www.bible.com/72/jer.17.10.hcsb
Huh? I thought the Lord doesn’t give us what we deserve? Isn’t that what grace is all about? Seems God didn’t get that memo. But then, you might recognize that this is Jeremiah, before Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. And you might recall that later Judaism of Jesus’s time focused on external obedience to the law, straining out gnats and counting tithes of and dill. This idea that God looks at the heart may have been too much for them.
God is trying to impress upon His hearers that He is just as concerned about the heart as He is the hands. While many of the prohibitions of the Ten Commandments deal with what we do, some, like the tenth, deal with what we think. Our thought life is important to God, “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
God pays attention to your thoughts, and if your thoughts condemn you. He knows if you are thinking bad or good. He knows if your thoughts are pure or corrupt. (Note to self: thinking impure thoughts about a woman other than my wife will get me into trouble).
Don’t pretend that just because you can’t see God, He can’t see you. Adam tried that already. Rather, consider the presence of the Lord is constantly with you, because He is.
Something to ponder this afternoon. God bless.
Meritt Musings 