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- PDFEduardo Elizondo—July 18, 2026
This is based on what it says in Proverbs 23, and we’re going to go there to start. These are words that were inspired by God, and He actually inspired this to be written.
Proverbs 23:26: “My son, give Me your heart, and let your eyes observe My ways.”
It’s as if God is telling us, because we are the children of God, that we are to give Him our heart. We know, in many Christian circles, that phrase is being very used, and abused, and overused, and misunderstood. What does it mean to give our heart to God?
Many people say, ‘Have you given your heart to the Lord?’ or When were you saved? They use terms like this to refer to when they were called, when they started walking in God’s way, trying to follow what the Bible says! But, what does it really mean to give God our heart? Because it says it here, we just read it:
Verse 23: “My son, give Me your heart, and let your eyes observe My ways”—which is very important, it goes together with the first part of this verse. But God says that He wants for us to give Him our heart!
How do we do that?
What does the heart have to do with our relationship with God?
How is it that we can give Him our heart?
What does that look like?
Why does that matter?
What is the importance of giving God our heart as He wants us to?
He tells us to do it!
Then He says, “..Let your eyes observe My ways, for a harlot is a deep ditch, and a wanton woman is a narrow pit. She also lies in wait as for prey and increases the transgressors among men” (vs 26-28).
He’s talking about the harlot and the wanton woman. He’s talking about two different things. But whether it is for profit or for money, like the harlot does, or whether it is the wanton woman, this represents something we’re doing. These are ways of life, because that’s what God says.
“...give Me your heart, and let your eyes observe My ways.”
Because instead of God’s ways, we can go to the way of the harlot woman or the way of the wanton woman, which is a different way:
it’s a different way of life
it’s a different way of doing things and thinking
God wants us to give Him our heart!
But what does that mean? We’re going to see this connection throughout, that giving our heart to God as His children has everything to do with letting our eyes observe His ways! It’s interesting, because He says:
“...LET your eyes observe My ways.” It doesn’t mean only you DO My ways, God says, LET your eyes OBSERVE My ways.”
God is saying, IF we give Him our heart, He will show us His ways! We just have to LET our eyes observe them! We have to understand, and we have to be transformed! That’s what God is going to do IF we give Him our heart!
Verse 19 is another instruction that God gives us. It’s phrased in the same way: “My son, hear and be wise, and guide your heart in The Way.”
He first says to guide our heart in the Way, but then He says, “...give me your heart, and let your eyes observe My ways.”
This is very important, because He wants us to be wise, to hear and be wise, and guide your heart in the Way! Something about:
hearing
having wisdom
guiding our heart in the Way
We’re going to see the connection of all of these things—our giving of our heart to the Lord—but in Spirit and in Truth, grounded in the Word of God!
Not in some just emotional feeling, or something that some preacher says. That’s not what ‘giving our heart to the Lord’ is. We’re going to see what it means, but before we do that, before we go and see how is it that we can give our heart to the Lord—and what does that really mean—we want to read a couple of other Scriptures about the heart, and the importance of the heart.
The first one that we’re going to do is here in Proverbs 4:23. It’s a Scripture that is very important, and we’ve read it many, many times. But:
we can never overemphasize its importance,
we can never overanalyze this Scripture
This is one of those that we can meditate all the time in, and think about:
What does it mean?
How do we do this?
Because this is instruction where God says:
Proverbs 4:23 “Above all, guard the door of your mind [heart] with diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.”
The heart and the mind, as Michael Heiss has explained several times, is the same word [in the Hebrew]. That means everything that you are!
ALL things are connected, and it’s no accident that they’re the same word, because the heart and the mind both have neurons. Our gut, our digestive system also has neurons. That’s the common thread between all three things:
between our mind
our heart
our inward parts, which are our intestines
They all have neurons, the same types of cells that are in the brain. That’s why, and I highly recommend the messages: The Heart-Mind Connection {truthofgod.org}. Fred talks about the heart-mind connection, and it’s very important that we understand that:
our thoughts
our emotions
our feelings
All is connected!
We feel—that’s why we get butterflies in the stomach when we’re nervous. Our emotions give us that feeling. It’s our feelings, our emotions, and our thoughts are all connected! The heart, the mind and the gut: They all have neurons, and they connect to each other.
