Heart Knowledge
To walk in God's will, we must allow His Word
to penetrate our innermost being.
Here now is Gene Getz:
The key words in this Principle
are "innermost being."
In other words, head knowledge alone.
And we see this throughout the
book of Proverbs.
Head knowledge alone is not adequate
to motivate us to walk in God's will.
We also need heart knowledge.
And we see that Solomon used the word "heart"
quite frequently in the book of Proverbs.
So let's take a look at Proverbs 3,
verses 1 and 2 where he said:
My son...
Again, Solomon is addressing his son,
probably Rehoboam:
...My son, don't forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commands;
for they will bring you many days,
a full life, and well-being.
Here he's dealing with heart knowledge.
Your heart.
Look at Proverbs 3, verses 3 and 4:
Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you.
Tie them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will find favor and high regard
in the sight of God and man.
I love that metaphor.
The apostle Paul loved that metaphor.
When he wrote to the Corinthians,
he talked about writing on the
tablets of the Corinthians hearts
rather than on tablets of stone.
It says a lot in contrasting the law--
the externality of that emphasis--
versus heart knowledge. The tablets of your heart.
It's one thing to know what God's will is.
It's another to comprehend it totally
and allow it to affect our behavior.
Again in Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6.
These are probably my favorite verses
because I wrote them in the flyleaf
of my Bible when I became a believer at age16:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart...
Again Solomon uses the concept of the heart:
...Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding;
think about Him in all your ways,
and He will guide you on the right paths.
And its interesting how, here in this
very verse, he draws the contrast.
He talks about your own understanding.
And that can refer basically to head knowledge.
And then he says, think about Him--
that is the Lord--in all your ways,
which is heart knowledge.
It's moving from the head to the heart.
You see, we can store information in our head.
We can know a lot about God's will.
We can know a lot about the Bible.
But the fact of the matter is, it can be meaningless
unless it moves beyond the mind,
or the head--or the brain is a better
word to say it--into our heart.
The reason I qualified it a little bit is
that mind also is related to the heart
in a very, very careful way.
It's not just referring to the brain.
Now the question that these statements
that Solomon made about the heart,
or heart knowledge, it raises this question.
And that is: How does this relate
to the Word of God?
How does it relate to Scripture?
In other words, getting beyond
head knowledge to heart knowledge.
And I believe that in the
book of Hebrews we have
a pretty specific answer to that.
We have the power of Scripture.
And notice how it relates to getting
beyond head knowledge:
For the word of God is living
and effective and sharper
than any double-edged sword...
There's a dynamic metaphor.
And he goes on to explain:
...penetrating as far as the separation
of soul and spirit, joints and marrow.
It is able to judge the ideas
and thoughts of the heart.
In other words, there he basically mixes
the metaphor and relates it to reality.
Soul and spirit is reality.
This is a part of heart knowledge.
He uses joints and marrow
as an illustration of the body.
Here even in the Old Testament you have
the body metaphor in terms of
how to differentiate.
And the Word of God is able to
penetrate and differentiate to all
parts of our heart. And how we're made up
in relationship to how we should
function within God's will.
Now this leads to a very practical
question and that is:
How can we make sure that our knowledge
of Scripture impacts our total being?
And in answer to that I would simply say
that first of all--and here I think we have
an answer from James to that question--
we need to be serious learners.
I've entitled this concept here a serious learner.
If we're going to get beyond the head
to the heart, we need to
be serious learners.
Listen to what James said:
But be doers of the word
and not hearers only...
He's really addressing that issue, isn't he?
We can hear with our ears,
learn with our head, store it in our head,
but not be doers of the word.
And unless it moves from the head
to the total being, our total being.
And the heart is one of the words
that helps describe everything
that we are in our innermost being.
Heart summarizes soul, spirit,
mind, inner being.
It's a comprehensive concept.
And so James goes on to say:
...Because if anyone is a hearer
of the word and not a doer...
Naturally he says there of the word:
...he is like a man looking at his
own face in a mirror;
for he looks at himself,
goes away, and right away forgets
what kind of man he was.
In other words you look at yourself
and the analogy or the
metaphor is rather graphic.
