The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 19:9 New English Translation
Every other translation I checked said that it was the heart, not the mind that was so deceitful. But even those translations go on in verse 10 to say that the Lord searches the mind and tries the heart. I believe it is safe to say that our hearts and minds are deeply connected and deeply infected. Looking at this passage (and all scripture for that matter) we see God’s problem with us. We have an incurable (at least at the time of this statement) habit of trusting in our own human strength and that of others. To God, this constitutes turning away from him. This condition is accompanied by a great curse.
Trusting in the flesh leaves us in a fog. Even the good things we have been given go unappreciated. Those trusting in their flesh are like plants with no root system. Isn’t this the essence of the heart that Jeremiah finds so incomprehensible, its propensity to leave God out of the equation? But there is hope;
My blessing is on those people who trust in me, who put their confidence in me. They will be like a tree planted near a stream whose roots spread out toward the water. It has nothing to fear when the heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought. It does not stop bearing fruit.
When the Lord searches the mind and tests the heart its not because he doesn’t know whats there. He takes us through this process so we will hopefully see and take responsibility for our misplaced trust, those places where we are trusting in our flesh or man in general.
The scriptures tell us that a young man rejoices in his strength. I recall that. I may be holding on to shreds of it still. But, this I know; there is far less cause for rejoicing at 61 than there was at 31. It was not only my physical strength I rejoiced in as a younger man. It was also my wits I used to think things through and my natural abilities I relied upon to get things done. The flesh is self-reliant. It has that I-can-do-it-myself quality about it (especially in religion). It is independent and proud while at the same time being terribly insecure, always trying to establish its identity, asserting its importance and vying for territory it can call its own. In the life of the devout we may often guard this sacred ground as our calling, our gifting or especially our vision.
It is my experience in following Christ that his searching and testing methods have involved allowing the moths and the rust to have their way with my fleshly agendas however hallowed I may think of them. The process has seemed utterly cruel to me but over three decades I have seen his wisdom in it. Had I not been in school with Christ through the years, my delusions would have been perpetuated about my own strength and I would have missed the prize which is God himself. He wanted to spare me from competing for the trophy with me standing on top so that I could gain Christ alone and learn to be content in Him regardless of my vision.
The process looks like Jacob and God wrestling where he lets us exhaust ourselves so that after the final round we leave with our flesh and human strength disabled (hopefully crucified with Him) as a memorial to the test. As these heart and mind-tests of discipleship play out we see others as those who do not appreciate our vision, who misunderstand us and our gifts. It will feel as though God is out to get us. He is but in a way that we don’t understand quite yet.
Father, your ways are, in certain seasons, painfully higher than our ways. Grant us perseverence to endure the tests that we might gain the prize. Purge the deceit from our hearts that we may be at peace and rest in you and within ourselves. Produce in us hearts and minds that are secure in their identities, free from the strife of our flesh; hearts that are satisfied in you alone. Help us to watch over our hearts with all diligence that the living water can overflow. Amen.
I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.I give them what they deserve based on what they have done. 11 The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them.Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.” Jeremiah Appeals to the Lord for Vindication 12 Then I said, “Lord, from the very beginning you have been seated on your glorious throne on high. You are the place where we can find refuge. 13 You are the one in whom Israel may find hope. All who leave you will suffer shame. Those who turn away from you will be consigned to the nether world. For they have rejected you, the Lord, the fountain of life. 14 Lord, grant me relief from my suffering so that I may have some relief. Rescue me from those who persecute me so that I may be rescued.