Should one's heart be trusted?

[crisipicada]

There are times in my life that I feel that God does not love me. I feel that He is so far from me and punish me because of my problems in life. I feel that He is bias because why He allow hardships in my life while others are so happy and seems no problem. I thought that I am forgotten by Him and felt that I am confuse and doubted Him if He really exists. There were many times in my life that I want to give up and seems so hard to trust in Him. Not only that, I try to make my own decisions in life and do not want to pray to even to read His word. Does any one of you here felt that way?

But as soon as He speak to my heart and believe in His word that He loves me, that He gave his only begotten Son, that He died on the cross and pay my sins, and realize how I needed Him in my life, that He said, He loves me more than anything, that He careth of me.

Many times in our lives that we feel that He does not love us, but the truth is He loves. Us.

This is one of the example that our feelings cannot be trusted because we are just human being. THat is why we need to continually surrender and pray for a pure heart, to have pure motives in life and to trust HIm that He alone can give us clear hearts and minds.

I am thankful that God is not like human feelings, changeable and cannot be trusted. As long as our hearts is in line with the Word of God, then I believe that it can be trusted. Trust Him and so we can be trusted, too. It is not us, but Him that is in us.

[Edwin]

Yes, Crisi, that is one thing for sure, that God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We do sometimes have trouble like you are talking about, and we have to exercise faith to know that God will stand behind His word, and He will keep His promises to us. He did die for us because He loves us, and He will keep us in His hand. He will never leave us or forsake us. He will always be there for us. We may feel like God is no where, but He is there for us. He does care for us. We believe in Him by faith no matter how we feel. Yes, and we are seated in Christ Jesus in heavenly places!

[crisipicada]

I heard this words to someone " I trust you", and these words are really heavy. And when someone fail his/her trust, it would be hard to trust again.

For me, I would rather pray " Lord I trust you for this person". Show me the way, if this is your will.

I am afraid to tell someone "I trust you" because if he or she fails, then it would be hurt a lot. If someone you trusted because you trusted the Lord, then you can consider that he or she is just human being. And we have weaknesses and we will fall.

The best thing to do if you trusted someone because you trusted the Lord, is always to encourage to grow in faith in the Lord.

[Edwin]

Trust is a big issue! I am think of a kids' movie, and right now I can't remember the title, but there is a scene in it, in which an evil animal/snake I think is saying "Trust in me," and while he is saying that his eyes are changing shape, size, and color, and of course he is lying, and that is the point, that he is the snake, the deceiver! We are not to trust in man, and we are not to trust in horses also, but we can trust in God. He will not let us down, and we need to keep our eyes fixed on Him, and take His leading. He will not lead us astray!

[Edwin]

We have a saying, and it may be mostly with our family and relatives since we are farmer and ranchers in our background. Anyway the saying is, "I would not trust that person no further than I could throw a bull!" Well, a bull is normally a pretty larger critter, and no one could throw a bull. Maybe a bull calf could be thrown, but not a bull! Trust is an important thing. It is important that you are a person who can be trusted by other people. Much of our society depends on the good trust of people, because if there is a lack of trust, people can do terrible things. It is important that other people can trust you, and it is important to you, that you are a person of trust. It is even more important that God can trust you, and if God can trust you others will be able to trust you as well!

[Gary2310]

Trusting one's heart?

As is the case most times, it is difficult to discuss religion and science together. This is primarily because science strictly deals with empirical truths and concerns only the material aspects of life, whereas religion, by utilizing symbolism and metaphoric language, deals largely with immaterial realities. They are quite the "odd couple", wouldn't you say?

Within the realm of religious thought, what is meant by "heart" can be somewhat confusing. It was to me for a long time and, in some ways. it still is today. It is one of those abstract concepts that is difficult to adequately explain in simple terms. That being said, one of the ways of describing what is meant by "heart" would be to think of it as an all-encompassing sustaining force that defines our innermost being and, specifically, our will and our emotions. Hence the idea that one is pure of heart versus one is wicked. And, it was believed that this defining force controlling human emotion originated in the anatomical heart. This idea came about because it was observed how a person's heart rate would change as their mood changed (e.g., feelings of love or anger). Although science later refuted this idea, modern science recently has proven that there is actually some truth to the original belief that the heart was a control center for human emotion.

It turns out that the heart, like the cranial brain, has a complex nervous system that can act independently. This is illustrated by the fact that during fetal development the fetal heart starts to beat before the brain has even been formed. There is actually a coherency of emotions that has a direct association with the heart. This gives new meaning to the concepts "we think what we feel and we feel what we think", and may well explain why it is that people can sense feelings of love and other positive feelings in the heart.

So, then, should one's heart be trusted?

It has been said that one's heart is one's essence. If you believe that, then certainly you should, at least, listen to it. But, should it be trusted? I think not, because without reasoning (logical brain) relying strictly on feelings (heart) is too risky.

