1.3 God Always Looks at the Heart

Verse: Amos 5:21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

Isaiah 1:12-20; Amos 5:21-24; Matt 23:1-36; Isaiah 29:13-16; Psalm 27

The narrow way that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14).

Regulations for the observation of the feasts during the time of the Mosaic covenant were strict and were accompanied by rather severe penalties. The messages being communicated to Israel by YHWH were and are specific. Each feast had prescribed practices, restrictions, and liberties. Nothing was to
deviate from the instructions given at Exodus or later detailed and confirmed in the encampment at Sinai. Concerning the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur,) YHWH included the following conditions:

Lev 23:28-31

And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. ESV

Understand that Israel was at the time a nomadic group of shepherds, craftsmen, and laborers who would be exposed to starvation, dehydration, and potential death. The cloud protected them from scorching heat, the pillar of fire warmed them from the extreme cold of the desert night, and the
mysterious “manna” fed them each day for forty years. This was not a situation where someone could just change “churches” by walking across the street where the worship style or the dress code was more suitable. Being “cut off from His people” presented a life-threatening situation. YHWH’s threat to
“destroy from among His people” was quite real.

Given these instructions, it would seem that the need for strict compliance with the Sabbath, feasts, sacrifices, priestly dress codes, and other worship regulations was of paramount importance. This mindset developed over the years, and various sects emerged that were and are devoted to simply interpreting the “rules” and conventions of worship and acceptable life style. This has continued to this day through Christian as well as Jewish traditions. But this is not what YHWH is seeking at all!

Their hearts are far from Me.

Isa 29:13-16 "These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their hearts aren't in it. Because they act like they're worshiping me but don't mean it, I'm going to step in and shock them awake, astonish them, stand them on their ears. The wise ones who had it all figured out will be exposed as fools. The smart people who thought they knew everything will turn out to know nothing."

Doom to you! You pretend to have the inside track. You shut God out and work behind the scenes, Plotting the future as if you knew everything, acting mysterious, never showing your hand. You have everything backwards! You treat the potter as a lump of clay. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

YHWH always looks at the heart.

A thankful, believing heart is what convinced Israel to accept and display the covenant welcome for YHWH when He passed over the thresholds of the Israelite homes and spared their sons from death as He delivered them from the power of Egypt and their gods. At that time, they not only received
deliverance, but they accepted covenant obligations with YHWH as the one and only God of Israel. The closest comparison is to say that Israel betrothed herself to YHWH at the Passover.

This covenant of devotion was reinforced and refined at the covenant of Sinai, but the foundation of this relationship with the people of Israel is towards YHWH and Him alone. “You shall have no other gods before me….”. This is primary to the betrothal/marriage relationship. When the gods of the nations are mixed into this relationship it is considered adultery. When the people doubt or complain against YHWH it is considered adultery. When the outward practices of religious ceremony are not accompanied with the condition of the heart, it is considered an abomination.

It can be the same with our present-day “worship” service. We can raise our hands and jump and shout “hallelujah” with the best of them. However, if we hold on to bitterness or pride, if we also worship mammon, sexual sin, or any other gods along with YHWH, we can likewise become a stench and an
abomination to Him instead of a blessing. This may include worshipping the creation over the Creator. It could include worshipping our situation or our comfort above the Lord who is the one who gives us peace and supplies us with everything we need. YHWH gives to all. Let’s bless the Lord for our provision without worshipping the provision itself.

This recurring theme is all throughout the Scriptures and through all the covenants. It explains a lot of things that might otherwise seem confusing. Matthew Henry’s Commentary says this concerning Isaiah 1:10-15:

“Many who will readily part with their sacrifices, will not be persuaded to part with their sins. They relied on the mere form as a service deserving a reward. The most costly devotions of wicked people, without thorough reformation of heart and life, cannot be acceptable to God.  Not only did He not accept them, but He abhorred them. All this shows that sin is very distasteful to God. If we allow ourselves in secret sin, or forbidden indulgences; if we reject the salvation of Christ, our very prayers will become abomination.”

Isa 1:13-14  Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; ESV

Jesus rebukes meticulous tithers.

Jesus never took away the practice of tithing crops and livestock in His three-year public ministry, but He did bring some rather stern words of correction for the corrupted practice. Every time tithing is mentioned in the new covenant Scriptures, it contains a rebuke because the hearts of the people were
not honoring the Lord. Tithing is a practice whereby we honor YHWH for everything we receive; it is rooted in thanksgiving and humility as we recognize the generosity of what we receive from the Lord. The tithe represents the whole. In the following Scripture, Jesus rebukes the leaders and teachers for
tithing even the smallest of crops while their hearts are far from YHWH.

Matt 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy andfaithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ESV

The weightier matters of the law (Torah) are justice, mercy (hesed, lovingkindness, and covenant compassion) and faithfulness (integrity, unrelenting trust towards YHWH). These are more attitudes of the heart rather than prescribed outward behaviors. The actions of Torah are meant to reflect the attitudes of our heart, not the other way around.

Rom 10:8-12

"The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes
and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." ESV

When you seek me.

Jer 29:13-14  When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. ESV

2 Chronicles 16:9 for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are blameless toward Him. AMP

Keeping the feasts is a blessing to YHWH when we have the right attitude in our heart. We cannot adopt an attitude of arrogance, or become critical against those who do not conform to our traditions. The complaining heart of Israel in their first generation disqualified them from every promise they had of reaching their promised land or achieving the fullness of the real Sabbath--in spite of years of meticulous obedience to feast times, sacrifices, and offerings.

God always looks at the heart.

King Saul was stripped of his anointing and appointment to be King of Israel for violating the regulations concerning the proper presentation of an offering to YHWH. It was the last straw so to speak in a list of offenses that were done before the Lord. The offering was supposed to be done by the priest, but Saul in his arrogance, fear, and self-will stepped in and offered the sacrifice himself instead of waiting for the priest. God saw something in his heart that would not relent, it would not yield to YHWH, and it would not change so Saul was disqualified, his offering was a stench instead of a pleasing aroma. The smell of the burning flesh may have appeared to be the same, but to YHWH the smell was terrible: issues of the heart.

David, his successor, is called “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). But David at one point conspired to kill Uriah the Hittite because he lusted after his wife and committed fornication with her. David’s conspiracies lead all the way to the outright murder of Uriah and then he married the widow. David kept the affair hidden for as long as possible until the prophet Nathan confronted the sin. David confessed and presented himself broken before the Lord

(2 Samuel 11, 12:1-14).  While there were severe consequences to David’s actions, David did not harden his heart, but he confessed his sin and turned his heart. This made all the difference. David turned his heart back again. Saul never really yielded his heart in the first place. Saul “was a head taller” than the rest of the people but he was not a head wiser. He literally looked like the “big man” so he assumed his leadership was a sure thing. David on the other hand carried this motivation in his heart (read Psalm 27.)

Psalm 27:4  One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. ESV

David brought himself in true repentance and humility concerning his sin with Bathsheba (see Psalm 51).

Ps 51:9-12

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your  Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing
spirit. ESV

As we begin to look at these appointed times let us be fully aware that the attitude of our heart is far above the actions we take and the things we do and do not do on the various feast days. Worship is good, Seders are good, fasting on Yom Kippur is good, but only as our actions are working in harmony
with a humble, undivided, and thankful heart. If we find that we have lost our way, we must take the path of David who humbled himself and turned towards YHWH again, as he relied on the everlasting mercy of our Lord.

1 John 1:8-10

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  ESV

God always looks at the heart.