How Can I Truly Know What's in My Heart

By Brother R. Michel Lankford

"God knows what's in my heart." We've all been there before, have we not? Either when we have tried to encourage someone with Biblical counsel, or when someone else has been trying to help us, and or when we're not entirely receptive to what we're hearing, it's easy to rally around that old familiar saying, "God knows what's in my heart." I have been chewing and meditating on that phrase all week long, and it got me asking the question. What is the proof of what's really in my heart? How can I know what really truly lives in there? How can I prove that Biblically?
Before we retreat to the all too popular response, “Yes, I know that Scripture says God requires..., but God knows your heart, and it's what's in your heart that counts,” we need to confront a critical question that we often neglect to ask:

 

How can I know what's Truly in my heart?

You see, the retort, "God knows my heart" implies that my intent, my motives in my desires are right before God and since God knows that I am completely well-intentioned, then this must mean that if my behavior or performance is not exactly obedient to what God says that He desires and requires, then that doesn't matter, and God still accepts me and what I do, because after all, God knows my heart. If we are brutally honest, this is how that retort is most often meant and applied or used.
In one sense, we are gambling an awful lot on the presumption that our hearts, desires, motives and intentions are right. How do I know that my heart is right? How do I weigh it? How do I measure it? We are gambling a lot on the supposition that our heart must be right with God. Moreover, how presumptuous is it to believe that we are so completely well-intentioned, that our intentions are so good, that this will cause God to overlook and ignore His own desires, standards, and requirements in our favor, even while we are looking for and using that statement as justification not to obey what He says in some particular area of our lives? So before we assume that our hearts are right, I ask again, how can we know?
God tells us to guard our heart with all diligence, because out of it flows the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23). This of course also means that since God expects us to stand guard over our hearts, then we should know what belongs there and what does not. God expects us to have a clear understanding of what should be allowed to pass through the gates of our heart, and what should be forcibly kept out from the gates of our hearts. Once again, we face the question, how do I know what's really in my heart?

 

Our Reactions Reveal Our Heart

The answer is simple. According to God's Holy Written Word, one of the most crucial ways that God reveals and exposes our hearts is how we respond to God's Standards, Laws, Commandments, and Instructions. Just as it is written:
"You must carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land the LORD swore to your fathers. Remember that the LORD your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. “(Deuteronomy 8:1-3 HCSB - emphasis added)
And it is also written:
"If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods'--which you have not known--'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst. Deuteronomy 13:1-5 (NKJV - emphasis added)
The exact same principle is exemplified again in Matthew 13:18-23; cf. Matthew 7:24-25. The Scriptures teach and exemplify a spiritual dynamic which modern-day Christendom has often neglected.

The tool that God uses to reveal what is truly in my heart is how I respond to God's written word. How I respond to God's Standards, Laws, Commandments, and Instructions is the primary tool that God uses to test and reveal the true condition of my heart.

When I hear God's Word, do I believe it? Am I receptive to it? Do I measure my desires, motives, attitudes, choices and behaviors according to what God says is good, and what He says that He desires and requires? When I hear and read God's Word and I realize that I'm falling short of what God says He requires and desires in any of those areas, then do I pursue God in prayer and trying to actively practice what He says, without giving up, until I come into alignment with what God says He desires and requires? If this authentically describes the way that I truly walk and live before Almighty God, then yes, I have a pretty solid reason to say that my heart is right, and being made right before God.
On the other hand, if when I hear and read God's Word, I do not respond in the above manner, then this reveals that I have a serious heart problem. If I refuse to measure my desires, motives, attitudes, choices and behaviors according to what God says is good, and what He says that He desires and requires, then this reveals and proves that I have serious spiritual heart disease.
When I hear and read God’s Standards, Laws, Commandments, and Instructions, and I find myself looking for reasons why I don't really have to do what God said that He desires and requires, then this reveals, testifies to, and also proves that in those areas of my life, my heart is most definitely not right before God, and in reality I am heartsick with sin sickness. When I hear and read God’s Standards, Laws, Commandments, and Instructions, and I realize that I'm coming short of what God says He desires and requires, and I choose to rationalize and seek to justify myself instead of repenting, then this too reveals that in those areas of my life, I am in desperate need of a heart change. I need Jesus the Son of Yahweh to truly set me free in those areas, because in such instances, my responses to God’s Word have revealed that in those areas of my life I'm still truly a slave to my old sinful and disobedient nature (John 8:34-36; Romans 6:16).

Please do not be deceived. Please do not permit others to deceive you with flattering words (Ephesians 5:6). The way we respond to God's Standards, Laws, Commandments, and Instructions is the proof that reveals what is truly in our heart. That's one of the functions of God's Word and Instructions (Hebrews 4:12-13).

 

How Does God Describe the True Condition of the Human Heart?