Any other thoughts on this?

[Edwin]

The heart has many conditions. There is the cold heart. There is the good heart, as in the good hearted woman, or man. There is the heart of stone. There is the hard hearted person, as in the hardness of heart, which was the reason Moses gave the option of the writing of divorce for a man and a woman, which was not so from the beginning, but was a result from sin. There is the heart of flesh, which God promised that He would take the people's hearts of stone, and give them hearts of flesh instead.

Jeremiah 17:5; "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trustesth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. 6; For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. 7; Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. 8; For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. 9; The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10; I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. 11; As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool."

The unregenerate heart "is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked!" "Who can know it?" The answer is in verse 10;, "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins," and God says that He rewards every man or woman according to that person's works.

Verse 11; says the same thing as Jesus told the person who had so much crop that he had to tear down his barns to build bigger barns to hold all his crops, and then he said to himself, "Soul take it easy, enjoy what you have." Jesus said, " Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee, then whose shall these things be which you have provided?" Basically He told that person who was self centered and self sufficient, you are going to die this night, and then you will face the judgement, and then what good will those things be to you that you have emassed!

[crisipicada]

There are times or at all times, we become skeptical of someone's heart. That is why we need to pray for a pure heart. Our heart deceives us and sometimes or at all times, when not totally guarded, it will lead us to destruction.

As my experience, especially now, I pray in the morning, that God will grant me a good and pure heart. To take rid the impurities of my heart especially anger, bitterness, impatience and most of all from lust.

i pray that I can be patient and more understanding in communicating with people especially now that we had a business licensing process and lots of people to encounter. It really pays. That has been my experience.

[Edwin]

David the psalmist had a heart that led him astray. Then he prayed that God would create within him a clean heart. Out of our hearts are the issues of life. We need to pray each day, yes Crisi, that God will create in us clean hearts. This actually goes against what we often want. You are right, Crisi, that it does help in our dealings with people if we have a good heart.

[crisipicada]

Hello,
I saw some posts by Crisi about Jeremiah 17:9, which is generally translated as: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

So, I was wondering why the heart should be considered wicked, since in other places it is considered a lifesaver too. Now, when is it time to listen to it, and when not? It does not make much sense, apparently, so I felt it needed some investigation.
Moreover, this was conflicting with the things I knew, because there is also the concept of the "knowing heart", which means exactly that the heart can "know/feel" the things in their truth beyond appearances. The heart is just a mirror of the things that pass in it. It is not necessarily wicked itself. Jeremiah 17:10 adds that "I the Lord search the heart". If it would be always wicked, why should the Lord need to search it?

As a premise, I generally like to go to the roots of things. So, my religious journey brought me closer to Judaism, and learning some Hebrew. As you might have heard, the Bible is the worst translated book in the world. So, unfortunately, many mistakes continue to be taken for truth. So, taking the original Hebrew of this verse, this is what my eyes caught.

Okev Halev Mikol Vianush Hu Mi Yadaenu. Okev means literally "to follow", or "making a step". The translation with the word "deceitful" is wrong. The real literal meaning is: "The heart has followed [whatever it follows] from anything; and this is man. Who can know it?" So, even the word "wicked" is not in the original Hebrew text. It clearly says that the heart is like the wind that blows in any direction, from any starting point. It does not say that it goes to the wrong direction, or to the right one. And this is why it needs to "know" where it goes - i.e. have a direction. And man is exactly the same.
Also, notice that I used the verb "has followed" in the past, because the Hebrew word in in the "perfect tense". There is only a perfect and an imperfect tense in biblical Hebrew. The perfect tense means when the action is complete and is usually translated in the past. The imperfect tense is when the action is not yet completed or has still to start. So, it is usually translated with the present or the future.
So, this verse is very specific to the time and the working of the heart. When you realize, your heart already took (in the past) a direction from somewhere, but you don't know where it goes, because God has to test it.

I have the feeling that he heart is an easy "culprit", but not the real wrongdoer. It is like the thief caught on the act, who says that it was the other person and not him. I think it is the content that we put into our heart that can be either good or evil, which comes from reasoning, human urges, etc. The ancients used to say, for example, that anger came from the liver (not the heart). The heart merely amplifies with feeling whatever touches it. And that's the reason we have to guard it, but it makes more sense to guard the real culprit (our education, values, strength, faithfulness, consistency, thinking, etc.).

What is your opinion about?

It is better to trust God than to put confidence in man, that is in Proverbs. Also in Proverbs 3:5-6, reads, "trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct thy path.

In seeking someone's wife or husband, it is important to have led by the Holy Spirit, please read, "The Guidance of the Lord".

There will always be trials and temptation along the way, but these can be conquered through the help of the Lord.

Sometimes, there will be discouragement knowing that distance relationship, just in case you are in a relationship in a distant, but I do believe that it is important really to pray harder.

And also, it is important to tell someone how you feel because you will not know what is going on.