You look in the mirror and the mirror says
you need to make some changes.
You know. You need to brush your hair,
if you've got any.
You need to wash your face.
You need to shave if you're a man.
You need to take care of your body.
And you look in the mirror
and you just walk away and say:
I'm not going to make any changes.
And so he says: That's just like a person
who looks at the Word,
learns in his head what the Word says,
and then just walks away and does nothing.
That's a fascinating illustration
that is used here by James to illustrate
this whole concept of moving
from the head to the heart.
Now another suggestion is that we
need to have a prayerful attitude.
If indeed we're going to experience
the Word of God--experience it.
Not just hear it, you know,
learn it mentally, but experience it.
And notice what Paul prayed
for the Thessalonians.
I think he models this when he said,
writing to these Christians in Thessalonica:
Now may the God of peace Himself
sanctify you completely.
And may your spirit, soul, and body
be kept sound and blameless
for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And that of course, indicates also
that this is a process.
We'll be in process of becoming like Christ
until He comes again.
As I was reflecting on this as well,
I was thinking of another prayer.
And it's Paul's prayer for the Colossians.
He has some wonderful prayers.
I've shared with you on several occasions
his prayer for the Ephesians.
But I love to personalize these prayers.
For example in Colossians,
when he's writing to them
right in chapter 1, he says:
For this reason also since the day
we heard this we haven't stopped
praying for you.
And then he gives us the content
of his prayer. And he says:
We're asking that you may be filled
with the knowledge of His will.
Now what I love to do is
to personalize that.
For example, you can read:
I'm asking that you---I'm asking that I--
may be filled with the knowledge
of Your will, Father, in all wisdom
and spiritual understanding.
You see, all you do is just change the
pronouns from second person to first person.
So that I may walk worthy of the Lord
fully pleasing to Him,
bearing fruit in every good work
and growing in the knowledge
of You, Father.
I pray that I'll be strengthened
with all power according to
Your glorious might.
For all endurance and patience with joy,
giving thanks to You, Father
who has enabled me to share
in the saints inheritance
in the light.
You have rescued me from the
domain of darkness and transferred me
into the kingdom of the Son that You love.
I have redemption, the forgiveness
of sins in Christ.
So I believe that we can take
some of the prayers of the apostle Paul
particularly, and pray those prayers.
Because the essence of many of
those prayers is to get beyond
head knowledge, to get to heart knowledge.
To open the eyes of our hearts.
You know the apostle Paul says
that we are to teach one another
with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
And as I was reflecting on that, I thought of a--
you might call it a spiritual ode.
Because that's the Greek word is "ode"
when it says: Teaching one another with psalms--
that's the Word of God.
And teaching one another with hymns--
that's probably poetic expressions
that capture Scripture deeply
and express it in music.
And then it says spiritual odes.
And that represents the music that
is contemporary at any moment in history.
And here's one of those spiritual odes
that I think capture the essence
of this Principle and of what Paul prayed.
Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord.
[Music:]
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord;
open the eyes of my heart;
I want to see You,
I want to see You.
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord;
open the eyes of my heart;
I want to see You,
I want to see You.
To see You high and lifted up,
shining in the light of Your glory;
pour out Your power and love,
as we sing: Holy, Holy, Holy.
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord;
open the eyes of my heart;
I want to see You,
I want to see You.
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord;
open the eyes of my heart;
I want to see You,
I want to see You.
To see You high and lifted up,
shining in the light of Your glory;
pour out Your power and love,
as we sing: Holy, Holy, Holy.
High and lifted up,
shining in the light of Your glory;
pour out Your power and love,
as we sing: Holy, Holy, Holy.
Holy, Holy, Holy.
[You are] Holy, Holy, Holy;
Holy, Holy, Holy;
I want to see You.
Holy, Holy, Holy.
[You are] Holy, Holy, Holy;
Holy, Holy, Holy;
I want to see You.
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord;
open the eyes of my heart;
I want to see You,
I want to see You.
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord;
open the eyes of my heart;
I want to see You,
I want to see You.
I want to see You,
I want to see You.