It’s very interconnected, and that’s really what we are. That’s why God says here, guard your heart, or guard the door of your mind. How? “...with diligence... [this is important of the heart]: ...for out of it are the issues of life” (v 23).
out of our mind
out of our heart
what we think
what we feel
That is what God wants for us to give Him:
our thoughts
our emotions
our feelings
That we would bring it before Him! That’s one of the things that it means to give Him our heart!
We have to guard our heart with diligence! Not listen to things that we shouldn’t be listening to, or watch things that we shouldn’t be watching. Guarding our mind, guarding our heart from perversion, and from a lot of evil that is in this world!
Jesus also said that He prayed to the Father, not that He would take us out of the world, but He would keep us from the evil one!
guard the door of your mind
guard your heart
Because out of the heart are the issues of life! That’s the importance of our heart. Not only the connection, but also out of that are the issues of life.
Solomon wrote the Proverbs, and he also wrote Ecclesiastes. He had a lot of knowledge about the heart. He had a lot of knowledge about the human body, how it works. Also about the mind and how man thinks.
He was thinking a lot about these things. It was almost like what in modern day we know as philosophy. Solomon got wisdom from God, God gave it to him! He was kind of philosophizing about many things, and trying this and trying that. The problem is that he was not close to God anymore!
Then we’re going to see throughout his problem was exactly that, that he went astray from the ways of God, because he didn’t do what God had said to do! That’s why God says, “...let your eyes observe My ways,” because God said that the king shall not:
multiply wives for himself
accumulate gold and silver for himself
because his heart is going to go in a different direction, and it happened! That’s what happened with Solomon!
We’re going to read some things about the heart, the heart of man; Solomon writes:
Ecclesiastes 8:5: “Whoever keeps the Commandment shall feel no evil thing...”
It’s interesting, because in the broad sense, you could take it to the end degree, and that’s true. IF all the Laws of God were always kept by everyone all the time, nobody would ever feel any evil thing. But we know that that’s not true! We know that the Laws and Commandments of God are broken every day, basically by everybody! That’s part of the reason why we have trials, we have afflictions, we reap what we sow.
But in its purest form, it’s absolutely true. “Whoever keeps the Commandment shall feel no evil thing...” (v 5). That doesn’t mean that we will not go through trials or unpleasant things, but evil things.
“...and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment....” (v 5). Why? Because a wise man’s heart is guided by God. Wisdom is being led by God:
in our thoughts
in our actions
in our words
That’s wisdom! That’s what it says:
“...a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment” (v 5).
Because we have to make these judgments, and there’s many variables. It’s the time, the place, the way, the person, etc. But the wise man’s heart discerns the time and judgment. With God’s guidance through His Spirit, we can do that! We can get to that point where we’re more and more discerning both the time and the judgment!
When we rely on ourselves, when we trust in our heart, we get it wrong! That’s when
we get into arguments
we make mistakes
we hurt other people
all of these things happen because we’re not discerning time and judgment.
Sometimes we discern time, but not judgment; or judgment, but not time! There’s so many variables in human relationships and the things that we do. But it says that the wise man’s heart, so, the discernment is in the heart! Let’s keep that in mind!
“...and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment” (v 5).
Then we see where Solomon is at in:
Verse 6: “Because to every purpose there is time and judgment...” That’s true:
IF we are wise
IF we’re guided by God
THEN we will discern both
We will make good choices guided by God through the Holy Spirit! But Solomon says,
“...therefore, the misery of man is great” (v 6).
Why does he say that the misery of man is great? Because:
IF we are not wise
IF we’re not being guided by God
IF we go astray from God
Then it says that’s exactly what will happen:
Verse 7: “For he does not know what shall be; for who can tell him when it shall be?”
The answer is God! God can tell us when it shall be, not only about prophecy, that’s true. He told Daniel what things were going to happen and the time of the end. He didn’t give him every single detail. But:
Who can tell him?
Who can tell him what it will be? God!
That’s the key; the key to everything in our lives is God! That’s the reality. The key:
to wisdom
to understanding
to discerning time and judgment
is our relationship with God! That’s why this discernment is in the heart!
A wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment because of what God says! That’s why Solomon was kind of lost in here saying:
“...therefore, the misery of man is great. For he does not know what shall be; for who can tell him when it shall be?” (vs 6-7). God! That’s the answer!
You see that throughout the book of Ecclesiastes. You see that Solomon answers all these questions, and he kind of gets depressed because it’s true apart from God, it’s kind of like philosophy. This is what philosophy tries to do. It tries to gain knowledge and understanding apart from God!
This is kind of what the exercise that Solomon was doing here. Saying things that are true, but without really getting to God, Who is the One Who has all the treasures of knowledge, like it says in James. Then he tells us something else about the human heart in:
Verse 11: “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
He’s talking about the reason that IF the sentence or the judgment of the Laws of God applied absolutely immediately, IF every consequence was immediate, THEN maybe there would be less evil. But because it doesn’t, and it doesn’t because:
God is merciful
God is patient
God determines
WHEN the consequences will come according to each one of His Commandments! It says, but because that doesn’t happen:
“...the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (v 11).
We have to take this into account, that our heart—by nature—is set in us to do evil!
He says “...fully set in them to do evil.” Because the only One Who can give us something good is God! The only One Who can transform us is God! But He says:
Proverbs 23:26: “My son, give Me your heart, and let your eyes observe My ways.” We have proof of this:
Ecclesiastes 8:11: “...the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
Gen. 6: where God decides to flood the earth, and He gives us the reason why. Because God is just, and His judgments are always true and righteous. He gives an explanation for what he’s about to do.
Genesis 6:5: “And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth. and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
That’s what Solomon said, ‘the heart of man is fully set in them to do evil!’
that’s what happens
that’s our nature
that’s what we have
that is the problem
that is the problem that we have in this life
the main problem is our nature
the main problem is ourselves
Yes, of course, there is society, but society is just a bunch of us that are bad, and we know that this world is under the power of Satan the devil at this time. But he says that—at this point, right before the Flood—“every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (v 5).
There was not a break in wanting to do evil; that is a problem because that is really the problem of human nature. That’s why God says: “My son, give Me your heart, and let your eyes observe My ways.” IF you give Me [God] your heart:
I will change that nature.
I will show you My ways
I will guide you in a different way
I will give you wisdom
That’s what God wants us to do! Give Him our heart so that He can transform it!
we can’t convert ourselves
we can’t change our nature by ourselves
It has to be changed by God!
Ecclesiastes 8:11: “...the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.... [he continues his reflection and he says something else]: ...Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet, surely I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him” (vs 11-12).
It’s very important that we think about this, because in Solomon’s thinking, in his wisdom, he’s saying, ‘I know they can do evil a hundred times and his days are prolonged.’ Why? Because he was talking about how the sentence doesn’t come immediately! That happens! Sometimes that happens!
Like the evil ones, they do evil and they prosper in the way; they seem to prosper in their ways while the good ones suffer. They’re suffering affliction and trial and persecution. But he says that’s not what matters. Even though that happens, that’s separate.
It says, “...I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.” In fact, that’s how he concludes the book; that’s how he finishes the book, that this is the whole man; it’s basically fear God and keep His Commandments!
Here Solomon says the same thing: “...I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him” (v 12).
We’re going to talk briefly about the fear of the LORD, which is a topic that is so important and so deep. There are so many Scriptures about it that we can learn from in the Bible. We’re going to see that this is where it all begins. That He will be well with the man that fears God! We are told the following, and this is very important:
Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
When Solomon is doing this analysis of the human mind, and it’s like he’s fully sending them to do evil! But it will be well with those who fear the Lord, because the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge!
We’ve talked about this before, but it’s important to say it again and to remember that there is knowledge, and there’s understanding, and there’s wisdom. There are layers, but underneath it all is the fear of the LORD! The beginning!
We cannot have even knowledge unless there’s a fear of the LORD. But the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge! Then upon knowledge... Knowledge is like all the Commandments and the Laws of God. The Church of God has a lot of knowledge. Not all the knowledge. There’s no such thing as coming to all the knowledge of the Bible and all the deep things of God! There’s no such thing! But we can know a lot of things, and we can continue to increase. That never ends! But based on that foundation of knowledge:
facts
truth
righteousness
the Commandments of God
the words of God
the work of God
to have knowledge of all of that! God can add understanding!
