"Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen." (Acts 1:24, NRSV)
"And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us;" (Acts 15:8, NRSV)
"(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”" (Luke 2:35, ESV)
"But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side" (Luke 9:47, ESV)
"He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?" (Luke 24:38, NRSV)
God knows us. However, he doesn't just know us--he knows our thoughts--he knows our emotions--he knows our deepest desires and thoughts. He can see through our exterior images of ourselves into the depths of our heart.
We usually use the term "heart" in reference to our emotions or non-logical, irrational side of our soul. However, in the times of Jesus and jewish culture, the heart was the center of the soul and body where the rational mind met up with the emotional center of the body (the groin). Therefore the heart was not only the rational thoughts of the person, but the emotional entwined with them.
God doesn't just know our desires, we knows our thoughts. We knows how we rationalize and what we want.
Knowing this about us, he doesn't turn away and just condemn us for our thoughts, we engages us with compassion and challenges us to move beyond them to his will. When the early church went about the business of trying to replace Judas and get another 12th Apostle--the used the criteria of own's heart. Our human perception of a person can only go so far--but God penetrates through that boundary (our boundaries) and sees into the soul--the heart of a person.
The Apostles didn't desire to pick a replacement, the desire to seek God's will and have him pick the replacement.
How can we apply that process to our leadership style? Do we seek out God's will or our heart? Do we allow God to move in our lives or do we stiffle him with our issues and doubts.
May I be a person that allows God to penetrate my heart and seeks his will.
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