SETTING YOUR HEART ARIGHT
(week 10/17)
OLUBI JOHNSON

Psalms 78:8 NKJV:  And may not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Psalms 78:37 NKJV:  For their heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant.

Hebrews 8:10 KJV:  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

Here, the scriptures tell us that the generation of Israel that came out of Egypt DID NOT SET THEIR HEART ARIGHT and so their hearts were not faithful to God and His covenant.

It is instructive to contrast the hearts of the majority of Israel that did not set their heart aright with the heart of Joshua and Caleb who UNDER IDENTICAL circumstances CHOSE to set their hearts aright using the Word of God Moses gave them:

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 KJV:  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (5)  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (6)  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: (7)  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

By practicing these instructions that God gave them through Moses, Joshua and Caleb developed a different spirit or attitude and inclination of heart:

Numbers 14:24 KJV:  But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land where into he went; and his seed shall possess it.

Numbers 14:30 KJV:  Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

The word ‘heart’ here is a composite term referring to the soul of man: will, mind and emotions; in particular, it is the will that we are to set DAILY to align our wills and subsequently minds and emotions with God’s will and Word.

Since we are free moral agents, IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY to set our wills aright.

God WILL NOT USURP OUR FREE WILL TO DO THIS FOR US!

However, God will help and strengthen us when we, of our own free will, choose to do so; like He strengthened the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane when He (the Lord Jesus) set His will to go to the cross when His emotions did not want to do so: His soul was sorrowful unto death (Matthew 26.36-46, Luke 22.43).

David practiced setting his will always (except for the period of time when he was careless and committed adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11.1-12.25)) to do the will of God; hence he was called a ‘man after God’s own heart’:

Psalms 16:8 KJV:  I have set the LORD ALWAYS before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Acts 13:22 KJV:  And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

When either through ignorance, carelessness or outright rebellion do not set our wills to do the will of God, the will is automatically set to do evil by the power of Satan in the air (Ephesians 2.2):

Ecclesiastes 8:11 KJV:  Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

Now, it is instructive to note that God does NOT SPEEDILY execute judgment against the evil work men do because He is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3.9) and so He gives men space and time to repent (Revelation 2.21-22).

It is crucial to DAILY (Luke 9.23) set your heart aright so as to constantly attract INCREASINGLY greater measures of the God’s mercy and grace.

In our article next week, we will see how to do this in more detail.