How is it that things go together?
How do you put all that knowledge together?
How does that work?
What is conversion?
What is sanctification?
What is the process of conversion of the mind?
What is the changing of the heart?
What is all of these things about?
What is the character of the saints?
That’s the understanding. Then on top of that, there’s wisdom!. That wisdom is being led by God! God is going to lead us IF we have knowledge and understanding. THEN comes wisdom, because God is going to use that understanding that He gives us to guide us!
He is going to clarify that understanding for us so that we can be guided by His Spirit into all wisdom! Into:
what to do
how to do it
to understand and discern
both time and judgment, like we read in Ecclesiastics. We have to discern time, we have to discern judgment. But:
we have to have knowledge in order to have wisdom
in order to have wisdom we have to have understanding
we have to have understanding in order to have wisdom
Once we have the understanding or have things work, God will use that to guide us! That’s based on the foundation of the knowledge. But we cannot begin to even have knowledge unless we have the fear of the LORD!
That’s the reason why so many people that may have knowledge of the world, but they don’t have the true knowledge of God:
IF they don’t come to the Bible
IF they don’t believe God
IF they don’t believe what He says
Verse 1: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge...”
But the problem is, fools despise wisdom and instruction. They despise God Himself. The opposite of that is US giving our hearts to God!
giving ourselves to God
giving our heart to understanding
We’re going to see that this is what God wants us to do! He wants us to apply our heart:
to knowledge
to understanding
to wisdom
That’s what God wants for us! But we’re going to see that God always wanted the hearts of His people! He still does, all of us! We’re going to see that:
It’s very interesting. The two books in the Old Testament that talk about the heart the most are the Psalms and Deuteronomy. What does this tell you? It is the retelling of the Law. These are the Laws and Commandments of God when He gave them to Israel right before they were going to go into the ‘promised land.’
All the Commandments of God, all the Law of God... Why is the heart mentioned so much? Because the Law and the heart are inseparable in the eyes of God! That’s the Truth. The Truth is that the Commandments of God and the Law are a matter of the heart! That’s why it talks about:
circumcision of the heart
the inner parts of our being
our heart
our mind
We’re going to read about that. We’re going to read about what was the desire of God for all His people in Israel. We’re going to see that in Deut. 5:24. This is when Moses is recounting what happened on Mount Sinai.
It was 38 years, almost 40 years before. He’s recounting what happened to this new generation that is about to go and inherit the land. This is after God spoke from top of Mount Sinai and spoke the Ten Commandments, because everybody heard it.
Deuteronomy 5:24—Moses speaking: “And you... [the children of Israel] ...said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has revealed His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. We have seen today that God talks with man yet he still lives. Now, therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die’” (vs 24-25).
It’s amazing to see their attitude and their heart because they did not die. They had heard the voice; they actually said it. ‘We heard the voice of God out of the midst of the fire.’ But they were afraid, and that’s different than the ‘fear of God.’ They were afraid for their lives. But that’s the problem. They heard the voice, and then they were afraid.
Notice what Moses says after, because this is amazing; it blew my mind. This is Israel speaking:
Verse 26: “For who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?”
Who has? You know who: Moses, right in front of them! The one to whom they were telling all these things. Moses is the one who had heard the voice out of the midst of the fire as they had, and lived! Remember the burning bush? It was in the midst of the fire! God was speaking to Moses from the midst of the fire, and he lived! He also obeyed! God told Him, ‘This is hallowed ground, take your shoes off.’ Then he took his shoes off!
That’s the fear of the LORD. What Moses had was the fear of the LORD! He was talking with God. God was giving him the instruction to go and free His [God’s] people Israel out of Egypt. Moses was telling God he didn’t want to go, but he didn’t just go his way and ignore it! He had the proper fear of the LORD. He talked to God, and he was not afraid for his life; he didn’t take off running.
But the people, the people did not have that same fear of the LORD that Moses had. They were afraid for their life! That’s a big difference. Because who was full flesh? Moses! Moses had done that. But what was the heart of the people of Israel?
Verse 27: “You [Moses] go near and hear all that the LORD our God shall say. And you speak to us all that the LORD our God shall speak to you, and we will hear it, and do it.”
