Heart Check

Proverbs 16:1 - To man belong the plans of the heart.

We are planners aren’t we? In fact, our calendars are usually filled with more than we can do. I heard Pete Richardson speculate about this last month, "Globally there are billions of plans – possibly 20 billion plans!" Think about that in the context of this passage.

But from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue. In spite of our planning, God gets final say.

Vs 2 All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.

God weighs what is really driving our plans.We can’t trick him, manipulate him, we can’t hide our hearts from him. I can’t do him like I did my parents when I was 14, telling them what I thought they wanted to hear, or asking them in a way that I thought they’d give me what I wanted. And actually believing they went for it. How foolish. God’s known that about me since before time began. No need to negotiate with Him.

Is your integrity rock solid? Mine’s not and may never be. But I’ll continue to examine myself everyday.

Do my stated intentions match my real motives?

Am I simply trying to lift myself up? No true reward there!

God weighs all of my motives. Does the scale tilt toward God’s Kingdom or toward my kingdom?

Vs 3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do & your plans will succeed.

What a promise! He’s so good isn’t he?

David is so excited. He's leading Israel, winning battles, the Lord is with him. So he's put the ark on a brand new cart and started to transport it. They're playing lots of instruments to the Lord and David's dancing with all his might. Can you imagine?

What a great time of worship!

2 Samuel 6:6, "And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. 7 The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God."

Gosh, and the worship was so amazing!
But there's Uzzah, laying dead on the ground,

David gets so mad at God, and so fearful that he reroutes the ark to someone else's house.

I always had a twitch when I read this story, also 'chronicled' in 1 Chronicles 13. I would say, 'but why Lord, he meant well, he just forgot, he was trying to be helpful, just trying to steady this sacred, holy ark so it didn't fall on the ground, what's wrong with that.' Truth is they made some decisions that day that seemed right, but weren't. There are some amazing lessons in this brief passage:

1. God had given explicit details of how the ark was to be built, covered & carried. They disobeyed, period.
   
2. God struck Uzzah because of his 'irreverent act' of touching something that was holy & only to be carried via poles by priests. Uzzah knew that but acted hastily.
3. David was the leader, knew the rules & changed them. If he didn't, he should've done his homework. If he did, then his pride took over. Either way, his decision about the cart was the first step in Uzzah losing his life.
   
4. Whether we're the leader or the 'led', we'd better do our homework. Great leaders have led millions down the wrong path.
5. Hurry, excitement, emotion, the easy way can lead us to make the wrong decision. Taking time to seek God's will and listen has the best outcome.

I realize I should've been dead a long time ago!

Thankful with my whole heart that Jesus Christ covers me.

Lord, forgive us for being disobedient, hasty, selfish, emotional and unholy! May we seek You and live out your will, not our own.

Just say the word . . .

I think a great deal about what makes one person readily believe and trust in Christ when others take years or never come to Christ. And why some believers' prayers are answered and others aren't. My own story is one of hearing and knowing Him at a young age but never 'fully' trusting Him. When I think, "We may never fully trust Him in this lifetime", I consider the story of the Centurion in Luke 7. This guy is an army soldier and had a servant, actually a slave, who was sick & dying, but very valued by the Centurion. The story goes like this:

¹When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.²There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. ³The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. ⁴When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, ⁵because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." ⁶So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. ⁷That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.⁸For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." ⁹When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." ¹⁰Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Some observations:

• Centurion was a strong army officer with charge over an army of men.
• Centurion was so humble that he didn't feel worthy that Jesus come to his home.
• In contrast, the Jewish elders begged Jesus saying the Centurion was worthy.
• Centurion was not Jewish, but loved Capernaum and clearly sought the God of Israel.
• Centurion built the Jewish synagogue at his own expense.
• His faith led him to believe that Jesus could just say the word.
• He understood Jesus' power over illness and at a distance no less.
• He appears to have had a full understanding of who Jesus was.

Amazingly, after maybe a year of walking with Christ, the disciples still hadn't figured that last one out. After He calms the waters, they're like, "Who is this?"

I still don't know why this guy had so much faith seemingly so easy! Or which came first, his faith or obedience. But this story says so much to me about Jesus' power and our limited faith. According to scripture, He delegates power according to our faith. Father, please give us the desire to seek You with all our hearts and approach You with the boldness, faith and humility of this Centurion. Amen!

Staying on Course

I hear a lot of talk in the church about recovering the apostolic church, about becoming an Acts 2 church or and Acts 8 church. Clearly the church has changed a lot since the book of Acts was written! Luke, Peter and others would be hard-pressed to recognize the current bride of Christ. I think Paul would send us a pretty harsh letter - maybe an email to be circulated through the faith community.

When I was younger, I used to think Paul needed to lighten up, but the truth is, we could use a few Pauls today. He knew it was critical to guard the integrity of the church. Even so soon after Christ's resurrection, he recognized it wouldn't take much to get us off course.

From boating with my husband, I have learned that I can be driving along, get distracted and fall off course just a few degrees which results in (besides me being yelled at) lost time to correct the course, higher fuel costs and if not corrected will ultimately land us in a different destination.

Same with the life and same with the church. Just a few degrees . . and, "Hey, how'd we get here?!!"

Jesus

I'm about to finish Luke today, my latest favorite book of the bible. Jesus is on the cross with the 2 criminals on either side. You know the picture - you've seen the 3 crosses as you drive down the road. I was never sure if they represented Jesus and the 2 bad guys or the Trinity - contrasting the negative & the positive. But anyway, here they are, crucified, in pain - both deserving and about to die. And just like the masses today, they're split down the middle.

Criminal #1 - Unbelievably railing at Jesus, "Are you not the Messiah? Rescue yourself and us from death!"

Criminal #2 - Toward Criminal #1 - "Do you not even fear God? Seeing you are sentenced to death and suffering justly; but this man has done nothing to deserve this. (Then to Jesus) Lord, remember me when you come in your Kingly glory."

How many years have I flown through this and thought, "idiot" . . . . but the Holy Spirit stopped me in my tracks today. By the realization that my current response would be the first guy's - cold, focused on myself, my situation, my pain, not looking past the moment, not seeing my guilt, not seeing another's hurts, nor begging for mercy. That's me - I can reach the same level as this guy! Oh how I want to naturally turn outward like the 2nd criminal - placing my reverence for God and acknowledgement of Christ's Kingship first, then asking for mercy.

These 2 guys represent all of us - alike in their guilt, but made different by their responses. I still need a Savior - His name is Jesus - Listen