March 4, 2013 ~ Watching Over Us

For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD, 

and He watches all his paths.

Proverbs 5:21

Thoughts~ I’m taking a Geography class this semester that I’m really enjoying.  As I study, I find there are terms that trigger spiritual insights.  One of the chapters this week was about learning to read all kinds of maps and today’s verse came to my mind. God knows exactly where I am all of the time. He is never shocked to find me at any given location.  His eyes are on me . . . and on you.  He sees the whole world, then our country, state, city, neighborhood and our home. He sees the exact latitude and longitude location point we are at any given moment.

That gives me a lot of comfort because even if I am feeling lost, the Lord is right there with me, giving me direction.  I still need to ask for His help though. He will allow us to bumble around on our own as long as we aren’t harming ourselves or someone else, but it’s mostly to teach us lessons. Lessons on dependence on Him.

And then I started thinking about how cool it would be to make a map of my heart.  They call it topography in Geography and I decided this would be a fun joint exercise for all of us.  Because school has been a bear this week, I didn’t have time to begin so let’s do this together.

We’ll call our lesson Topography of the Heart.

We’ll be studying the heart in detail.  Our hearts are filled with joy, happiness, love, friendship, renewal, hope, faith and so much more. Corners may be filled with sorrow, fear, anxiety, wistfulness, and temptation. There are paths that lead from one emotion to another and dead ends that lead nowhere at all. Let’s begin with the action part of the T.A.P. now.

Actions~ Use Biblegateway (www.Biblegateway.com) or your own concordance in your Bible or a separate concordance of all the words in the Bible. Look up the word heart and begin making lists of how the word is used. Make note of verses, too.

I will do the same and while most of us may not have time to cover the entire Bible, just start it and add to it word by word and verse by verse. I found an empty blank composition book to start mine.

EXAMPLES:

Anxious heart: Isaiah 35:4

Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.”

Joyful heart vs sad heart: Proverbs 15:13

A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.

Enjoy working on the topography of your heart!

Prayer~ Lord thank you for using my college courses to point to exciting truths and reminders about You!  And for our hearts that are filled with all kinds of emotions, we give them to You as a sweet offering of love.

Trusting in the Lord,

Becky