“Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts—and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom.”
Psalm 51:6
When purity and sincerity reign within the heart, God’s Truth and Wisdom will fill it.
Half-truths. Innuendoes. Deception and deceit.
These are watchwords nowadays in a generation that continually moves farther and farther away from God, His Word and expressed Will. And, if we’re not careful, even we “Pilgrims of the Way” will be tempted to abandon today’s Manna since “the end justifies the means.”
But, oh, dear Pilgrim, the end does not justify the means.
Long before the term “situational ethics” was coined and came into vogue, the heart was “incredibly deceitful and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9). In fact, it’s been that way ever since Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit and sought to hide their nakedness and shame by sewing fig leaves together (Gen. 3:7).
In every generation there have been “unjust balances” (scales) that weighed wrong, cheating the customer and rewarding the merchant with ill-gotten gains. Truly, graft and corruption are not limited to any single generation, nation, ethnic group, individual, etc; it’s always there. . . lurking in the shadows. . .longing for release.
That’s why we, who profess to be followers of the Risen Lord, must always wage spiritual warfare against these “lusts of the flesh, eyes and pride of life” (I Jn. 2:16). Our Master is not pleased why shady deals or capitalizing upon others’ shortcomings. A thousand times no!
Instead, He “desires (Heb. ‘chaphets’—‘to incline to, bend toward, be pleased with, delight in, etc.’) truth in the inward parts.” This covers the mind, the mouth and the heart. It’s impossible for us to say “Jesus is Lord” if we “draw near to Him with our lips, honor Him with our mouth, but our heart is far from Him” (Is. 29:13; Mt. 15:8). Only those who “have clean hands and a pure heart can draw near to God’s Holy Hill and receive His blessings and righteousness” (Ps. 24:3-5).
And, it’s only then that He’ll give us “His Wisdom in the inward parts.”
For sure, this Wisdom is Heavenly, not earthly (James 3:13-18). It’s not the accumulation of Biblical facts or doctrinal precepts; neither is it given so we can establish some type of hyper-spirituality so we can lord it over others.
No, our all-seeing God gives Wisdom so we’ll be able to properly relate to Him and those around us. By it we’ll be able to see those things that are eternal, not temporal, and sufficiently able to discern right over wrong. . .good over evil. . .and do those things that will bring glory to the Lord Jesus.
So, how goes it, Pilgrim? Does God’s Truth reign supreme within your heart? Are you the same person in secret that you are in public? Does the adage “What you see is what you get” apply to you? May the Holy Spirit reveal to us any areas in our lives that are dishonest or deceitful; then, may we make whatever changes are necessary to be clean without and within.
