My Heart is Deceitful

"The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it? "
(Jeremiah 17:9)


MY heart is deceitful. My heart deceives others, and my heart deceives my mind into thinking that I know best, that even sin is ok because it's with 'right motives', that it's not really sin.

Above all things--above the feelings of love, above the desire to serve God, above the right inclinations. More than anything, the heart is deceitful. What a scary thought!!

Beyond cure--our hearts are not going to change by any effort of our own. It is a daily effort to fight evil and a daily prayer that God will change our hearts. We have no idea the depths of the depravity of our own hearts!!

"Who can understand it?"--the moment we start thinking our hearts are not deceitful; the moment we start thinking we are strong enough to stand on our own in moments of weakness or temptation; the moment we think we are doing 'fine'...that is when our hearts are most deceitful. We can not truly understand or trust a person who is always lying, and similarly, we can not truly understand or trust our hearts! Instead, we must trust God!


I cannot trust what my heart convinces me that I want. I cannot rest in being 'fine' if that is what my heart tells me I am. My heart is deceitful. I can only trust God and obey Him. Trust and obey...