Today’s
Scripture Reading (May 27, 2019): Psalm
36
Emily Dickinson wrote, “The
Heart wants what it wants - or else it does not care.” It is often used as a
fatalistic quote about love. Who we fall in love with is seldom rational.
History is littered with failed romances that made sense to the mind but never
appealed to the wants of the heart. Enter Prince Charles and Lady Diana. A lot
of ink has been spilled over the highly visible and volatile relationship
between the royal couple. Charles needed a wife and Diana made sense; at least,
she did to the mind. Diana seemed to fit well with the advice that Charles had
received from his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten.
In a case like yours, the man
should sow his wild oats and have as many affairs as he can before settling
down, but for a wife he should choose a suitable, attractive, and
sweet-charactered girl before she has met anyone else she might fall
for ... It is disturbing for women to have experiences if they have to
remain on a pedestal after marriage – Lord Mountbatten.
Ultimately, Diana was not what Charles'
heart wanted. Charles' heart wanted someone else.
But Dickenson’s words do not just
apply to our romantic relationships. She is also talking about life. The truth
is that we often live our lives by the dictates of what it is that the heart
wants. Nothing else seems to shape the way that we live. Unfortunately, living life by what the heart wants is also
evidence of an undisciplined heart. And it is the reason why our lives so often
become mired in things that will never move us forward.
David says that he has a message
from God “in his heart” concerning the sin of the wicked: They refuse to fear
God. David understood his own heart. The Poet-King had long battled with his
heart. Part of David’s journey had been to discipline his heart so that it
could hear from God. When David followed his heart, for example in the incident
with Bathsheba, he ignored God, and it led him into trouble. Allowing his heart
to hear the message of God was not something that came automatically for David.
But the second part of David’s
statement highlights the war that we have with our own hearts. There is no fear
of God in their eyes. The truth might be slightly different. There is no fear,
or maybe we could say respect, of God in their hearts. Their eyes lead them
where it is that their undisciplined hearts want them to go, regardless of the
consequences. The desires of the heart outweigh the gentle leading of God.
The heart might want what the heart
wants, but an undisciplined heart will always lead us into destruction because
its desires will always lead us away from God. In the end, we fear our hearts
more than we fear God. And that will not change until we allow God to change
our hearts.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Psalm 38
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