Following Your Heart?

"Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains. Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee. And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell David...Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in" (1 Chron. 17:1-4).

Have you ever sought a persons advice who responded by saying to you, "just follow your heart?" When David alluded to building a house for God Nathan said, "Do all that is in thine heart." But later "the word of God came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell David...Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me an house." According to Jer. 17:9 our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. People including Christians can easily justify and rationalize making the wrong decisions. Therefore we must be careful to examine our hearts in prayer and in the light of God's word before any decision that we make. The Psalmist wrote, " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalmist 119:105).

There are times, especially when our emotions are involved, that we need to seek out the advice of a trusted friend, Pastor or a Christian counsellor who can take the light of God's word and help us to discern God's direction. We need people in our lives who will tell us in love what we need to hear not what we want to hear. Although Nathan didn't get it right the first time when he told David to follow his heart, he did come back to him later and shared with him the word of the Lord. And Nathan did so knowing that it was not what David desired to do. On another occasion Nathan was used of God to point out the sin in David life that led Him to repentance and restoration with God (2 Samuel 12). Thank God for the Nathans in our lives. Let the light of God's word be your guide.