The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.
- What part of the body does this text speak
about?
The heart. - What is meant by the heart?
Human's inner nature, the centre of understanding, affections and will. - What's are we told about this "inner nature"?
It is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. - What does deceitful mean?
The word translated here with deceitful means crooked, slippery, perverse: unreliable, corrupt. - What does beyond cure mean?
Beyond cure here means that we do not posses the strength to change it. - Is there any hope?
No, it is deceitful beyond all things and beyond cure.
The Unsearchable Heart
- What is meant by knowing a heart?
Knowing a heart is perceiving the real nature, motives and desires of a person. - Why does it say: "Who can know it?"
Because it is beyond human power to penetrate into his true inner life. - Why can man not know the heart?
Because it is so deceitful. - What can we conclude out of this?
We cannot perceive the real motives and reasons for our own actions - our hearts are very capable of deceiving us.
Text Thirty Two
Adapted from:
"The one hundred texts of the society for Irish Church Missions."
T.C. Hammond, Dublin. 1939