‘We need somebody in between us because this is just too hard! Too powerful! Too terrifying! They were concerned with their well-being, instead of being in awe of the power of God! They had the privilege and the honor of hearing directly from God from the mountain.
they did not know God.
they did not trust God
they did not know His goodness
they did not know that He was not there to harm them as powerful as His voice was
That is a matter of the heart. Their heart was fully focused on themselves!
‘Let us not die. We’ll trust you, Moses. You’ll be our mediator. You tell us and we will do. We want an arm’s length relationship (from God).
WE cannot, brethren, have an arm’s-length relationship with God! We cannot have a transactional relationship with God.
God says, ‘My son, give me your heart.’
Are we going to give our heart to God?
All of it?
our thoughts?
our emotions?
our actions?
God demands nothing less from His people! We’re going to see this is His desire.
Verse 28—Moses speaking: “And the LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me....”
Meaning, you can say whatever you want, but God’s still listening!
He listens to all your murmuring
He listens to all your complaints
He listens now to your request
“...And the LORD said to me... [Moses is transparent; God is transparent with Moses and Moses is transparent with the people] ...‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They have well said all that they have spoken.’”
They have well said because they said, ‘You tell us and we will do.’
Good agreement. Good agreement to listen to the one whom God had sent to them: Moses! Good agreement to listen to him, to agree to do it, and then to do it! Good!
That was not exactly what God wanted, because v 29 tells us that God is lamenting and He’s saying:
Verse 29: “Oh, that there were such a heart in them that they would fear Me...”
They did not fear Him. They were afraid for their lives, which is different than the fear of the LORD.
Verse 29: “Oh, that there were such a heart in them that they would fear Me and keep all My Commandments always so that it might be well with them and with their children forever!” God wanted a heart in them:
full of the fear of God
full of the understanding of God
full of obedience
But not obedience for obedience sake; it has to be from the heart! That’s what God says:
Give Me your heart, My son, give Me your heart. That there was such a heart. I will convert it into this. Such a heart that they would fear Me and keep all My Commandments always. That it may be well with them and with their children forever.
Because that’s what God wanted. God wanted to bless them; bless them in abundance far above everything else! God knew!
He says, ‘That they would fear Him and keep His Commandments always,’ because when we keep the Commandments:
we’re going to be transformed
we’re going to see the results of what the Laws do for us and in us
Psa. 19—just to remind ourselves of what this is. Because anytime the people talk about the works of the Law, usually they go to the New Testament and say, ‘See you’re trying to earn your own salvation.’ The works of the Law. Paul talks about that. The works of the Law are in Psalms, in Psa. 19; this is where the works of the Law are. They’re very, very clear.
God wrote them here so that we remember what the Law is going to do:
IF we take those Laws
IF we memorize those Laws
We’re going to read about that in Deuteronomy in a minute, because that’s what God instructed them to do. God is a loving God! He wants to:
instruct us
teach us
show us the way
Psalm 19:7 is important, because these are the works of the Law:
Psalm 19:7: “The Law of the LORD is perfect... [this is a description of the Law, then the work]: ...restoring the soul...”
The work of the Law is the restoration of our body, because our soul is our body! That’s what it is.
Verse 7: “The Law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure...” What’s a testimony?
it’s what happened
it’s testifying
it’s what happened, what somebody did
“...the testimony of the LORD is sure... [what God does in our lives] ...making wise the simple” (v 7).
That’s exactly what we read. We read about the heart of the wise man discerns both time and judgment, because that’s wisdom!”...the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (v 7).
The work of God in our heart and mind! We have to give our heart to God! Because he says, ‘My son, give Me your heart.’ That’s why the testimony makes wise the simple!
Verse 8: “The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart...”
That’s what God wants to do. He wants for us to give him, for us to give Him our heart, so that he can rejoice our heart! David did that. He actually talked about that. He talked about how wonderful it was, how much joy he got from God:
when he meditated upon Him
when he had a close relationship with Him
He said that it’s more joy than anything else. That’s the best thing in life. That’s why the precepts of the Lord are right; rejoicing the heart, because they show us God’s nature! We get to know God. He wants our heart to give us His joy! That’s the second fruit of the Holy Spirit.
“...the Commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes” (v 8).
