Skip to main content

A Valentine From God!


Valentine’s Day – it’s supposed to be a day of communicating those matters of the heart as they relate to love and affection.  While Valentine’s Day has come and gone, perhaps there is room for one more Valentine…

In regard to those matters of the heart, if I were to paraphrase dictionary definitions, the heart is the center of the total personality, especially with reference to intuition, feeling or emotion.

So, how about this as a matter of the heart?   “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.”  (Psalm 33:11)

The plans of His heart…could it be that God’s plans are based on His emotions or feelings?

I must confess that I am more used to plans that come from the mind.  For that reason, Jeremiah 29:11 resonates more with me:  “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” 

Did you catch the “For I know”?  To know is to perceive or understand as fact or truth, to have fixed in the mind or memory.  Furthermore, the mind is the intellect or that which reasons, thinks, perceives and knows. The verse then from Jeremiah seems to point to God’s plans being based on knowledge. 

So, I can somewhat grasp the plans He has for me that are based on reason, perception, thinking and understanding.   Such plans seem pragmatic, factual and objective.  But from a human perspective, plans from the heart seem to be subjective, intuitive and yes, even emotional.  And for us, emotions and feelings are not always so very reliable.  Yet, from the verse from the Psalm, it seems that the plans from His heart, based on emotions and feelings, stand forever thus making them quite reliable.

However it all works out or is done, God has plans for you that come from both His heart and from His mind.  These plans are truly “forever yours”, that’s Valentine’s speak for I love you lots and lots!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Not Just Idle Words

I own a 25 year old car.  The body might be falling apart but the engine runs great and it idles smoothly.  Such idling is good. Idling can also have to do with spending too much time doing nothing or being without purpose or being engaged in that which is pointless.  Such idling is not good. What if I were to tell you that I know of something that is the about as far as being without purpose as you can get?  Would you want it? Here is that something:  “They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”  ( Deut 32:47) Other versions of the Bible use some different words for that first phrase in the verse and such can be helpful in assessing how important the words really are: “Not meaningless words…”   “These are not just useless words…”   “No empty word for you…”   “Not unimportant words…”   “Not useless words…”   ...

Very Present

I love words that have multiple meanings but the same spelling.  Take the word “present” for example.  You may be thinking of “present”, as in a gift.  Gotta love those! But I’m thinking of “present”, as in existing now or occurring now. I’m also thinking of “present”, as in being at hand. Why those two latter ones, you might ask, why not just go with the gift! Well, I recently read Psalm 46, and here is the first verse:   “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Some theologians suggest the word “present” in this Psalm has the meaning of “well proven”.  I certainly can appreciate that. But I’ve been wondering if “present” could include the meaning of “now existing or now occurring”.  That is, God is exists now and is occurring in our lives. Furthermore, I’ve been wondering if “present” could also include “being at hand”.  That is, God is here, right now, with us.   And with even further wondering, the wo...

Be Amazed!

Be amazed… Jesus welcomed sinners …The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners… (Luke 15:2) Jesus hung out with sinners …And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” (Luke 19:7) Jesus ate with sinners …And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matt 9:11) Jesus was a friend of sinners …The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ (Matt 11:19) With Jesus being so welcoming, what did people do? People came to see Him …They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” (John 12:21) People came to hear Him …Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. (Luke 15:1) People followed Him …While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many ta...