THE eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” Thus spoke the seer of God to King Asa of Judah, who in his fancied extremity turned from his God to Syria. He put the seer in prison, but did not destroy the truth.
It is a solemn truth to the hypocrite, to the dissimulator. Men often, nearly always under some circumstances, try to act better than their heart. In thus doing, they often deceive men, but never God. “Man looketh on the outward appearance; but the Lord looketh on the heart,” and discerns the inward motives, the springs of action. He knows whether the outwardly good act was prompted to deceive or to win some coveted prize, or whether it was the fruit borne by a heart yielded to God.
But the text is a blessed, comforting thought to the true man who makes what seems to him such slow progress and does such poor work for God. He knows that the will is his to do, that the heart responds to God’s love; and the Master knows. He will cleave to the Infinite One, who is strong in his behalf.
It is the time of trial which tests, trials where great moral principles are involved.
When God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah petulantly refused, and sought to run away from God. Yet he did not deny Him; and when the ship was imperiled on his account, he came forward nobly, acknowledged his fault, and told the shipmen to cast him overboard. To him it meant certain death, and he met it bravely; but God knew that after all Jonah’s heart was true, and He showed Himself strong on behalf of the petulant prophet.
It is good for the Christian to know that God knows the heart. Sometimes we meet impatient men, nervous men, dyspeptic men, passionate men. They profess to be Christians, and God seems to use them. But we wonder if they really are. But some great test comes into the life, and they meet it faithful to God; and our self-complacent, self-conceited heart sinks in shame at our littleness of soul, at our assumption in judging. God knew that the heart was perfect all the time; but the training was not yet complete.
Remembering this will help us to see the reason of God’s dealing with Abraham, David, and others. Abraham’s concubinage was sin. David failed often. Yet deep down below all the mistakes, were the hearts true to God in every test, the involving sacrifices dearer than life.
It is “throughout the whole earth” that God searches. Not only among His own professed people, but out in the great, dark, heathen world God searches to find the men of single, true-heartedness. They may be ignorant of many things; but if the heart is yielded to the highest conception of God, the Master will lead on to glorious and eternal light and victory.