Something I heard countless times growing up, and still to this day, is “Guard your heart, Darlin'”. My parents have said this to me since I can remember. I always thought, oh my goodness you’ve said that a million times. Then one day, it just clicked. Guarding my heart might actually be as important as they say it is!
Proverbs 4 verse 23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it”. I had read this verse a million times over, yet I was still blinded to what God wanted me to receive from it! I knew I needed to guard my heart, but I didn’t fully understand how to guard it. After all, it was already in my chest right???
So, over the years, camps, mentors, parents, and pastors have said guard your heart. And one day it all made sense. When Solomon wrote this, I don’t think he intended for me to spend years reading it, and not read the verses just a chapter before this one! In chapter 4 verses 5-8 he layed out the directions for guarding your heart. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones”.
By trusting God with our heart, we are putting it in the safest place possible! In 2 Samuel 22, David sang about God being his shield and place of safety. A shield guards and protects, which is exactly what we are instructed to do for our heart! Not leaning on our own understanding, is simply (yet difficult at times) humbling ourselves, and realizing that we don’t know everything or have the answers to every outcome. We have to trust Jesus enough with our hearts and our minds. For me personally, acknowledging Jesus looks like saying “Jesus I thank you that you are king of the universe, not me. You are closer than my very breath. Thank you for saving me, by sacrificing yourself. Thank you for being all things light, and taking the power out of darkness”. Not being wise in my own has as been a struggle at times, but I just have to remember that God is the all knowing one not me. He is where my wisdom comes from.
While fearing the Lord sounds daunting I can assure you that it is not the kind of fear that leaves you shaking in your boots. It’s more of a respect than a fear. Kind of like how a father may fear for his job, because he has a family that he loves so much and must support. While he isn’t fearful of the job itself, it’s the fear of letting down his family. We don’t have to be scared of God, He’s a kind and gentle God, we should have so much respect and love for Him that we can’t stand the thought of sinning against Him or going against His word. The Bible is like an instruction book, if you will, given to us by God. So when we align our hearts and minds to it, and we follow His commandments, our fleshes will heal and our bones will be refreshed. The word refresh means to give new strength or energy to. When we are going through the deep valleys of life, and we feel weak, sad, unequipped, or even unloved by Jesus, we can read His scriptures and re-align ourselves to His word and it will bring forth peace, life and fulfillment.
The moment that the Lord opened my eyes to this, my entire perspective of decision making changed. I realized that the I cannot get to where I want to be, or achieve the dreams and pursue the passions God has given me if I am making careless choices now and neglecting the importance of guarding my heart in the meantime. If I want to achieve my purpose, I have to align myself with what the Bible says and who it says I am.
It’s the small steps I choose to take now, that will get me to where and who I want to be in the future.
I know this may be a lot to chew on, it definitely was for me. My prayer is that as you read this, you will have a revelation of your own as to how you can guard your heart while in the waiting of a dream or passion to be fulfilled. Long-term missions has been a dream “on the cooker” for seven years now. But I know that in this time of waiting, God has been preparing me in ways I couldn’t have even though possible/necessary. He’s always gracious and faithful.
I want to challenge you all to ask the Lord what areas in your life that you are neglecting and how you can then proceed to guard your heart in the meantime!:)
Incredible amounts of love,
Shelby
