Looking Inside

From time to time I hear myself saying something that I didn’t know before—something rather profound. This time it came as I listened to a recent recording of a song I wrote about eighteen months ago. The phrase was, "How can I see into tomorrow when I don’t even know my own heart?" The answer, I’m pretty sure, is "I can’t." But what is the answer to the reverse question? Can I see into tomorrow if I do know my own heart?

As I thought about this, I considered the people I know who seem to have the foggiest picture of the future. They seem also to be the ones who have the least clue about their own motives and character. I can look at my own past, as well, and see that as I’ve gotten more acquainted with my own heart, I’ve also seen a clearer picture of the future. It’s also as I’ve turned my heart, with which I’m acquainted, toward the Lord that I’ve seen the clearest picture of the future.

This happened to King David, also. One of the greatest revelations of his future that he ever saw came after he had set his heart to build a house for the Lord. In David’s case, it wasn’t about his own splendor, because he had already built his own living quarters, and I’m sure they were suitably grand. There was no competition, as there could be among modern pastors, vying to build the most impressive church in town. No, he genuinely wanted to build a permanent home for the Lord to live in, strictly as a service to the Lord.

On the heels of that, Nathan came to him with an amazing promise for David’s future. For the first time outside of the priesthood, God’s blessing and authority was to become hereditary. Moses’ sons didn’t inherit his leadership status, nor did the sons of any of the judges. More importantly, King Saul’s sons didn’t inherit his throne. Here, after David’s heart was opened to serve the Lord, the prophet came to tell him that the throne would not die with David. There would be a future. What David started wouldn’t stop—it would go on forever.

In much the same way, I recently took a huge leap of faith (for me) and emptied my coffers, leaving me nothing with which to finish my building project. It’s true that within a few days the Lord had abundantly replenished my supply, but that was the least of what He did. The more important was that He opened my eyes to tomorrow. Oddly enough, what I saw was my future in conjunction with the future of another person, which is something that had never happened before. Perhaps it was "unlawful to be uttered," as Paul’s visions were, but it was fabulous, nonetheless.

So if I can say anything of value, it would be this: you can’t see into tomorrow if you don’t know your own heart. Look inside, first.

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