In the book of Proverbs 23:26, the Lord asks for our hearts that we may observe and take delight in His counsel. The heart, as defined in Hebrew, is the seat of emotions, what we also view as the mind that houses our intellect.
Surrendering the heart to the Lord therefore positions our hearts to want what He wants, to do as He pleases and to be swift in acting upon His counsel. I have extensively discussed the danger of emotions and the patterns of healthy emotions. What I would like to place emphasis on today is, what it truly means to take delight in God’s ways.
My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways. Proverbs 23:26 NIV
The word translated ‘delight’ in Hebrew is ‘rāșâ’ which means to be pleased with or be favorable to. In other words, there is a posture in man that is pleased with what it hears, sees, thinks and meditates upon. Notice however the precursor for these eyes to be pleased with what it sees, is to have the heart in the right place or posture.
Our emotions are a gift from God. They are in no way to be negated nor misused. However, for us as believers, our emotions are supposed to be stewarded in light of truth. Some of the most consoling words that Jesus spoke to his disciples and to the generations that would worship Him as Lord and Savior, are found in John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
While these words sound more scary than consoling, Jesus revealed to us that the fallen world we are living in is not designed to shield us from trouble, loss or pain but that there is a better alternative to our response. This scripture calls us to the remembrance that whatever we face cannot consume us because He took it upon Himself to disarm the powers of destruction aimed at us through trials. Hence, our emotions are real feelings but not truth in of themselves.
Take an example of barreness, it is something many families have struggled with from time immemorial. Science has come up with several ways to aid such families and in all of it we are grateful for the wisdom God has given to such men or women to go forth in advancing these methods. However, we that believe in the Bible have seen women who were not just barren but past childbearing age to conceive. The fact that all things were made by Him (John 1:3) tells us that all forms of creativity we may boast in as humans, mirrors the divine precedent of creation.
Deuteronomy 7:14 tells us that none shall be barren or childless among the redeemed and if we believe the word of the Lord, we must do so in its entirety or not at all. The strength of truth is in its immutability. This means it is unchanging and factual though it often differs with our feelings at a particular time, but it does not change it, it remains above what we feel or experience with our human senses. The kingdom of God is backwards because it is outside of the constraints of time and unlike our human limitations in thinking or perceiving, it does not change its principles in order to accommodate or justify our failures.
There are many doctrines surrounding delay, barrenness, regression and many more trials that come our way and these doctrines have mistakenly been classified as reality because our feelings were given prominence. As a result, we often miss the opportunity to believe in the Creator of all things and we instead place our trust in creations creativity. This happens because we try to find our own way of solving or getting out of these so-called trials, therefore downgrading the kingdom to our level. It is no wonder that when our way fails, our dissatisfaction will inevitably flow over and show through our devotion.
Child of God, giving our hearts to the Lord is a deliberate and willfull decision to say “I am grateful when I see doors that are open before me without need to exercise faith but I am all the more glad to have an opportunity to believe in a God I can’t limit by my understanding or my timing because in my experience, His plan has always superseded my wildest dreams”.
When you are able to surrender the seat of your emotions to the Lord, what your eyes see is inevitably the delight of the soul. Praise God!
If you have never given your life to Jesus Christ, and you feel that this is the perfect time, pray this prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I thank you because you died for my sins and you were raised for my glory. Today, I receive you as my Lord and Savior. I am born again. Amen.”
