February 12, 2023

Passage Read: 1 Chronicles 27 - 2 Chronicles 1
Meditation Verse: 1 Chronicles 29:17

Thought

The Lord tests the heart and is pleased with integrity. He looks for deeds done willingly and with an honest intent. He seeks purity of heart, an honest and good heart, one in which their is no guile, no hidden motives, no craftiness and manipulation. He desires that men worship Him in spirit and truth. He has seen through all the false worship, where men praise Him with their mouths, but their hearts are far from Him. He takes no delight in that, He cannot be deceived! He delights in the man whose words line up with his actions and come from a genuine heart. Words and deeds of devotion that do not have a devoted heart behind them neither impress the Lord not fool Him.

Application

While I want to do and say what is right even if my heart isn't in it, what I want even more is for my heart to be in it. Interesting how David often speaks to his soul in the Psalms, calling it to fall in line with what he knows to be good and right. Sometimes it is a struggle. But even in those moments where I don't feel like praising or honoring the Lord, my heart for the most part is set on honoring Him, and He sees that. God certainly delights in the integrity of my feelings, but the heart is deeper than my feelings, and my feelings should normally follow the set of my heart. But sometimes what I know to be right is either scary or painful or both, and my heart can still be committed to doing right while my feelings are desperate to avoid it. I want integrity of heart, a heart fully committed to the Lord; I don't need to worry about how I feel, but about the truth in my heart.