KEEPING WATCH ON THE HEART

Proverbs 4.23
KEEPING WATCH ON THE HEART
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, WATER-SPRINGS were practically the guarantee of life. Without water, there is no life. And if the water were polluted or poisoned, the people would suffer and die. With such high risks at stake, each spring was guarded with the utmost care.

Today, we often take for granted the drinking water that comes with the turn of the tap. But can we imagine the catastrophe if an enemy gets to our water supply and laces it with cyanide? People will die by the thousands, there will be hysteria, and an outcry against the lax security that had allowed such a thing to happen!

Solomon compares our heart to such a spring or reservoir. In the Bible, the heart is always seen as the place where our thoughts, emotions and actions all have their beginning. What we see on the outside of us all start from the inside. As Jesus puts it, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt 12.34). The heart is the reservoir from where we get our water, the kitchen from where we get our food, the factory from where we get our goods. To ensure the quality of what we get, we first must ensure the security of the place of origin.

So we are urged above all else to guard our heart. It is the maximum security centre of our life's operations. Firstly, we must entrust the heart to God. "My son, give me your heart" is the counsel of the wise (23.26). Though it means here the filial submission of a son to his father's advice, John Calvin has aptly applied the call to our submission to God. His motto of a hand holding a heart towards God represents our first task. We must give our hearts to God for safe-keeping.

Secondly, we must ensure the peace of our heart, "A heart at peace gives life to the body" (14.30). The loss of peace is bound to agitate and wreck us. But we must not allow anything to disturb that peace. The moment that peace is upset, we must set the heart aright, and thereby cultivate a sensitivity to sin.

But we must also reckon with a heart that is itself deceptive. So thirdly, we need to search our hearts. A German proverb says, "Nowhere are there more hiding places than in the heart." We guard our hearts to make sure no sin enters. But some sins might already have sneaked in and are in hiding. Sins of pride, covetousness and self-centeredness are particularly hard to identify because they often become so much a part of us. But they must be flushed out.

How is my heart?