We can see the connection between the rejoicing of the heart and the Commandments that enlighten our eyes. That’s why what we read when we started in:
Proverbs 23:26: “My son, give Me your heart, and let your eyes observe My ways”—because that’s exactly what God wants us to do, because the Commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes!
It’s an amazing thing when we think about it. When we think about how the connection... Everything connects and everything is stated in the same way. The heart first, and then the eyes can see. That’s what he said:.
Verse 26: “...give Me your heart, let your eyes observe My ways.”
Psalm 19:8: “The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the Commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes.”
Verse 9: “Then it says, the fear of the LORD is clean and enduring forever... [because that is the beginning of knowledge] ...the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.”
Why? Because that is what God wants to do. IF we give Him our heart, He’s going to do His judgments. He’s going to do His work in us! That’s His testimony. Making us wise, not for our own sake, but for His glory. Because that’s what matters. What matters is that everybody on the earth will know that there is a God and:
He loves us
He’s going to transform our minds and our hearts
and:
we are going to be different people
we’re going to think differently
we’re going to act differently
we’re going to speak differently
because of Him!
because of His Wisdom
because of His Spirit
because of His Power
All of it to the glory of his name! That’s what we have to do. That comes from the faith of the LORD. How do we do this? Let’s go back to Deut. 6.
We’ve seen the connection already many times between the heart and the Commandments. Between the heart and the eyes related to God’s ways. Because His ways are His Commandments. Those are His ways. But in Deut. 6 He tells us something very important. He was telling Israel this is the first and greatest Commandment!
Deuteronomy 6:4—Moses speaking: “Hear, O Israel. Our one God is the LORD, the LORD.”
I love how it’s written in A Faithful Version. Because it’s very clear. “...Our one God is the LORD, the LORD....” Two LORDS.
the One Who became the Father
the One Who became Jesus Christ
two LORDS
two Jehovahs
two Yahwehs
It’s two of Them, the LORD, the LORD! That’s why it’s twice. We know that the is italicized. But LORD, LORD is twice. That’s what it means. Because everybody knows that Elohim is plural. God is a plural word. It was the Word and God. It was the One Who became the Father and the One Who became the Son. In the instruction:
Verse 5: “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul... [your body] ...and with all your might.”
God wants us to give Him our heart! But first we have to know who He is! It’s amazing that we do have the knowledge of the true God: The Father and the Son! That God and the Father has done everything through the Son, and He continues to do that today.
Verse 6: “And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart.”
We have to love Him with all our heart, but in order to do that, these words have to be in our heart! It says, and we have things to do. How are they going to be in our heart?
Verse 7: “And you shall diligently teach them to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.”
But when you talk about them, it’s not just to your children, it’s with anybody. Even if your children are grown men or gone from the house. Or if you don’t have children, you can still talk about these words:
“...WHEN you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down, and when you rise up” (v 7).
That’s what God wants us to do, because God knows that when we do these things. WHEN we talk about His words at night, and in the morning.
THEN we are keeping them in our heart
THEN we are understanding more about God
We’re loving Him, and that’s how we give Him our heart!
WHEN we do these things
WHEN we pay attention to His words
WHEN we are acknowledging Him in all of our ways
It’s an amazing thing when we put these pieces together and we start to see. God wants us to give Him our heart, because out of it are the issues of life! He wants us to have life; not only physically but spiritually! He wants to bless us in everything. He’s not going to shortcut our conversion by giving us everything that we need and spoiling us!
He knows what we would react to. That we wouldn’t change much. But He is a master workman. He knows exactly what we need. That’s why we have to trust Him. But we have to give Him our hear, and part of it is letting our eyes observe His ways.
Because He gives us the what, but also the how and the when. How to apply all of these things. He told us you have to speak of these words ‘when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way.’ You have to teach them to your children. You have to talk and meditate about these things all the time! God is your life!
Deuteronomy 8:1: “All the Commandments, which I command you this day, shall you be diligent to observe and to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land, which the LORD swore to your fathers. And you shall remember all the way, which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness in order to humble you, to prove you, to know what is in your heart...” (vs 1-2). So that he can see what’s in it!
He can fix it
He can heal it
He can cleanse it
That’s what He wants to do. But sometimes it’s going to be hard. That’s what He says:
to humble you
to prove you
to know what was in your heart
This is what He wanted to know:
“...whether you would keep His Commandments or not” (v 2).
