Echoes of Mercy: Volume 4 (1894), "Out of the Heart of Men Proceed Evil Thoughts." (7:21)
Mark 7:21.
WE often hear it said, in these days, that man is being elevated by lofty and scientific thoughts. But the question for us is: Does man give God the right place in his heart, and is there anything there to suit Him? The Bible shows us clearly that, from the beginning, the tendency of man’s thoughts has been to make much of himself and little of God. Perhaps not always openly so, but God looks at what lies hidden in the heart. “Hell and destruction are before the Lord; how much more then the hearts of the children of men?” (Prov. 15:11). Let us contrast what the man of the world thinks in his heart, with what God has revealed in His word: —
“The fool hath said in | “For there is one God, |
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his heart, There is no | and one mediator between |
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God.”—Ps. 14:1 | God and men, the man |
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| Christ Jesus.”— 1 Tim. 2:5. |
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“The wicked…hath | “When they shall say, |
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said in his heart, I shall | Peace and safety; then |
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not be moved: for I shall | sudden destruction cometh |
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never be in adversity.”— | upon them, . . . and they |
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Ps. 10:6 | shall not escape.”—1 Thess. 5:3 |
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“He hath said in his | “Thou hast set our iniquities |
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heart, God hath forgotten: | before Thee, our |
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. . . He will never see it.” | secret sins in the light |
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—Ps. 10:11 | of Thy countenance.”—Ps. 3:15. |
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“He hath said in his | “God requireth that |
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heart, Thou wilt not require it.”—Ps. 10:13. | which is past.”—Eccles. 3:15 |
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“That evil servant shall | “The Lord is not slack |
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say in his heart, My lord | concerning His promise, as |
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delayeth his coming.”— | some men count slackness; |
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Matt. 23:48. | but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” — 2 Pet. 3:9. |
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“Thou hast said in Mine | “Verily every man at |
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heart, I am, and none else | his best state is altogether |
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beside me.”—Isa. 47:10 | vanity.”—Ps. 39:5. |
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“She saith in her heart, | “In one hour shall thy |
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I fit a queen, and am no | judgment come.” — Rev. 18:10. |
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widow, and shall see no |
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sorrow.”—Rev. 18:7 |
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“As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”— Prov. 23:7
It is a blessed thing that the Gospel not only unfolds to us the deceitfulness of our thoughts, but it reveals to us the thoughts of God, — thoughts of love and mercy for the poor sinner who is weary of the evil of his own heart. When we can own before God that every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts is only evil continually so that nothing less than the death of Christ can deliver us from them, then God can say: “I know the thoughts that I think toward you; thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jer. 29:11).
L. C. W.