Affiliated with the Intercontinental Church of God and
the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association
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The Heart: Solutions of -- Part 3
Are we to be repentant? Psalm 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Psalm 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Now the commentary for these verses from Psalms: Psalm 34:18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart---Who are pressed and bore down with afflictions, by the sorrow of heart under which their spirits are broken, Proverbs 15:13; or with a sense of sin, and sorrow for it, for which their hearts smite them, and they are wounded by it, and broken with it: to these the Lord is "nigh"; not in a general way only, as he is to all men, being God omnipresent, but in a special manner; he comes and manifests himself to them in a gracious way, pours in the oil and wine of his love, and binds up their broken hearts; yea, comes and dwells with them: he does not pass by them and neglect them, much less make the breach worse; he does not break the bruised reeds, but he heals their breaches; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit---not in a legal, but in an evangelical way; who are humbled under a sense of sin, and melted down in true repentance, under a view of the love and grace of God; and are poor and mean in their own eyes: to these the Lord has respect; the sacrifices of a broken and contrite spirit are not despised by him, but accepted through faith in Christ; and such he saves with an everlasting salvation in him.--John Gill Psalm 51:7 Purge me with hyssop---Or "thou shalt purge me with hyssop" ; or "expiate me"; which was used in sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb on the door posts of the Israelites in Egypt, that the destroying angel might pass over them, Exodus 12:22; and in the cleansing of the leper, Lev. 14:4; and in the purification of one that was unclean by the touch of a dead body. Numbers 19:6; which the Targum on the text has respect to; and this petition of the psalmist shows that he saw himself a guilty creature, and in danger of the destroying angel, and a filthy creature like the leper, and deserving to be excluded from the society of the saints, and the house of God; and that he had respect not hereby to ceremonial sprinklings and purifications, for them he would have applied to a priest; but to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, typified thereby; and therefore he applies to God to purge his conscience with it; and, as Suidas from Theodoret observes, hyssop did not procure remission of sins, but has a mystical signification, and refers to what was meant by the sprinkling of the blood of the passover; and then he says, and I shall be clean---thoroughly clean; for the blood sprinkled on the heart by the spirit clears it from an evil conscience, purges the conscience from dead works, and cleanses from all sin; wash me---or "thou shall wash me" ; alluding to the washing at the cleansing of a leper, and the purification of an unclean person, Lev. 14:8; but had in view the fountain of Christ's blood, in which believers are washed from all their sins, Zech. 13:1; and I shall be whiter than snow---who was black with original corruption, and actual transgressions; but the blood of Christ makes not only the conversation garments white that are washed in it; but even crimson and scarlet sins as white as wool, as white as snow, and the persons of the saints without spot or blemish, Rev. 7:14, Eph. 5:25; "whiter than the snow" is a phrase used by Homer, and others, to describe what is exceeding white. -John Gill
Does God grant us this repentance? 2 Timothy 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
Does God want us devoted to Him? Psalm 9:1 I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. Psalm 27:8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek. Psalm 77:6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. Let us look at the commentary on this one... I call to remembrance my song in the night---What had been an occasion of praising the Lord with a song, and which he had sung in the night seasons, when he was at leisure, his thoughts free, and he retired from company; or it now being night with him, he endeavoured to recollect what had been matter of praise and thankfulness to him, and tried to sing one of those songs now, in order to remove his melancholy thoughts and fears, but all to no purpose: I commune with mine own heart---or "meditate" with it; looked into his own heart, put questions to it, and conversed with himself, in order to find out the reason of the present dispensation: and my spirit made diligent search---into the causes of his troubles, and ways and means of deliverance out of them, and what would be the issue and consequence of them; the result of all which was as follows. -John Gill Psalm 119:10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Psalm 119:69 The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. Psalm 119:145 I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes.
Does God want us to be wise?
