Heart stuff.

If you missed last week’s post, you need to go back and read it. We were looking at factors that determine how long we stay in the middle, before we see the promises come to pass.

In Numbers 14, when the Israelites spoke out against God in fear of entering into the promised land, they sinned against God. Moses interceded for them and God forgave their rebellion (Numbers 14:1-23). However, just because they were forgiven did not mean that they got to enter the promised land. They had reached a point with God, were they had rebelled too many times and that was the last straw for them.

I don’t say this to scare you but more as a warning not to take the mercy and forgiveness of God for granted. You cannot treat God with contempt repeatedly and expect to walk in His promises. Yes He loves us and yes He will forgive us but we don’t want to get stuck and die in the desert like some of the Israelites did. You can be fully forgiven and still miss out on the promises of God. That is a sobering thought. We want to make sure that we will enter into the promised land and enjoy the benefits of His promises and blessings.

So last week we saw a few things that got the Israelites stuck in the desert. Rebellion, fear and their own words. We know we can counter rebellion with obedience, fear with faith but what do we do about the words?

Psalms 19:14 says, “So may the words of my mouth, my meditation-thoughts, and every movement of my heart be always pure and pleasing, acceptable before your eyes, my only Redeemer, my Protector-God.”

We need to make sure that we watch the words that come out of our mouths, that they are pure and pleasing and acceptable to God. Our verse shows us a very important connection between the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts.

Luke 6:45 says, “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”

So from the above verses we begin to understand that God was not just upset by the words the Israelites spoke out against Him in the desert, their hearts were in the wrong place. God always looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:7). In their hearts, the Israelites did not trust God and in turn they complained and grumbled against Him at every turn. The words they spoke were only an indication of what was going on in their hearts.

When they rejected God’s plan to go into the promised land at God’s set time, their hearts were turned away from God. We know this because when God spoke about Caleb, He said that Caleb followed God wholeheartedly (Number 14:24). This was evidenced in the words that Caleb spoke to the Israelites about taking possession of the promised land.

So if the words you are speaking are not full of life and victory but instead speak death and defeat, you need to check what is going on in your heart. Your mouth only echoes what is going on deep within. So when your words try to keep you from entering the promises of God or when they are full of fear, you need to check your heart and cry out to God, “Create in me a clean heart. Renew a loyal spirit within me” Psalm 51:10.

It is God’s will that we do well in life and have good success. It is also His will that we walk in His promises, His blessings and His favour. But He does not impose these things upon us. He allows us to choose and the way we choose is by obedience to His word. Remember His promises take the form, “If you.. then I…”. When we obey Him, and we put our faith in Him and turn our hearts towards Him, we will begin to see His promises unfolding at the right time.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.