Keep thy heart
Proverbs 4:1, 23 “Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
“The issues of life”. The real issues. These are the important things we need to attend to.
How we, as Christian parents, want to teach our children the importance of knowing and serving Jesus Christ!
How can they deal with the world and the people in it, if they first do not understand that God’s plan from the beginning of time….included them.
God saw them in eternity past….and so loved them, that He planned a salvation for them.
2 Timothy 1:9 “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to HIs own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,”
The writer of the Proverbs, Solomon, with all his faults….and there was plenty….still sought to show to his son the importance of “the fear (awe, reverence) of the Lord” [Proverbs 1:7]….for it leads to knowledge and wisdom.
Proverbs 23:26 “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.”
This was in fact the instruction David gave Solomon…
1 Chronicles 28:9 “And thou, Solomon my son,…
…. know thou the God of thy father…
…and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind:…
… for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts:…
…if thou seek Him He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off for ever.”
It is interesting to note the diligence and devotion Solomon had while seeing to the task David and the Lord gave him…..building the Temple. It took twenty years of labor…and it was a beautiful building! [2 Chronicles 8:1]
But then…as it often happens, when he lost his main goal….he wandered into “folly”…
Ecclesiastes 1:16-17 “I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.”
Notice it is when he “communed with mine own heart”! [And we know that the heart is deceitful above all things! Jeremiah 17:9]
He did not seek direction from God for the issues of his life….now, that the Temple was built.
But began a series of “experiments”….which lead him away from God…..although at the end, the conclusion of the matter was….exactly what his father, David had told him first….”Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” [Ecc. 12:13]
I believe Solomon repented from his folly (Psalm 89:31-52)….although not with the language of David’s penitential psalms…..still,….I believe he looked toward the promise to David of the coming Messiah and Savior….and desired Him….
….though his sin of intermarriages had caused, and would cause great damage in his life, and in the life of his son, and nation.
Perhaps, that is why he took so much diligence in writing to his son in Proverbs. Though he wrote many books….this is the one placed in the Bible….and it is to his son about the fear [awe, and reverence] of the Lord.
[Also, if you read the last chapter, it speaks specifically about the right sort of woman his son should look to marry. Not just for alliances, as Solomon had done….but for the honor of God.]
We, too, must consider the “issues” of our lives. Have we been busy about the Purpose for which we were created?
Have we seen to our hearts, so that God is searching them [Jeremiah 17:10]….and directing them?
Philippians 2:5, 12 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
Simply, let us will to think like the Lord thinks about things, people, and places.
Let His light shine….into our hearts…and show us the Truth….
…..and then, let HIs light shine onto our Purpose….for now.
Ephesians 1:17-18 “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him:
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of HIs inheritance in the saints,”
[Let me say right here….that we have more light, more wisdom, more riches, more of an inheritance….in Christ Jesus…
…than Solomon on his throne, ever did!
It is sorrowfully true that I….and maybe you, too….have not availed ourselves of these blessings, as we ought. But down through the centuries, down through my years…and I am old….God has been rich, bountiful, and gracious….to my soul.
Have you taken hold of HIs blessings for you? Spiritual blessings which keep us from the “folly and madness” of the world, or even ending up like Solomon.
We are “kept by the power of God through faith…” 1 Peter 1:5]
And how does He practically do this? That we may know…
Ephesians 1:19-22 “And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power,”
[And if Paul had stopped here…that would be a great promise…but he doesn’t…for the power to have, and do, and live….is the power:]
“Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, ad set Him at HIs own right hand in the heavenly places,
Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named,…
And hath put all things under His feet,….”
This power is at our disposal….to work in us [Hallelujah!]….and through us to the sphere of our influence.
Philippians 2:15-16 “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world:
Holding forth the Word of life;….”
But it begins with….”Keep thy heart with all diligence”….and the only way we do that is to give it to the Lord….completely.
And I might add, to keep giving it to Him. He works within, as we will with Him.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 