Jeremiah 17:10

I the Lord search the heart.

God, the inspector of the heart

I. The description given of the human heart.

1. “The heart is deceitful above all things.” There is scarcely a truth, for instance, revealed in the Bible, which it has not, at one time or other, led some men to call in question. But the deceitfulness of the heart appears nowhere, perhaps, so striking as in the case of many who sit under the faithful ministry of the Gospel, or are visited with some severe attack of sickness. How many are there who, in these circumstances, form the most serious resolutions of repentance and reformation! Their goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it passeth away.

2. The heart is desperately wicked. We must take the heart as it is to the Physician of souls, or remain forever without a cure.

3. “Who can know it?” Its deceitfulness is an ocean which we cannot fathom, its wickedness a worm which we cannot explore.

II. The Divine conduct in reference to the heart.

1. He “searches the heart, and tries the reins.” He is acquainted with our principles and motives, our dispositions and affections. However small the measure of good, or the measure of evil, which may be lurking within, He must instantly see it. Though it should be only as a grain of mustard seed sown in a garden, or as a grain of wheat sown in a field, His piercing eye cannot fall to discover it.

2. The object which He has in view in doing this, or the important reason which He assigns for thus searching the heart and trying the reins;--“even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

(1) The ways of men, in some respects, are various as the leaves of the forest; but in the sight of God they are all either good or bad, righteous or wicked, godly or ungodly and according as their ways answer to this character will men be rewarded or punished by the Judge of quick and dead.

(2) There is scarcely anything we do or say but is attended with either a beneficial or an injurious effect upon others as well as ourselves; and in settling our everlasting destiny, God will not fail to take into account the good or the evil which may thus have resulted from our actions: for He will give every man, not only according to his ways, but also according to the fruit of his doings.

Conclusion--

1. If the heart is deceitful above all things, let us learn to distrust it for evermore.

2. If the heart is desperately wicked, let us see the necessity of having a new heart created within us.

3. Though we cannot fathom all the depths of deceit and wickedness contained in the human heart, we may yet obtain a much more extensive knowledge of these things than we generally possess.

4. Since God searches the heart, and tries the reins of the children of men, let us know the utter impossibility of imposing upon Him.

5. Since God will give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness! (D. Bees.)

God searching the human heart

Taken by the gardener into a gentleman’s garden, I saw long rows of beautiful chrysanthemums, preparing for a flower show. “Each one of those has to be examined every day, said he, lest earwigs get into the tender tops and eat out the young buds.” And while I watched I saw the under-gardener going from one to another, gently opening the top shoots, and seeing that no hidden evil lurked within. “Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom” (Psalms 51:6). What earwigs of thought, desire, imagination get into the heads of the Lord’s plants, their best parts! How jealous Paul was of young converts, lest earwigs of false doctrine, or evil practice, should destroy his labour. The head Gardener sees to this. “I the Lord search the heart” (Jeremiah 17:10). (Footsteps of Truth.)

To give every man according to his ways.--

God’s rule of judgment

I. The preparation God is making for the future judgment.

1. He continually marks the ways of men.

(1) Actions.

(2) Words.

(3) Thoughts.

2. He records everything in the book of His remembrance.

II. The rule by which the judgment shall be determined.

1. The sentence will be according to every man’s works (Galatians 6:7; 2 Corinthians 9:6).

2. Rightly understood, this strongly declares the equity of God’s future judgments. Everything that can affect the quality of an action will be taken into account. (C. Simeon, M. A.)