Which Way is Your Heart Moving?

“(I despise) anything that moves my heart away from You.” (Psalm 101:3 TPT)

I’m afraid in the times we are living, with technology advancing at record speed, with our obsession of “likes” and “followers,” with all the information, news, celebrity gossip, and stranger’s lives playing out on our devices like a soap opera, we’ve allowed our hearts to grow numb to what grieves the heart of God.

We’re walking through our daily lives numb. Numb to the people around us. Numb to the voice of God. Numb to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Numb to a hurting and dying world.

These words in Psalms 101 were penned by David, the shepherd boy who became the king of Israel and is known by God as a “man after God’s own heart” (I Sam. 13:14).

He states with great passion what his heart grieves and despises: “gazing on what is vulgar, what is evil, and ANYTHING that moves my heart away from You (God).” 

As I read David’s words (inspired by the Holy Spirit) this week, this verse resounded in my heart! We are to despise ANYTHING that moves our hearts away from God. David’s words imply that his heart is already close to God, and he commits to guard and protect his heart from anything that would allow his heart to be moved away from the One to whom he has committed his life.

Do we have the same passion and intention for the direction in how our hearts are moved?

What if we walked throughout our day, asking ourselves the question: “Is what I’m doing today moving my heart closer to God or further away?”

What if we continued this question throughout every aspect of our lives?

*The things I allow myself to watch/see with my eyes: does this move my heart closer to God? Or away from Him?

*The words I speak: do they move my heart closer to God? Or away from Him?

*The time I spend on my devices/social media: does it move my heart closer to God? Or away from Him?

*The songs I listen to: closer to Him or away from Him?

*The friends I spend time with: closer to Him or away from Him?

*The relationship that I am currently in: does it move my heart closer to Him or away from Him?

*The environments/places in which I spend my free time: closer to Him or away from Him?

Our hearts can most definitely be moved.  

Either we are moving closer to God or further away from Him.

But most often times, we have no idea that our hearts are moving in one direction or another, and then we wonder why God feels so far away from us? Why we can’t hear His voice? Why we don’t experience His presence as often as we’d like to? Why we’re not experiencing the “perfect peace” (Isaiah 26:3) that His Word promises to us?

Is it because we don’t recognize the areas of our lives in which we have allowed our hearts to move further away from Him instead of closer to Him?

I realize that I’m not walking with you throughout your day. I don’t know your heart and what it looks like before God. I am not trying to cast judgement in any way.  But I do, however, want to pose the question to you: 

“Am I intentionally allowing my heart to be moved closer and closer to God?” And if not, what must you do to change that?

When God stated that He has found a man after His own heart (I Sam. 13:14), God was essentially saying: “I found a man whose heart looks a lot like My own heart.”  

That has been my heart’s cry for my entire life: “God, may my heart look more and more like Your heart!”

On some days, I feel like I am making progress to that prayer. On other days, not so much.

I just want to challenge you, as I have been challenged through reading these verses in Psalms 101, to begin asking the question of David’s words: “Do I despise anything that moves my heart away from You?”

Allow your heart to be challenged and convicted by that question! Refuse to allow your heart to grow numb to the world around you, and thus, allowing your heart to move further away from the very heart of God.

If we are to see a revival in our communities, in our world, and most importantly in our own lives, we MUST become purposeful in the direction we allow our hearts to be moved!

“God, may I despise ANYTHING that moves my heart away from You!”  Amen!