Hearts are Deceitful

Warning: I am totally going to name drop here... bail now if you don't want to hear it.

The picture above is a country music group, Lady Antebellum. The girl in the picture is Hillary Scott.

She's my friend.

It's a long story how I met her and it's really not worth sharing right now. She came to our house many times and at the time, Lady Antebellum was just starting.

She's got roots in the country music industry but I would have never known. I would expect someone with her background to be a little snooty. But, honest to goodness, she is one of the sweetest girls I've ever met. She's very easy to talk to. She loves my kids... brought them gifts every time she came to visit. She sat up in Shelby's room for an hour and wrote a song with her. She's from TN but showed up to watch an OSU football game at our house totally decked out in OSU wear. She's just your all-American girl!

We hit it off and even when the person we had in common was no longer in the picture, we decided to keep in touch.

It wasn't long after meeting her that Lady A took off in a big way. Immediately, I decided I would commit to pray for her. I told her so and she was very grateful.

See, to many that life sounds really glamorous, but... call me a pessimist, I see all the negative aspects of it. The temptations, the loneliness, and the pressure. The people who want to get to you just because of who you are and on and on and on.

For a beautiful young lady out on the road, I decided someone needed to do battle for her. She loves Jesus and I am sure the enemy wants to destroy any platform she might have. I pray for her frequently and try to email her about how I am praying.

I was emailing her Sunday morning and I felt the Lord impress upon me to share on my blog what I shared with her. Someone out there needs to hear a word from the Lord.

Hi Hillary,

I've been praying for you! Watch out!

Do you remember when I wrote you about 2 places in the Bible where God equates success with meditating on scripture? I think when I wrote you about those verses, I mentioned success not being just what one does for a job. There are many other ways to be successful: relationships, discipline, finances, health, etc...

Well, I have been trying to take my own advice and not just find a verse to memorize but really meditate on that verse. One of the verses I did that with recently was Jeremiah 17:9-10. (I use the amplified version of the Bible a lot. I think it's for slow learners.:-) It defines words to make the text more clear.) Anyway, Jeremiah 17:9-10:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]? I the Lord search the mind, I try the heart, even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.

I guess when I think about the heart, I think about love and kindness and doing good and compassion, etc... The word heart, for me, has always stirred up positive emotions. But, as I sat thinking about this verse, I thought, "Above all the things the heart is... love, goodness, kindness, etc.., it is first and foremost deceitful."

Wow! That hit me like a ton of bricks. My heart is deceitful more than it is loving and good and kind. I like to think of myself as having pure motives and doing good because I have a good heart. But, to hear my heart is deceitful... darn it!

And, if my heart can deceive me, I can probably talk myself into to thinking anything is good and right. OR, things that I know are wrong, I can find a way to justify.

I ran across a devotional talking about this very thing. Here's what it said:

Self-deception is one of the easiest traps of the enemy that we can fall into. The self always helps the self get whatever it wants. When we have a strong desire for something, we can easily deceive ourselves by telling ourselves whatever we want to hear. If my will wants a think, my mind will give me a variety of reasons I should have it, and my emotions will certainly produce ample feelings that agree with my will's wants.

We must learn to live deeper than the shallowness of our own minds, wills, and feelings. Deeper living means that we go beyond what we want, what we think, and how we feel and live by the word of God. We must bow our knees in humility to God's word and His will because that is where we find true blessings.

I encourage you to have regular times of waiting in God's presence, asking Him to reveal any impure motives you might have. Pray against deception, for Satan is the great deceiver. When we believe something that is not true, we are deceived. Satan also seeks to lead us astray through reasoning that is contrary to the truth.

When you believe a lie, it becomes truth to you even though it is not actually truth at all. Ask God for what you want, but always be willing to change it if you discover that you are not in agreement with God's will. If what you ask God for is His will, it will come in due time. If it does not come, then believe that he has something better in mind for you.

Above all, hold your peace and remain at rest. God can easily lead the believer who is not frustrated and anxious. Pray as David in Psalm 51: "Behold, you desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart" (Psalm 51:6) The more you truly know God's wisdom in your heart, the less likely you are to be deceived.

Oh Hillary, how the enemy probably works over time to deceive you! You have a platform few will ever have! I pray that you are not being deceived in any area of your life right now. Ask God, as I am for you, to reveal any areas in which you may be (or Satan may be) deceiving you.

I encourage all my faithful readers to do the same. Have regular times where you examine your heart and ask God to reveal what's there. He'd love to do it!