And God said to him... Then in chapter 4 and verse 29 it says... 1 Kings 4:29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. Let us look at the meaning of "largeness of heart": Largeness of heart - What we call “great capacity.” The expression which follows is common in reference to numerical multitude 1Kings 4:20, but its use here to express mere amplitude or greatness is unique. - Barnes Notes Proverbs 8:10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. Proverbs 10:8 The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall. Proverbs 11:29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. Let us look at the commentary on this one as it is a micro-description of you and I in the end time: He that troubleth his own house---His family, his wife, and children, and servants; by being bitter to the one, and by provoking the others to wrath, and continually giving out menacing words to the rest; or through idleness, not providing for his family; or through an over worldly spirit, pushing on business, and hurrying it on beyond measure; or through a niggardly and avaricious temper, withholding meat and drink, and clothes convenient for them; see Proverbs 15:27; or through profuseness and prodigality. Such an one... shall inherit the wind---nothing but vanity and emptiness; he shall come to nothing, and get nothing; and what he does, be shall not keep, and on which he cannot live; and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart---he who has both got and lost his substance in a foolish way shall be so reduced as to become a servant to him who has pursued wise measures, both in getting and keeping what he has; and to whom perhaps the fool formerly stood in the relation of a master. Such a change will be with respect to antichrist and the saints, Daniel 7:25.-John Gill Does God want us to invoke tenderness? Does God act as an example for us to be tender? 2 Kings 22:19 Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Psalm 145:9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
Are we to be holy? 1 Peter 1:15-16 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Notice the commentary on "sanctify the Lord God in your hearts" and take note of how it relates to the end time especially. The sense in the passage before us is, “In your hearts, or in the affections of the soul, regard the Lord God as holy, and act toward him with that confidence which a proper respect for one so great and so holy demands. In the midst of dangers, be not intimidated; dread not what man can do, but evince proper reliance on a holy God, and flee to him with the confidence which is due to one so glorious.” -Barnes Notes Another commentary says... sanctify — hallow; honor as holy, enshrining Him in your hearts. So in the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9 ["Hallowed be thy name"]. God’s holiness is thus glorified in our hearts as the dwelling-place of His Spirit.-JFB Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Notice the meaning here for "that we should be holy":
that we should be holy, and without blame, before him in
love---the objects of it are not chosen because they
were holy, but that they might partake of the sanctification
of the Spirit; that they might be sanctified by him here,
and be perfectly holy hereafter; and be without fault and
blame, both in this life, as instilled by the righteousness
of Christ, and as washed in his blood; and in the life to
come, being entirely freed from all sin, and without spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing; and appear so in the sight of
Christ, who will present them to himself, and in the sight
of his Father, to whom they will also be presented by him,
even in the sight of divine justice: and this -John
Gill What does this mean, "mine eye affecteth mine heart"? Notice the commentary and how this will relate to us in the tribulation of the end time: Mine eye affecteth mine heart---Seeing the desolation of his country; the ruins of the city and temple of Jerusalem; and the multitudes of those that were slain, and carried captive; and the distresses the rest were in; this affected his heart, and filled it with grief; as his heart also affected his eyes, and caused them to run down in rivers of water, as before expressed. "the weeping of mine eyes is the occasion of hurt to my soul or life;'' his excessive weeping endangered his life: because of all the daughters of my city---not Anathoth, his native place, but Jerusalem. "of Jerusalem my city.'' The meaning is, that his heart was affected at seeing the ruin of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; or of the towns and cities round about it, which that was the metropolis of. Some, as Jarchi, render it, "more than all the daughters of my city"; his heart was more affected with those calamities than those of the most tender sex, even than any or all of them. --John Gill Are we to be lowly? Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Notice the commentary for "I am meek and lowly in heart" For I am meek---This was eminently Christ’s personal character. But this is not its meaning here. He is giving a reason why they should embrace his religion. That was, that he was not harsh, overbearing, and oppressive, like the Pharisees, but meek, mild, and gentle in his government. His laws were reasonable and tender, and it would be easy to obey him. -Barnes Notes Another commentary says... I am meek and lowly in heart --- Wherever pride and anger dwell, there is nothing but mental labor and agony; but, where the meekness and humility of Christ dwell, all is smooth, even, peaceable, and quiet; for the work of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. Isaiah 32:17.-Clarke
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Portland, Oregon Church of God - part of The Intercontinental Church of God and The Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association - Tyler, Texas