PSALMS 125:4: “O Lord, do good to those who are good, whose hearts are in tune with you.” NLT
OBSERVATION: Is my heart in tune with the Lord? Am I focused on things above or on the things of this earth? At the end of the day have I been seeking first His Kingdom or mine?
I have played guitar since my days in college. I picked it up one Summer break to give me more options in ministry the next year. Most of the time I would sing or lead worship by myself. The interesting thing about a guitar is that you can tune it to itself and still be out of tune at the same time. When you are playing solo there is no point of reference as to whether you are in tune or out of tune, unless you tune to a pitch pipe or a piano.
This does not affect the results when you are flying solo. All it does is change the key you are playing in or singing in. However, if you try to play with anyone else you quickly will discover whether you are flat or sharp. This is true in life. We can convince ourselves that our hearts are in tune with the Lord while we are stubbornly pursuing our own path. It is only when we lay our heart before God’s Word that we find whether we are really in tune!
The most difficult area of discernment in life is to distinguish between the thoughts and the intents of the heart. In reality, we are not able to do this. Our emotions cloud our perspective. We may have been tuning our hearts to ourselves so long that we have become accustomed to the altered key that we find ourselves living in. We need a pitch pipe to determine if we are really in tune with the Lord!
- “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.” Hebrews 4:12-13 NLT
Wouldn’t you be skeptical of a surgeon who was preparing to do surgery with a butter knife? Why are we so easy to consult the opinion of others and neglect consulting the Word of God? Could it be that we know how powerful God’s Word actually is? God’s Word is the only thing that can discern, expose, and heal our wayward hearts. Yet, just as a surgeon cannot perform surgery on an unwilling patient, so God’s Word cannot reveal the true condition of an unwilling and unsurrendered heart.
If I want my heart to be tuned to God’s heart, I must align my heart to His Word. When Jesus was asked by His disciples to teach them how to pray the first thing He instructed them to do was say,
- “Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10 NLT
Jesus was instructing His disciples (and us) to begin prayer by tuning our hearts! We tune our hearts to the Lord when we begin with reverence and worship – “Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.” We fine-tune our hearts when we begin to align our desires to His desires – “May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”
My heart is not tuned to the Lord by self-tuning against my own life and desires. My heart is not tuned to the Lord by tuning my heart with others who themselves may be out of tune. You could actually create an entire band that is playing out of key. My heart is tuned when I surrender my heart in worship, when I lay my personal will at the altar, and when I pick up my cross and begin to follow Jesus – and HIS WORD!
GOD’S WORD IS THE TUNING FORK FOR MY LIFE!
Lord, this morning I want to be in tune with you. I am tired of living out of key. I want my life to be in harmony with Your will and desires. I want to join in the heavenly choir surrounding Your throne in praise.
This morning – “Thy will be done, in me, as it is in heaven!”
In Jesus Name!
