Sunday, September 27, 2009

The follow of my heart

On the new Needtobreathe album there is a song entitled "Garden." It's a fantastic song! The chorus says:

Let the songs I sing bring joy to you
Let the words I say confess my love
Let the notes I choose be your favorite tune
Father let my heart be after you

When I first heard the song I thought the final line was "let the follow of my heart be after you." When I heard the song a few more times I realized my mistake. As I have listened to the song over the last few weeks, and I have done that a lot, I keep hearing the wrong words. I know the last line is "Father let my heart..." but I keep hearing "Let the follow of my heart..."  Today I realized why.

To say it has been a tough week would be an understatement. I won't go into all the reasons why but suffice it to say it has not been a good one. Today I probably should have stayed home and let someone else bring the message at BridgePoint. I just was not in the right frame of mind to preach today. Don't get me wrong, God showed up today and I believe some great things happened, but it would only be because of Him. It is amazing how He uses us in spite of ourselves sometimes.

After I got home I didn't feel like doing much except lying on the couch and zoning out with a little football (Favre is amazing), golf and even NASCAR. As I laid there the words to "Garden" kept rolling through my head. Each time I got to the last line of the chorus instead of the right words I heard "Let the follow of my heart..."  Now I am a little slow but give me a little time and even I finally get it. You see, the majority of my struggles this week, and every week for that matter, are a result of "the follow" of my heart. 

When I let my heart follow after the temporary things of this world and that which brings momentary satisfaction I will always struggle. When I let anxiety and worry dictate and control my life, when I stop trusting God and try controlling  my on life and when I let the response of man rule my decisions, I am letting my heart follow the wrong thing. Faith and trust get shoved aside and stress and worry take over.

That familiar verse from Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that the Lord has "plans" for you, "plans" for me. He says the Lord has "plans to give you a hope and a future." Right after that, in verse 13, he tells us that the Lord declares that "you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." That's it! 

While I messed up the words to the song the truth in what I was hearing wasn't messed up at all. What God was trying to get through my thick skull was that when "the follow of my heart" is after Him I will find what I am looking for and when it is not I will struggle. It really is that simple. This week I let "the follow of my heart" get off track. This afternoon I have recommitted myself to seek and follow after Him, with all of my heart. 

How about you? Where's "the follow" of your heart? My prayer is that you also will recommit yourself to seeking after Him. Seeking Him with all of your heart. Jeremiah tells us "'I will be found by you', declares the Lord." What a promise!

By the way, get Needtobreathe, The Outsiders. It's a great album. You won't be disappointed. 

Whatever It Takes!
Tim

2 comments:

Sharon Wilson said...

As always, you have such a wonderful way with words that opens my heart so God can touch me. Thanks for the reminder to "Seek God first and all
(other) things will be added"

Steve said...

Good stuff Tim. Jeremiah 29 was my guiding scripture in the spring when I lost my job and was looking for answers. This reminded me to trust in the Lord and not get all worried in the moment of "what I wanted". I backed off and he showed up in an amazing way. Yea God. By the way, the one month I was without work happened to be the last month my grandma remained on earth before she went home to be with Jesus. Best quality time I could have ever asked for. Then of course I received a great job that never would have opened up before.

Thanks for your message. The follow of my heart. I'll use that one a lot.