Honesty of Heart

“LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.” (Ps 15:1-2 AV)

That last phrase is key to the success of the two previous goals.  If we are to walk uprightly and work righteousness, we have to be honest with our hearts.  God does not require absolute perfection here.  He simply asks that we work towards it.  No one can be perfect.  No one can live holy.  Not in their own strength, anyway.  This requires a work of grace and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  Our flesh is weak.  Our flesh cannot please God.  God does the work in us if we will yield to His hand and power.  All that being said, the underlined phrase is what I wish to consider.  Honesty of heart.  Jeremiah tells us, “The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer 17:9 AV).  The heart misleads, the heart misdirects, the heart warps, the heart overwhelms.  Meditation in the word of God is the key to overcoming a heart that desires what it should not have or believes what it knows is not true.  Honesty of heart means we come to terms with truth and accept that truth no matter where it might lead.

Note David does not limit interaction with the heart by what the heart does or feels.  Rather, he looks at it from the perspective of how he deals with the heart.  He tells us the one who will abide with the LORD in His tabernacle is the one who will speak the truth in his heart.  The heart becomes disciplined to trust and not subject to its environment.  The heart is not permitted to feel what it perceives to be the truth.  Rather, David is saying the heart must be disciplined to accept the truth and then reflect that truth.  This is required for us to keep audience with God.  The heart cannot rule what the mind thinks.  It must be the other way around.  The other point to be made here is sincerity.  What we do or say should be based on truth and that truth should be sincere.  The heart has a good way of making things seem right when deep down inside, they are not.

David is a man after God’s own heart.  He earns that title for a very good reason.  David was not perfect.  David made some seriously sinful choices in his life.  But when he did, he was honest with his heart.  He confessed and forsook all that God had shown him.  David was a passionate man.  He wrote many psalms that reflected that passion.  David was an emotional man.  He was moved by his heart on many occasions.  David earned the recognition of being a man after God’s own heart because he was honest with his heart.  What he said, he meant.  He did not try to be someone he was not.  You took David as he was.  Like him or not.  He was transparent with himself.  When he failed, he admitted his failure.  When he was wrong, he listened and fixed it.  Remember the ox cart that shook with the Ark riding within?  David was not happy that God took such drastic measures, but he realigned the policy so the ark came to the tabernacle biblically.  He was honest in his heart.  That is what God wants.  He knows outside of glory, the saint will struggle.  What God wants is honesty of heart that precipitates change.  That is all.  One good long look in the mirror and prayer that will advance Christlikeness in the life of the saint.