Tag: Wisdom

Guard Your Heart Above All

(Heb. 13:9; Prov. 4:23)

Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life (Prov. 4:23).

The physical heart is not just a muscle; It is the body’s engine room, responsible for pumping life-sustaining blood via a network of vessels. It sends oxygen to the entire body. The heart is an amazing pump; it beats 72 times a minute. It is truly the spring of life. When it stops life stops with it. It is the center of our emotions. As such it is the symbol of goodness or meanness. At the act of one’s goodness, it is said to be from a heart of gold. But it is there that bitterness is harbored and evil springs forth. A carrier of life in the physical, the heart is also a receiver of good and evil in its emotions. The Bible says that the heart is deceitful above all things and perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it (Jer. 17: 9). The tendency of the heart is to be evil. It is in agreement with the ingenerated soul of men which comprises the mind also. It is hard to understand that a body organ so vital to bring life is also a haven to harbor corruption, destruction, and bitterness. Solomon admonishes us to guard the heart with all vigilance, because the heart is vulnerable to all things. The heart receives and the mind processes whatever enters the heart of men. The Apostle Paul admonishes us to hold our thoughts captive into obedience to Christ and to have a renewed mind. That in itself is guarding the heart. We are what we think in our heart. As the heart is, so is man. The mind, the master controller of the body, is key in guarding the heart. When the soul is mentioned, it is implied to be the heart and the mind, that is, emotion, will and intellect. We feel with the heart, we desire with the heart and we think with our mind. Heart and mind are inseparable in their functions.

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Teach Us To Number Our Days (2nd Study)

(Psalm 90)

Moses starts this Psalm by saying, Lord, You have been our dwelling place and our refuge in all generations. A testimony he could seal in truth throughout the years he and his people walked through the wilderness, facing enemies of all kinds. He, unlikely other prophets, had a very close relationship with God, Who spoke to him face to face. God said of him, With Moses I speak mouth to mouth. Clearly and not in dark speeches; and he beholds the form of the Lord… (Num. 12:8). Forty years wandering in the desert was indeed plenty time for Moses to reflect upon life in its limitations. He experienced all kinds of perils to realize that it was by the grace of God, and not by his own effort that he survived them all. He watched many suffer God’s judgments and even death at their lack of faith and disobedience. Life seemed to Moses fragile and short and uncertain. His knowledge of human’s limitations brought an awareness of its short span. Life, is really just a breath away from death in its time frame on this earth.

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Guarding the Heart and the Mind

(I Thess. 5:8; Eph. 6:16-17)

The heart and the mind are often connected to the spiritual world in their functions as the life of the body (heart) and the controller of our thoughts (the brain). The Bible tells us to guard our heart above all things, because everything we do, flows from it (Prov. 4:23). The word heart is found more than 800 times in the Old Testament and 200 of these times, it is related to the soul of man: intellect, emotions, will. In the field of the physical, the heart and the brain are two organs that work together communicating in four ways:

Neurologically (through the transmission of nerve impulses

Biochemically (via hormones and neurotransmitters)

Biophysically (through pressure waves)

Energetically (through electromagnetic fields interactions).

The brain and the heart together comprise the soul of man. As a matter of fact, man is what his soul is. The soul, which is invisible, becomes visible in the ways we behave. Our actions reveal what is inside our heart and mind. The heart, the size of a fist, is a muscular organ serving as a pump carrying blood via the circulatory system, supplying oxygen, nutrients, and removing carbon dioxide from it. In an amazing way complete in divine wisdom, the heart is the life of man, as it controls the flow of blood, for life is in the blood.

The Bible says that everything we do flows from it. Imagine that, a muscular organ with such power, but in the physical, it does not do it alone. It just cannot do it. It takes the brain to work with it, for the brain, our three-pound organ, controls our thoughts, memory, speech, etc. The central nervous system consists of the brain and the spinal cord. It receives information through the five senses: smell, sight, touch, taste and hearing. The messages are meaningfully put together to serve us.  In the Garden of Eden, Eve was tempted by the sight sense. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate (Gen. 3:6). So, here we have the lust of the eye. The connection between our hearts and our brain happens silently, in a subconscious dialog of emotion through signals between our heart and our brains. Our emotional estate when out of control, affects the body, and the soul. Anger, for example, is one of many reactions that takes a toll on our health, when not under control. The Bible warns us when angry, do not sin. There is nothing wrong in displaying anger, when kept under control. Do not let anger control you; let not the sun go down upon your wrath (Eph. 4:26); Psalm. 4:4 says: Be angry and sin not; commune with your own hearts upon your beds and be silent. Controlling anger is one way to guard the heart and the mind, and also the body. Diseases often happen to the body when we hold anger deeply in our hearts and minds -soul. From mental illnesses to heart diseases as in stroke, heart attack, hypertension, etc. The body is very much affected as a result of the heart’s and brain’s decision. It receives the injuries as the result. Protecting the heart and mind, the rest of our organs will be protected also.  Solomon says, Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep your corrupt talk far from your lips; let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before God; give careful thought to the paths for your feet and steadfast in all you ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil (Prov. 4:24-27). Mouth, lips, eyes, feet will follow the heart and the thoughts of the mind. The Bible says, Out of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34). Paul advises us to control our thoughts directing them to whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious. If there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things (Phil. 4:8).

