Proverbs 4.23
“Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
The promotional trailer for Lord of the Rings opens with this declaration: “Fate has chosen him; The Fellowship will protect him; Evil will hunt him.” As are so many things in Tolkien’s epic story, these three statements are metaphors for following Christ. We are called and chosen by God; he places us in a fellowship of believers who support and protect us; and we have a real enemy who seeks to destroy our lives.
As we journey through this world, we must guard our heart against the attacks of the enemy. We must fight to protect our heart. However, the battle for our heart is not only external; it is also internal. There is an enemy within.
We have an old nature which works against us and seeks to draw us away from the Lord. The prophet Jeremiah warns us that the inner workings of the human spirit cannot always be trusted: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
You often hear people say, “Just trust your heart.” Sometimes you hear it from Christians. But this is a very dangerous statement, because the human heart cannot always be trusted. There is a dark side to the inner workings of the human spirit. We saw this in our study of Galatians:
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:16-17)
In other words, there are two very different “hearts” at work within us: one is the old nature, which is rebellious and directed by a desire to sin; and the other is the new nature, which is directed by the Spirit and seeks to obey God. The heart we focus on and feed is the one that will grow and direct our life. If we feed and indulge the old nature, then the dark side of the heart will dominate our life. If we feed and cultivate our new nature, then the power and fruit of the Spirit will dominate our life.
The choice for which heart we nurture and feed belongs to us. It is not something the Lord does; it is something we must do. In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul admonishes us to “put off” the old nature and “put on” the new nature: “Put off your old nature, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
This is what it means to protect your heart from the enemy within.
Keep in mind the whole passage from Proverbs 4. Just prior to “guard your heart,” the passage says, “My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh” (Proverbs 4.20-22).
We are instructed to pay attention and listen closely to the truth and teaching of scripture. In order to guard our heart, we must energize our heart with truth. This passage exhorts us to discern and hold biblical instruction close to our heart.
The verses that follow the command to “guard your heart” describe putting away perverse speech, looking straight ahead, and choosing good paths. This is the pattern that is laid out in Proverbs 4:
> Listen to and learn the truth. (verses 20-22)
> Allow the truth to transform and guard your heart. (verse 23)
> Speak and practice the truth. (verses 24-27)
This is life in Christ. This is the way of the kingdom of God.
