September 21, Proverbs 17
The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.
- Proverbs 17:3
Have you been to a cardiologist and had tests to determine the health of your physical heart? It's great when the tests show there's no problem. If something does show up on the tests, it's actually a good thing if the problem can be identified and treated before a heart attack threatens your life.
The LORD who tests hearts is not a cardiologist, and it is not the physical blood pump that Solomon wrote about in this proverb. The physical human heart is a marvel of God's creative genius, but the Bible talks about a heart more related to the spiritual self than the physical. It has more in common with the mind than the body. That spiritual heart is the seat of our emotions, reasoning and decision making. It's what Solomon called the wellspring of our life back in 4:23.
In what senses does God test that heart? One sense of the word "test" is examination, close inspection. Do you remember how the Lord told Samuel that God looked on the heart, not the outward appearance (1 Samuel 8:7)? It's like David asking God to search his heart: "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!" (Psalm 139:23). God takes pleasure in testing a heart and finding uprightness (Psalm 26:2). No one is exempt from this heart test. God tested his friend Abraham. David knew God tested his heart and asked God to test it. I wonder if I could pray for God to test my heart (and really mean it). Could you?
God also tests our heart by looking at our motives. He not only sees what we do, he sees and knows why we do it. He knows the motives of our heart better than we know our own. Lip service and hypocritical outward obedience cannot pass the test and be approved when God sees why we do the things we do. David told his son Solomon to serve God with his whole heart and a willing mind, "For the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought" (1 Chronicles 28:7). The word of God is able to "discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). Have you ever done the right thing with the wrong reason or motive in mind? I am ashamed to say I have. God knows when we do that, and it does not pass his test.
The reference to gold in the furnace and silver in the crucible reminds us that testing is also about purification. Intense heat melts away or burns up the impurities in precious metals. When God allows adversity to come to his people, it may be a procedure to purify a heart that is divided in allegiance or distracted by temptation. When we're called to love, serve and trust God with all our heart and with a pure heart, we should expect those purifying tests to come. It's for our own good that God sends them into our lives.
And the word "test" reminds me of judgment itself. God said, "I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds" (Jeremiah 17:10). When we give an account to the Judge of all the earth, there will be no witnesses called to testify. The Judge is the Witness. No jury will deliberate to determine our sentence. The Judge will make no mistake as he gathers and welcomes the redeemed to their reward, and sends the wicked away from him into everlasting punishment. The ultimate results of the Lord's heart test will be eternal.
Does it encourage you or threaten you to read that the Lord tests hearts? It is a somber reality. I pray that you and I can live so close to our Lord that we will join David in asking God to test our hearts.
Copyright © 2021 by Michael B. McElroy. Used
by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—September 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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