Psalm 101:4

Psalm 101:4

The perversity of the heart

In verse 2 we pondered on what it means to have a blameless heart. Remember that the heart is the source of all that we are, it is what drives and motivates us. What we think and what we are derives from our hearts for there is written the blueprint for our lives. You may know a lot of people superficially because of what they say and do, that is their outward appearance. To know them completely is to be able to observe what is in their hearts, what they say and do when the wraps are off; their opinions, their inner thoughts, their prejudices and their desires all reveal their true hearts. Most people we know keep their hearts hidden except from their immediate friends and family, there are a few folks who reveal all, we say that they wear their hearts on their sleeves. Some people simply don’t care about what others think of them. 

One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit within believers is to show us what is in the heart of another – a word of knowledge. And be prepared for shocks, as Jeremiah writes, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9.

The psalm-writer wants nothing to do with those hearts that are perverse or devious. Such folk are endlessly spinning webs of deceit and self-aggrandisement or self-protection. It becomes impossible to decide what is truth or what is a lie. They invent fables, they spread gossip, and they sow discord. Let us agree with King David, that we will have nothing to do with what is evil for such people take after their father, the devil. 

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