Yes, truly God does know our hearts, and if we made good use of the brains that God gave us, the realization of that fact alone should be enough to bring us to Godly and Biblical repentance. Here is what Almighty God has to say about the real condition of the human heart:
a. The human heart is wicked and can easily be deceived (Genesis 6:5-6; Jeremiah 17:5,9; Proverbs 14:12; 16:25; James 1:26; 1 John 1:5-10).
b. Except for Messiah, no human being ever sought after God, or persistently did what was right with God (Romans 3:10-18; Hebrews 4:15).
c. There are even some occasions when we can be right with God, and our hearts will tell us that we're wrong (1 John 3:20). Our hearts can deceive us.
d. We are expressly told to guard our heart (Proverbs 4:23). It is precisely because it can be attacked. It can be deceived. It can be led astray from the things of God.
e. Yes, indeed the time will come in the future, when our transformation will be complete, and the renewed covenant is completely manifest. At some point in the future God will write His commands on our heart, and no man will have to teach his neighbor about God (Jeremiah 31:31-34), but we are obviously not in the full manifestation of that promise yet. If we are, then why are any Bible study groups still necessary? In this world, there are plenty of people who do not know God or His ways, even among those who consider themselves born-again believers. One need look no further than George Barna and his research Institute to understand that this portion of Scripture still has yet to be fulfilled and manifested, because obviously it hasn't fully happened yet.
You may say to yourself, well, our hearts remain perfectly clean after we come to Christ. Oh really? Then why did James write a letter to Jewish believers who had faith in Christ and were dispersed throughout the world (James 1:1-3), that they should cleanse their hearts, (James 4:8)? Why then did Paul later restate the same idea to believers in Corinth (2 Corinthians 7:1)?

The Overflow of Our Lips Also Proves Our Hearts

The primary proof that reveals what is truly in our heart is how we react and respond to God's Standards, Laws, Commandments, and Instructions in His Written Word. If and whenever our inclinations, our desires, responses, our choices and behaviors are consistent and in agreement with God's Standards, Laws, Commandments, and His Instructions, then in those instances, our hearts can correctly be said to be right with God. Whenever this is not the case, then my heart by definition cannot be right before the Perfectly Holy God and Majesty of Heaven. The second tool that God uses to reveal what is in our heart, is the fruit of our lips. Just as it is written:
"You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the Day of Judgment. "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:34-37 (NASB - Words of Messiah in red) (cf. Isaiah 32:6; Proverbs 10:20-21; Proverbs 18:21; Matthew 15:18-20; Luke 6:45; James 3:2-12; Ephesians 4:29; Colossians 4:6).
That's part of our biggest problem. God knows our heart, but we don't. We are the ones who are confused and deceived. That's why God has to constantly reveal our hearts to us, and bring us back to Himself.

 

Conclusion

When I look at how God's Holy Word described the heart, and when I look at Scripture and see the tools that God uses to reveal our hearts to us so that we will be aware of the true condition of our hearts, I become much more circumspect and careful how I walk before the LORD. I cannot speak for anyone else, but speaking for myself, I can no longer remain comfortable using the glib response, "Well, God knows my heart," whenever I'm confronted with a biblical requirement from God's word which I know I'm not truly obeying. Far from presuming to believe that I am so completely well-intentioned, that my intentions are so good, that this will cause God to overlook and ignore His own desires, standards, and requirements in my favor, even I’m we are looking for excuses and using that statement as justification not to obey what He says in some particular area of my life; understanding the fact that God knows my heart, compels me to do exactly the opposite.
Far from excusing my actions, the reality that God knows my true heart is what motivates me to repentance, and well it should. Since I love Almighty God, and He is my Heavenly Father, I love and respect His Standards. I want to grow to love what He loves, and to hate what He says He hates. I want to grow into His mature son, to bring joy and delight to His heart. Whenever I come short of that, I want to be able to see it and eagerly repent and turn away from it, and turn and walk in what pleases God. I don't want to retreat to the phrase, "Well, God knows my heart,” as though it's a free pass and a blank check to justify doing exactly as I please, while claiming to be right with God.
On the contrary! If I truly understand and respect the reality that God knows my heart, it should lead me to evaluate my desires, thoughts, choices and behaviors according to the Scriptures, and when I realize that I'm coming short of what God says is good, the fact that God knows my heart should lead me to cry out in repentance just as the psalmist did:

 

Psalm 51:1-19

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.
Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise.
For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, In burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar. Psalm 51:1-19 (NASB)

"Yes, God knows my heart, that's the point. That's why I desperately need Him to change it, so that I will be truly pleasing to Him, and so that I will desire and will do what is good and right and pleasing in His sight, instead of seeking my own pleasure."

Brother Robert Michel Lankford