Evil is lodged deep in the heart of man. And the heart of man that holds all that evil is indeed very deep (Psa 64:6). And the evil therein, before it ever comes out in word or deed, is a false belief, a wrong attitude, a lawless thought, or a devious affection.
Before David’s enemies in Psa 64 shot at him with the arrows of bitter speech, they held firm in their evil purpose against him (64:5). They indulged in internal and then external evil because they believed that no one, especially God, saw them. To them, no one saw what they were scheming; no one knew what was in their hearts (64:5). And holding onto that false belief drove them to keep devising and perfecting their plots against the king of Israel (64:6).
Now, there’s a whole second half to the psalm that deals with God’s justice on David’s behalf. But for this post, I want us to focus on where our sinful words and actions come from. They come from within. That is, the secret counsel of our hearts shapes what we say and do. What’s being conceived, nurtured, and pored over on the inside will inevitably bubble up on the outside. Jesus said as much – the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart (Matt 12:34).
Why is this crucial? Because it reminds us that our behavior is determined by what we think, feel, and intend. So, to deal with sinful behaviors or external manifestations of sin, we need to dig. We need to dig into our hearts and uncover what we really want and what makes us sad, afraid, or angry. We can’t just treat the symptoms while leaving the disease alone. So, we need to uncover the false believing and false worshiping taking place in our hearts.
Just changing the behavior will work, but only temporarily and superficially. We won’t have truly changed one bit. Why? Because the actual disease in our heart hasn’t been dealt with. And the only remedy for the disease hasn’t been applied.
Sin is first and foremost an internal, heart issue. And unless we apply Christ and the glories of the gospel to the heart, we won’t change, we can’t change (cf. 2 Cor 3:18; 1 Thess 2:13).
