31 Days With the Book of Proverbs: A Daily Bible Study – Day 22
“All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the LORD weighs the heart.”
Proverbs 21: 2
There is a famous tomb painting in a royal tomb of Egypt that portrays one of the Egyptian gods weighing a human heart in a balance, and there is a feather in the other pan of the scale. The feather clearly weighs more than the heart. The owner of the heart is thus ready for the afterlife. No one knows for sure if that painting influenced the Hebrew idea of God weighing a human soul/heart in a scale, but it is possible.
The proverb points to a common human trait. We think we are right. Sometimes we think we are right even when we know, and others know, that we are wrong! But we pursue our plans, our decision, paying no heed to the advice of others, nor to the wisdom of the ages. And the results are often tragic.
The proverb wants us to pause, to pray, to soberly reflect on our actions less in haste, or ignorance, or selfish will power, like a three year old stamping their feet, we blunder ahead and what we sought produces evil results. God is weighing our actions and our deeds, God knows us, and God wills for us to follow His counsel. That takes wisdom, understanding, and humility, virtues we have encountered before in Proverbs. We keep being forced by the proverbs to decide, to follow Jesus, or to follow another. There was an old hymn: “Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, twixt the truth and the falsehood, for the good or evil side.” How true.
Drew Harvey
Brody Childs on Unsplash
