The Heart Is Deceitful
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
God created human beings with the potential for good, but also the potential to choose evil. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve made the wrong choice. Instead of choosing life (symbolized by the tree of life) they followed the lead of the serpent and chose to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. They ate from the tree God commanded them not to eat, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They chose the way that leads to sin and death.
The “serpent of old” is revealed to be none other than “the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). Satan has influenced every person who has ever been born, with the exception only of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Otherwise, Satan has corrupted the entire human family to the point that every human heart reflects his influence. Like Satan, our hearts have become deceitful and wicked.
God reminded Jeremiah that He continues to search and test us and hold us accountable for our actions. Eventually He will offer each human being a way back to life and to a relationship with Him. Only by acknowledging and repenting of our sins can we be forgiven. Only by seeking God’s truth and His righteousness can we receive the supernatural help we need to overcome our deceitful and wicked nature.
For more about how God will write His laws on our hearts, see “The 10 Commandments for Today.”
