hearts need to be sensitive to God.  We should be willing to allow our hearts to be disciplined, changed, and molded by the Lord.  We need to exercise our spiritual hearts with the truth of God’s Word.  As we do, our love for the Lord will grow deeper and we will become more like Christ.

Prayer:  Lord, keep on searching my heart.  Examine me and see if I have represented my words, actions, and feelings as they really are.  Don’t let my heart become complacent.  I yield myself to You and will discipline my heart to follow You.  Amen

New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.