Then he repeats it in v 3; God is very transparent. With Moses and with the people. Moses tells the people straight up:
Verse 3: “And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger, and then He fed you with manna, which you did not know, neither did your fathers know it, so that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man live.”
That’s exactly how Jesus responded to Satan when being tempted. We have to live by every Word of God! That’s what God wants us to do. He’s going to test our heart!
He tested them
He humbled them
To know what was in their heart!
Verse 4: “Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.... [we have to remember this] ...And you shall consider in your heart...” (vs 4-5).
That’s why we have to give our heart to Him. So that he can really show us these things, otherwise we cannot see it.
Verse 5: “And you shall consider in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you.”
even in the chastening
even in the trial
even in the punishment of 40 years
their clothing did not wear out on them
their foot did not swell
they were not hungry
they were not thirsty
They weren’t even hot, because they were covered by the cloud. They were not cold at night, because it gets cold in the desert; they were covered by the pillar of fire.
God is a loving God, always! When we give Him our heart we can see these things. We can meditate on His Law and what He actually says. We can meditate on what he actually says. We can consider in our heart that IF we are going through trials, it’s because God chastens us. like a loving father chastens the children whom He delights! He has to correct us. He has to teach us. He wants to do it. But the question is.
Are we going to give God our heart?
Are we going to obey?
Are we going to be rebellious when the trials come?
Again, so many Scriptures that talk about the heart in Deut., and obviously in the Psalms. Because:
there are poems
there are songs
there are emotions
of David and others:
Asaph
even a song of Moses (Psa. 90)
It just reflects the heart; the attitude in the heart. But when God says. ‘Give me your heart’ we are reading almost all these Scriptures in Deut. in the Law. The Law and the heart go together. That’s how God converts us!
Deuteronomy 11:11: “But the land which you are entering to possess, it is a land of hills and valleys that drink water from the rain of heaven. It is a land which the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. ‘And it will be, IF you will hearken diligently to My Commandments, which I command you today... [first Commandment]: ...to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul’” (vs 11-13).
love Him
serve Him
With your whole heart! God expects nothing less. He wants that there was such a heart in us. That we would love Him! Keep His Commandments always, so that we would:
meditate
talk about them in the morning, at night, all the time
Then these are the blessings:
Verse 14: “Then I will give the rain of your land in its due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.”
He just wanted to bless them abundantly. Because our God is a God of giving. Giving joyfully. Giving abundantly.
Verse 15: “And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock so that you may eat and be full.”
Verse 16: “Take heed to yourselves that your heart may not be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods, and worship them.”
That is a warning! That our heart may not be turned aside. That’s why God wants our heart. Because IF our hearts are with God, they are safe.
they will be tested
they will be humbled
they will be transformed
That’s what God wants!. That’s why God says in:
Proverbs 23:26:[transcriber’s correction] “Give me your heart...”
The next time we will continue talking about this giving of our heart to the LORD and see some more things about it, more of the function of the heart and why God wants that.
But we are going to wrap it up for today. We have seen that God wants us:
to give Him our heart
to let our eyes observe His ways
we have seen the relationship between the Law and the heart
we have seen how our hearts are set to do evil by nature
But He is going to transform them!
we have to trust Him
we have to have the fear of the LORD
we have to understand that He wants what’s best for us.
What’s best for us is that we would give Him our heart!
Have a great rest of this Sabbath, brethren. We’ll see you next time.
Scriptural References:
Proverbs 23:26-28, 19
Proverbs 4:23
Ecclesiastes 8:5-7, 11
Proverbs 23:26
Ecclesiastes 8:11
Genesis 6:5
Ecclesiastes 8:11-12
Proverbs 1:7
Deuteronomy 5:24-29
Psalm 19:7-8
Proverbs 23:26
Psalm19:8-9
Deuteronomy 6:4-7
Deuteronomy 8:1-6
Deuteronomy 11:11-16
Proverbs 23:26
Scripture referenced, not quoted: Psalm 90
Also referenced {truthofgod.org}: Message Series: The Heart-Mind Connection by Fred R. Coulter
EE:bo/po
Transcribed: 7/23/26
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