Word of Encouragement (7/20/2021
Today, we are reflecting on another short prayer, a benediction: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thess. 3:5).
Notice that Paul is asking the Lord to direct the hearts of the Thessalonians. This implies that Christ is the Lord of their hearts. What does that mean? This is a difficult doctrine to grasp. On the one hand, the Bible recognizes man as a moral agent with his own will, on account of which he is accountable for his actions. Man is not a robot. His thoughts are his, not anyone else’s, not even God’s.
On the other hand, the Bible also affirms unequivocally that God is the sovereign Lord of all things and there is nothing outside His sovereign control. The Westminster Shorter Catechism reflects this doctrine in this way: “God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions” (#11). The Catechism is not just talking about our external actions. Listen to what the Lord said to Moses: “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them...” (Ex. 10:1). What went on in Pharaoh’s heart was under God’s sovereign rule. If so, what goes on in our hearts is also under His rule. But how can this be if we are the responsible agents of what goes on in our hearts and minds?
This doesn’t mean that God controls our hearts as a puppeteer controls a puppet and God made Pharaoh sin against his own will. The Bible, which says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, also says that Pharaoh hardened his heart numerous times (Ex. 8:15, 8:32, 9:34, etc.). It seems like Paul’s description of the fallen humanity’s condition in Rom. 1 explains well the dynamic between God’s sovereign control and man’s will: “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity...” (Rom. 1:24); “God gave them up to dishonorable passions...” (Rom. 1:26); “God gave them up to a debased mind...” (Rom. 1:28). These verses clearly show that God did not make them sin against their will; rather, God allowed them to sin according to will, according to their heart’s (and mind’s) lusts and passions and desires. So, God hardening Pharaoh’s heart was God allowing Pharaoh’s sinful heart to carry out its wicked desires without the restraining influence of God’s common grace.
So, we read in Prov. 21:1, “The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.” It is in the nature of water to flow downward and, as long as it flows down, it is acting according to its own nature. But God can, and does, direct its courses by the topography that surrounds the water. Similarly, without violating our will and personhood, God is able to direct our hearts by His infinite wisdom according to His sovereign plan. By this time, you are familiar with the words of Paul in Phil. 2:12-13: “...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” God works in us to accomplish His salvation but He does that by calling us to work out our salvation, by directing our hearts to will and to work for His good pleasure.
The Bible gives us many examples of the ways, by which God directs our hearts. He does so by His Word, by the witness of the Holy Spirit in our conscience (insofar as our consciences are where God’s Word and our hearts meet under the supervision of the Holy Spirit), by the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, by the counsel of wise teachers and friends, by the events in our lives, and by the way we view and interpret these things.
How God is in sovereign control of all things, including our hearts, and yet without violating our will, is a mystery. But we don’t have to understand it fully to experience the truth of it in our lives, just as we don’t have to understand how the engine works to drive our cars. We all have experienced God directing our hearts without feeling forced to do so. So, let’s pay attention to the various ways God is directing our hearts and follow His guidance instead of relying on our own wisdom (Prov. 3:5-6).