Heart Disease
“Make the heart of this people fat…” (Isaiah 6:10)
This Scripture is a tough pill to swallow. God tells the prophet Isaiah to go and prophesy the truth about Israel’s rebellion, and in doing so, he will make their hearts even fatter, their eyes more blind, and their ears more dull. But why?
How can the nature of truth have this type of effect? Doesn’t the truth set people free? Of course it does. Truth is good, and its purpose is to set people free from lies and from the evil behavior that was never intended for mankind. However, the lazy or stubborn condition of a heart turns the truth deadly.
“In essence, we are digging our own grave with our own knife and fork.”
We see this same phenomenon in the human body with heart disease. When a person is too sedentary and inactive, while also given to overeating, food can become dangerous to their health. A person who isn't burning the calories they consume begins to store fat and gain weight. If this pattern continues unchanged, they can become morbidly obese and develop heart disease or a fatty heart. A fatty heart can lead to heart failure, strokes, atrial fibrillation, and other serious conditions. Essentially, the abuse of food—which was meant to promote and sustain life and fuel activity—is now slowly killing them. Inactive, stored food becomes excess fat, creating dangerous weight that leads to physical strain, disease, and possibly death. In essence, we are digging our own grave with our own knife and fork.
Likewise, when a nation has access to the truth, consumes the truth, stores up the truth, yet never exercises it, that truth can become dangerous to its heart. Such a nation possesses the truth, but like an inactive and sedentary person, it has no intention of acting on it. The truth becomes nothing more than a source of entertainment or an emotional coping mechanism. Eventually, people begin to abuse and pervert the truth. They adulterate it—or "genetically modify" it—to say what it was never intended to mean, all to justify their own unhealthy or immoral lifestyle. This abuse of the truth leads to a very dangerous posture of the heart. It leads to the “fat heart” that I believe the Lord warned Israel about through the prophet Isaiah.
How we approach the truth matters. When God speaks, He is not wasting His words. His words are designed to produce conviction, repentance, action, change, maturity, love, and much more.
“Truth never hardens the heart by itself; it simply reveals the condition of the heart that receives it.”
Matthew Henry once wrote, “The same sun softens wax and hardens clay.” His wise observation reminds us that the same sun affects different substances differently because of their condition. Truth never hardens the heart by itself; it simply reveals the condition of the heart that receives it. Likewise, the presence of the Son of God and the truth of His Word softens the humble but hardens the proud. Yet God remains good, just, and loving. He does not change (see Hebrews 13:8). The issue has never been God's heart—it is ours.
Are we approaching the truth with a desire for conviction, change, and growth? Or are we approaching the truth merely to be entertained, with no intention of changing because our hearts have become fat, our eyes dim, and our eyes dull through spiritual inactivity? Here is the good news! God promises to give us a new heart if we will ask. If you find your heart has become diseased with pride, your eyes darkened through sin, and your ears dull through social noise, God has a way out for you. Here are a few promises from God, that can help you start the journey back to spiritual health and a strong heart.
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (I Peter 5:6-7 NKJV)
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27 NKJV)
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13 NKJV)
–Joseph Eric Otis Mead