Healing words From the Heart
Proverbs 4:20-23 The Passion Translation
20. "Listen carefully, my dear child, to everything that I teach you, and pay attention to all that I have to say. 21. Fill your thoughts with my words until they penetrate deep into your spirit. 22. Then, as you unwrap my words, they will impart true life and radiant health into the very core of your being. 23. So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from here flows the wellspring of life."
Listen carefully. Pay attention. Fill your thoughts. Guard the affections of your heart. Pay attention.
This is a well known portion of scripture, which I have heard often over the last 40 plus years. This week as I was reading these passages in The Passion Translation, the notations caught my attention.
V23. "heart" from the Hebrew word levav is the most common word for "heart". It includes our thoughts, our wills, our discernment, and our affections.
V23. Although most translations say, "the issues of life", the Hebrew word yasa is actually 'seasons', especially springtime. Out of our hearts flow the seasons of life. It is our hearts, not our ages or circumstances, that shape the seasons of our lives. If our hearts are tender to our Lord and Friend, we may live in perpetual springtime.
As we listen to the exhortations in these passages, let's respond with open hearts and open ears before the Lord, so that He may teach us how to guard our hearts with all diligence. Our Lord and Friend is the Good Shepherd, Who leads us by still waters and into green pastures, that our souls may prosper, and we may be in health.
learning to live like this, will enable others to be drawn to the One who loves us unconditionally and watches over us continually.
Grace and Peace
Kath
No comments:
Post a Comment