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He Who Guards His Mouth

Mouth, Tongue = Words

(Proverbs 13:3; Psalm 19:14; I Peter 3:10)

 “He who guards his mouth keeps his life, but he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.”  A loose tongue has the power to destroy a city. It is like fire out of control when no one can tame it. Solomon said these in the book of Proverbs: These six things the Lord hates; indeed, seven are an abomination to Him. (1) proud look (2)  a lying tongue, (3) hands that shed blood, (4) a heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans (5) feet that are swift in running for evil (6) a false witness that breathes out lies and (7) he who sows discord among his brethren (Prov. 6: 16-19).  Out of seven three has to do with the tongue – mouth, being the seventh the one God abominates. When the human heart is evil, evil will come out of the mouth. The mouth is the door from which the heart expresses itself. When rebuking the Pharisees of His time, YAHSHUA said, You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things. But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle word they speak. For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced (Matt. 12: 34-37). When we perceive evil coming out of someone’s mouth, we understand that his heart is full of it. Although one cannot see what is going on the heart of man, one can see it through the hearing of the ears.

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Teach Us To Number Our Days

(Palm 90)

Moses, the man of God, was well acquainted with life’s brevity. Although he lived long, he saw many young fall dead in the desert through God’s wrath expressed in judgment against his people. Psalm 90 is a psalm that expresses Moses feelings from his experiences while wandering through the desert, leading his people to the Promised Land. In this psalm, he shows the intimacy he had with God by the freedom of expression directed to God. We can also see this in other instances when he pleaded for his people. The desire of Moses’s heart was for him to understand the span of life time on earth, in order to acquire a heart of wisdom. Knowing and understanding the fragility and shortness of life we can pray with Moses, “So teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom” (Vs. 11,12). The span of one’s life when filled with sin is rather short and unfulfilled. We read this in Ecclesiastes 7:17: be not wicked overmuch or willfully, neither be foolish -why should you die before your time? How many lives have gone before their time because of their wickedness and foolishness?  A life that lives to satisfy pleasures of the flesh is a life that does not consider its fragility and its uncertainty of existence; it is a foolish life. To live for the moment carries a weight of consequences for eternity. The fragility of this life is worthy considering in order to gain a heart of wisdom. A heart that understands the limited time span given to it to pump life is a heart that prays like the psalmist, O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight. Truly every man at his best is merely a breath! Surely every man walks to and fro- like a shadow in a pantomime; surely for futility and emptiness he is in turmoil; each one heaps up riches, not knowing who will gather them (Ps. 39:4-6).

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Ignorance- the Lack of Knowledge

(Hosea 4:6; Proverbs 19: 2)

“Father, grant me a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You, by having the eyes of my heart flooded with light, so that I can know and understand the hope to which You have called me.” (The prayer of Paul)

Knowledge is something acquired through life’s opportunities. The world is full of the knowledge of God. Everywhere we go, we see His handiwork pointing to Him. So knowledge is the awareness of facts acquired through experiences, through books of all kinds. Knowledge is the soul eye opener. Having knowledge with understanding is a must in life; it will guide in important decisions. When man accepts knowledge it will enter his heart and understanding will rule his emotions and will. Having knowledge without zeal is indifference. Many lives have been lost for not having been warned. But many lives have also been lost for rejecting knowledge. The Lord speaks through the Prophet Hosea concerning His people saying: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4: 6a). He blamed their priests in that they had rejected the knowledge of Him. Priests, in many ways, are responsible to impart spiritual knowledge to the people. They are held responsible before God for the spiritual wellbeing of the people.  The Lord told Ezekiel that if he did not warn the wicked, and they died on their sin, their blood will be required from Ezekiel’s hand (Ezekiel 3: 18). Having knowledge is a privilege and a light in dark times. But unshared knowledge has personal consequences.

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Let Your Gaze Be Straight Before You

(Prov. 4:25-27; Heb. 12: 1-2; Luke 9:62)

Let your eyes look right on and let your gaze be straight before you; consider well the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established and ordered aright; turn not aside to the right hand or to the left; remove your foot from evil (Prov. 4:25-27).

The eyes are light to the body. They open the soul to the wonder of the world and silently they perceive and come to understand many things with the help of the mind. It is an amazing part of the body created for purposes useful to make life wonderful and exciting in the presence of the beauty of creation God designed for us. Its anatomy and functions have many parts contributing to the working together with the purpose to produce vision. In addition to that, the eyes also provide depth perception and aid in the body’s balance. The eyes are the entrance to the soul; it is not only what we see, but how we perceive that will make a difference between godliness and ungodliness. As YAHSHUA said, the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your entire body will be full of light, but if your eye is unsound, you whole body will be full of darkness, If then the very light in you is darkened, how dense is that darkness (Matt. 6:22-23)!

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He knows Your Walking Through This Great Wilderness

(Deut. 2: 7, 36)

Life on earth is a wilderness filled with surprises at the moment our forefathers sinned. They had it so perfectly, but temptation took the best of them and life became what it is. They were thrown out of the garden, their comfortable and beautiful place to wander through the earth. Life became hard and challenging for them. They conceived the first murderer, who God marked with a sign, which no one knows what that was. Man’s blood line turned corrupted and iniquity traveled from generation to generation without end. So life here on earth is uncertain and full of surprises – good and bad. It is fast as a flower, springing in the morning and withering in the evening. In Psalm ninety Moses describes life in a nut shell: The days of our years are three-score years and ten or even, if by reason of strength, four score years; yet is their pride only labor and sorrow, for it is soon gone and we fly away. So teach us to number our days that we get us a heart of wisdom.

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