Dear ones in Christ,
The heart which pleases God is the broken heart; God expects a humble heart in us. But Satan gives us the hardness of heart and haughty heart. He separates us from the love of God. From the lives of the Israelites, we could know that the evil heart of unbelief can come inside the life of a believer too. Misunderstanding God and hating God and not believing upon God shows the evil heart. In Hebrews 3:12 we read, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God”.
Departing from God doesn’t occur in a day. Our thoughts, Satan and the world separate us from God. If we examine carefully, we can know about how the people of Israel had this evil heart of unbelief? What is the reason behind this? The evil heart of unbelief will lead us to turn away from God.
1. Delay of time becomes evil heart:
In Exodus 32:1 we read, “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him”. The thought of worshipping other gods came as Moses delayed to come down from the mount. If the things do not happen in a specific or expected time as we desire, the heart becomes an evil heart.
2. The circumstances will give us evil heart:
In 1 Samuel 13:11, 12 we read, “And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, “The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord. Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” The circumstances should not change us. We should wait patiently for God’s time. In Psalms 40:1 David says, “I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, and heard my cry.” The evil hard heart which was in Saul led him to seek the familiar spirit, and then he committed suicide. Saul went against Samuel, and he did not obey God’s counsel.
3. Do not turn back and see, evil heart will come inside you:
In Numbers 11:4,5 we read, “Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic”. The Israelites turned back and saw the food and the life in Egypt and went away from the Lord. If we look back at our old sinful life, the evil heart will come inside us.
4. When we despise the things which God gives, the evil heart will come inside us:
In Numbers 11:6 we read, “But now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” We should be thankful to God for each and every blessing that God has given us. We should be honest. We should not despise the children or husband. We should thank God for everything. The thankless heart becomes evil heart. For example, a bullock cart could not climb a steep it could not climb due to heavy load, but the cart rider got down and kept a brick behind the wheel and took the cart up the place inch by inch. We also should thank God. The brick only kept the cart from going down backward. We also should go forward by thanking God always.
5. It is time to inherit, do not grieve God by crying:
In Numbers 14:1, we read, “So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.” We should not harden our heart on seeing the circumstance. We should not give place to unbelief. In Numbers 13:31, 32, 33 we can see the people hardened their hearts on hearing the words of the spies. They started spreading the bad rumors about the land which they spied. And the people cried on hearing them. A good heart will praise God with faith. Caleb and Joshua were with a different spirit. They believed that we will go at once and inherit the place; we will surely overcome the land.
6. They returned to Egypt in heart:
In Numbers 14:4, we read, “So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.” In Acts 7:39, we read, “Whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they returned back to Egypt.”
In 2 Timothy 4:10, we read, “for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica…”
In 1 Timothy 6:10, we read, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Judas deceived by the love of money. Even though he was among the disciples he had the evil heart of betraying Jesus.
7. Rejecting the good conscience will result in evil heart:
In 1 Timothy 1:19, we read, “having faith and good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck.” We should have good conscience. See other’s things as fire. In 1 Timothy 3:9 we see that, if we do not have good conscience – the faith cannot be saved. Just as the fish lives in clean water, the faith can be protected only in clear conscience.
My dear friends! We should be aware that the evil heart of unbelief may not come in us. We should not be corrupted by false teachings. Just as Eve fell into the deceitful trap of Satan, we also should not get caught in deception, but should protect ourselves. We should not turn back and see our old life. We should thank and praise God for all the blessings that God has given. We should get away from false people who spread false rumors and protect ourselves. We should not give place to Satan to shipwreck our good conscience. We should remain in God’s church and give fruit. God will be glorified. Hallelujah!
