Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Human behavior can be a baffling mystery. Why do people act the way they do? Jeremiah gives us the answer: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. The Hebrew word points to the basis of our character. The inner man. The mind and the will. Have you ever heard someone say, “Just follow your heart”? I cringe every time I hear that. If the heart is not guided by God’s word, it is not a good and reliable moral compass. It will lead us astray. It will lead us away from God and direct us to other things. Jeremiah 17:9 is God’s diagnosis of the human heart, and the Lord’s diagnosis is not a pretty one. It is a bitter pill many have trouble swallowing. Verse 9 concluded with a question about the heart: “Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:10 gives the answer. Yahweh can. “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind…” The human heart is no mystery to God. He searches the heart, and he tests the mind. The heart and the mind are parallel references. They refer to our secret thoughts and desires. So what does God see when he looks at the human heart? First of all, we must accept that only God can see the heart. Man can only see outwardly, and even that view is imperfect. 1 Samuel 16:7 “The LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” The Humanist view holds that man is basically ok. A few flaws here, a few glitches there, but basically man is good. The Bible paints an entirely different picture. Genesis 6:5 “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Scripture states the heart is impure, impenitent, darkened, hardened, proud, and lustful. In other words, man’s heart is in rebellion against God. In our hearts, we want autonomy. We want to be the captain of our own ship. We want to determine for ourselves right and wrong. But we better be careful what we wish for. The truth is, that’s the last thing we should want. That is one thing for which we should pray fervently. “O gracious Father, whatever you do, do not hand me over to myself!” The Puritan John Owen wrote, “The most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the hardening of the hearts of men.” Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). If our treasures are on earth, our hearts will be earthly minded also. When we are fixed only on earthly things, our natural tendency to covet can quickly arise. We possess covetous hearts. We tend to love created things more than we love the Creator. Luke 12:15 “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Coveting can lead to a misplaced priority regarding earthly possessions. A deceitful heart has a tendency to be a covetous heart. God’s reasons for condemning covetousness are good ones. Coveting is fueled by an over-desire for something. At its very core, it is envy and love of self. In the end, envy and covetousness are Satan’s tools to distract us from pursuing the only thing that will ever make us happy and content—God Himself. Coveting is driven by discontentment with what we have. Paul reveals to us what coveting actually is. In Col 3:5, he says that coveting is idolatry. He’s pointing directly to the 1st Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” It is not money or material possessions or any of the other things we tend to covet that are to blame. It is the heart of man that causes the misguided allegiance to created things. God created a vast amount of things for man’s use. They were meant for man’s use in a noble way (1 Tim. 4:4). But when Adam fell and sin entered the world, the things God created for man’s use quickly began to usurp God’s rightful place of priority in man’s heart. They assumed a place they were never meant to have. It doesn’t have to be money or material possessions that we covet. There is a laundry list of things we can covet, and then what we covet becomes an idol. There is no greater sin in God’s eyes than idolatry. What is an idol? It is the thing (or the person) we love more than God. It is the thing (or the person) we desire more than God. It’s the thing (or the person) we treasure more than God. Idols are a constant snare to all of us. Idols always disappoint. Idols will always take more from us than they give. They never deliver what they promise. They will leave us empty and unfulfilled. Meanwhile they divert our hearts away from the only One who is truly able to fill them. Our culture has made idols out of power, beauty, wealth, intelligence, technology, and athletic ability. Many people value these things far more than they value God. Feeding our idols – whatever they may be – only makes us emptier than we were before. Only when we see our hearts as God sees them can we begin to appreciate the profound greatness of God’s amazing love and grace. Only then can we see our need for a Savior. Only then can we look to the Cross and see him. His name is Jesus Christ. In him, we have the true riches to which nothing on earth can compare.