Guarding My Heart

Read: Proverbs 4
“23 Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23

Examine:
Solomon was a man of great wisdom but he was also a man of great folly. His inability to guard his heart from temptation ultimately was his downfall. He could have blamed his failures on his position, his wealth and the temptations they afforded him but he did not. Solomon looked in the mirror and accepted responsibility for his actions. He lost control of his heart and consequently lost control of his life.

Apply:
In guarding my heart I must be careful to stay away from feelings of anger and entitlement. Whenever I feel like I deserve something that I am not getting my anger is often kindled. This is not always an explosive anger as it can come in the form of pouting, stewing, or sitting in pity. Either way, it is lethal to my heart. Entitlement starts my fall to temptation by making me feel like I have been cheated in someway. Once I feel cheated, I can justify a lot of behavior as a means of making things right.

Another lethal thing to my heart is pursuing “Why always” questions. Why does she always have to do that? Why does this always happen to me? Why is it always so difficult? These questions are simply pure poison. There is zero value to them other than they lead to the death of my heart. God is a God of continual hope and these are hopeless questions. Hopeless questions are open doors to temptation and failure.

Pray:
The ways of my heart are far beyond me. There are times when something seems to seize me and I find myself trapped in temptation, lost in desperation, or stuck seething in anger. I hate that side of me. I loath it. There is no joy in that man and he will devour anything and everything that either offers the promise of relief or remedy. There are days I like to play victim to that man. I claim that he comes out of nowhere and overtakes me and that there is little I can do about it. Today, I renounce this line of thinking and accept responsibility for my own bad choices in guarding my heart.

I am not vigilant in protecting my heart. Out of my heart are the springs of life and I often pollute those springs with bad thoughts, attitudes, and desires. The only way I can protect my heart is to give it to You blamelessly and willingly. Help me today to press my heart into faithful service. Let the desires of my heart long solely for the goodness of Your will and the pureness of Your joy and hope. Keep me far from things that are not of You and let my joy find its fullness in the things are from You.