SECRET HEART

Psalm 51:6

Openness and accountability are two main ingredients missing in our society and the church these days. These are things that we desperately need the most, and these are the things we most resist. Do you have any secrets? Is there something in your life or past that only you know about? If so, I’m going to tell you some bad news this morning.... if you have private secrets that you never want known by others. See! I’m going to let you in on a little secret of mine. God knows everything! This is one of many amazing attributes God has! We call it “Omniscience”

Omniscience is defined as “the state of having total knowledge, the quality of knowing everything.” For God to be sovereign over His creation of all things, whether visible or invisible, He has to be all-knowing. His omniscience is not restricted to any one person in the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all by nature omniscient. This means that…..

God knows everything.

1 John 3:20 says “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.”

God knows our very thoughts, even before we speak them.

Psalm 139:1-4 says “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.”

God knows our hearts from afar; He even saw us in the womb.

Solomon said this “…whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men),” 1 King 8:39

We come to a Psalm that demonstrates for us His omniscience, among many other attributes. David has done a terrible thing when we read Psalm 51! He was involved in laziness, adultery, lying, betrayal and even murder. But, David understood what he did was wrong on a million levels and he also knew whom he sinned against (v1-v4) By David recognizing that he sinned against a holy God he also understood another truth that made him understand that he needs God’s help in. The answer is found in (v6) “you teach me wisdom in the (my) secret heart” 

“the secret or hidden part” – It’s that secret part of the heart; the depths of the soul. The cleansing was to begin in that which was hidden from the eye of man; in the soul itself. Wisdom, heavenly, saving wisdom, was to have its seat there; the cleansing needed was not any mere outward purification, it was the purification of the soul itself. The same thing that Paul talked about to the Roman believers. “on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” Rom 2:16

  

May be……just may be, this you this morning? After opening prayer, the songs we’ve have sung and the preaching of God’s word that your heart is stirred and restless because maybe you are David this morning. Reason being….. It’s that part of you that no one, not even the people closest to you knows. See! This secret place is more than secrets or a bad past. It could be a present struggle and defeated life at this very moment. I’m here to tell you that “God knew all about this before you were even a thought or conceived.” This should cause us to stop out reverence and holy fear a bit, but it also should cause us to find peace and rest in Christ. Because God knew you were going to be messy before you were conceived. God knew that you were going to struggle or fall in many areas of life. This is why Jesus came to save us from ourselves….our reckless sin-filled lives! There is nothing hidden in your life that God didn’t already know about before you faced it. So my question to you is…….Do you want God to teach you wisdom in the secret heart? Our desire as Christians is for God to expose and restore every part of our being. Our desire as Christians is for God to disciple us through the word and by the Holy Spirit. Why? We don’t want to live the way we were before the gospel penetrated our lives…..we need be transparent seeking accountability! We all have different struggle and battles; we have an amazing God who is omniscience and He is here to help us as He did with David after his messy situation.

What David is asking takes great humility! Why? Because it makes us vulnerable and exposes our heart to change and many don’t like change. We like the status-quo. See change is hard! The question we need to ask ourselves is….. Will my heart be receptive like David or like the Pharisee’s that saw Jesus as a threat or a problem? Jesus confronts the Pharisees about this very thing in John 5:36-40 “But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

See, David has already established that he was the problem and the threat. That’s why he says this after this statement (v7-v10). Really think about this! Can you confess that statement to a holy omniscient God? Can you say what David said here…..TODAY, RIGHT NOW! Do you recognize that we are the ones who have been hostile and disobedient towards a holy God? If not! You need to start here! Ask God to search your heart and have Him draw you to your sin so that He can teach you in the secret heart. “Teach me wisdom” is the idea of true faithfulness and integrity, which is called wisdom. Job 28:28 says this “And he said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'" And for David and us to know wisdom here is meant of knowing it practically and experimentally, so as to approve, and love, and practice it.

Can you truly ask this request knowing what you know right now about God? Can you, like David cry out this prayer? “Lord, please teach me wisdom in the secret heart?”

Teach me in my secret place how to love my neighbor? 

Teach me in my secret place how to love my family, my spouse, and my children unconditionally? 

Teach me in the secret place to love my siblings unconditionally.

Teach me in my secret place how to love my church family as Christ loved the church?

Teach me in my secret place how to love and help the less fortunate?

Teach me in my secret place how to love those of different races, colors or creeds?

Teach me in my secret place how to love the lost (all false religions, peoples) with the only message of hope the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Teach me in my secret place how to love those who disagree with me?

Teach me in my secret place how to serve faithfully in the church and outside the church?

Teach me in my secret place not to be boastful or arrogant with my church family and those lost outside?

Teach me in my secret place that I don’t have to be right or get the last word in all the time.

Teach me in my secret place how not to be a hater, angry or bitter towards others….especially those whom are the closest to me?

Teach me in my secret place how walk in obedience and not in my disobedience?

Teach me in my secret place to walk in purity and flea from all sexual immorality?

Teach me in my secret place how not to get entangled with the things of this world?

Teach me in my secret place to find my rest, peace and joy in You alone Lord?

See, if we could summarize what David is requesting it could be this! Lord, teach me in my secret place to love and do as you do? Can I hug and cry with the broken…those who have been mistreated by others in light of what has happened in the States recently or around the globe? Can I pour out God’s grace and mercy on those who oppose or dislike me for who I am in Christ? Can I love the unlovable? Can I display Christ though my sanctified life to a world of hostility and ignorance of sin and sinful practices? This is very hard to ask for! Because the secret heart is the place that we try and do our very best at keeping locked up to everyone…including God. The secret heart is where we entertain our sin and deepest longings. It’s that place where we feel most secured but in reality this is where our great chaos begins and ends. David knew it and we need to recognize it as well. To be gripped by the glory of God is to understand that HE KNOWS EVERYTHIHNG ABOUT YOU AND ME…..nothing is hidden! There are no hidden secrets kept from God. Will we submit to that truth and embrace it as David did…….then and only then will we be able to ask an Omniscient God that request. But by knowing this truth should make it easier for us to ask as well! 

J I Packer said this “God knew you and me, where we would appear in the course of time, and whom we would interact with. He even foresaw our sin in all its ugliness and depravity, yet, in love, He set his seal upon us and drew us to that love in Jesus Christ. We shall see Him face to face, but our knowledge of Him will never be complete. Our wonder, love and praise of Him shall go on for all millennia as we bask in the rays of His heavenly love, learning and appreciating more and more of our omniscient God.” As the Psalmist said “Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.” Psalm 139:4. He knows you better than you know yourself! He created you for His glory. Loved ones knowing that truth! Can you cry out his pray towards an omniscient God to teach you His grace, His love, His desires in the secret place of your heart? Lord my prayer for me and everyone present that you teach us wisdom in the secret heart. Teaching us be a light and an example of your amazing grace.