I will give you a new heart

Psalms 119:33   Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.

Isaiah 54:13     All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.

John 6:45     It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—

Job 28:28     And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Proverbs 2:5-6     then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.  For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

John 7:17    If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

James 1:5    If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

James 3:13-18    Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.  But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Ezekiel 36:26-27     And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

God’s word profits the heart, mind, and soul of those who desire and seek to fully and humbly serve, honor, follow and obey God.  To others who reject it, it is nothing but a fairytale and those who desire and seek it are weak and powerless.

What is it that we want our children to know about life?  Do we want them to see the power of God through our lives? Or, do we want them to see?  A watered down version of luke warm service to Him.  A life that is neither hot nor cold for God?  A life without substance for Him?  A life that only comes to God when trouble or untimely circumstances arise?

Note the depth of the heart of this Palmist – “Teach me”   It is very hard to learn if you do not want to be taught.  It is even harder when you choose to believe the worldly understanding of what it means to follow God.

It seems as though the meaning of what a christian life should be continues to erode away.  When is the last time you heard “SIN” being talked about?  When is the last time  God was proclaimed as the LORD of your life?  When was the last time His word was hungered for knowledge and understanding of Him and not just for a quick refresher of His promises?  When was the last time He was spoken about freely, unhindered, unashamed?  When was the last time He was spoken about outside of the circle of church friends?

I was recently at a field trial and hunting dog training through the weekend with others from across the country.  12 of us and on Sunday morning the trainer calls us altogether out in front of the barn and begins to speak about His faith and what God has been doing in his life that morning.  His faith was not something that went back to some point in time and done, but rather was active and very real.  He spoke about how is heart and mind were in a very grouchy mood when he got an email from a friend who nearly died at his place a year ago.  He told us how God spoke to his heart about keeping things in perspective and to be thankful rather than grumpy or grouchy.

I tell you this because God was real in His life.  He wanted to be taught and he was listening for and to God.

Seek to be taught and choose to obey.

Turned their back to Me, not their face

Zechariah 11:15  Then the LORD said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd.   For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.  “Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!”

Lamentations 2:14  Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.

Ezekiel 13:3    Thus says the Lord GOD, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

Isaiah 6:10   Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Jeremiah 2:26   “As a thief is shamed when caught, so the house of Israel shall be shamed: they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets,  who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they say, ‘Arise and save us!’

Matthew 15:14    Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

We are given so many examples of the sinful nature we are born with and the consequences of it.  I can’t recall the last time I have heard preaching/teaching warning us of the consequences of a life that is not fully committed to God.  It seems as though all we hear is about God’s grace, mercy, love, and our place in heaven.  These are all true and foundational in our reason for repenting and turning away from sin to God’s redemption.  It seems as though through His great and steadfast love we come to Him for a moment in time and then live as though we are one and done on the decision to follow Him with our whole heart.  We give no thought to what it means to commit with our whole mind, soul and heart and live each day to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey.  Note the scriptures this morning -“As a thief is shamed when caught”….They know they have done wrong in their commitment to God.  Note the choice made – “they have turned their backs to me not their faces but in time of trouble they say save us”.   We are not to take our walk with God lightly.  This walk requires constant time in His word, courage, patience, faith, hope, commitment, heart deep desire to hear and be led by God.  Make God the first thing you commit to each day.