WHO MOVES OUR HEARTS?

We’ve always heart that the Holy Spirit moves our hearts. And we have always believed it deeply. But should we take everything about God for granted?

In the Bible, these are the people whose hearts were moved by divinity: Pharaoh, Egyptians, Enemies of Jews, King Sihon, Jews, Cannan kings, King Saul, Solomon, King of Assyria, Nehemiah, King of Persia, Chiefs of world, Job, Job’s friends, David, Egyptians, the broken hearted, kings, all men, contrite, Nebuchadnezzar, hearer, Judas, Lydia, Titus, and Christians.

Who moved their heart? The answer is quite surprising. By using a concordance to find every instance where divinity moved someone’s heart (listed above), it was not God the Spirit who did the moving. It was God the Father.

There are 707 verses in the Bible mentioning the heart. But here is another surprise. Although in our world today the heart refers to emotions, it did not in Bible times. Genesis 5:5-6 ~

“Every inclination of the thoughts of his [man’s] heart” (NIV)

“Every imagination of the thoughts of his [man’s] heart” (KJV)

Vine’s Expository of New & Old Testament Words defines imagination from the original Hebrew and Greek of the Bible as reasoning and thought.

According to Proverbs, the heart does these things: understands, is wise, keeps commandments, is a tablet, retains words, guards, despises correction, is deceitful, devises wicked imaginings, binds to, is crafty, declines, perseveres, is deceitful and foolish, heavy and sick, bitter and sorrowful, is a backslider, is sound, wise, foolish, merry, sorrowful, knowledgeable, righteous, rejoices, prepares, is proud, determined, perverse, merry, opinionated, proud, prudent, fretful, is a planner and counselor, is clean and pure, is envious, self-guided, studies destruction, is heavy, wicked, abominable, glad, hardened, and is trusting.

By looking at all 707 verses in the Bible referring to the heart, there are two primary contexts regarding the heart:

Goals are hoped for or feared in the heart

Decisions are made from the heart

So this now gives new and fresh meaning to Ecclesiastes 3:11:

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

He has also set eternity in the hearts of men.

How blest we are to have a Bible so we do not have to guess what our relationship is with God. Oh happy thought. Happy heart.