Having a Heart Attack

Man looks at the outward appearance,

but the LORD looks at the heart.

                    1 Samuel 16:7 NIV

     Medical research tells us that our body’s system of blood vessels, arteries, veins and capillaries is over sixty thousand miles long—enough to wrap the earth more than twice. Every minute, our heart pumps approximately five quarts of blood—two thousand gallons each day. If our heart stops, we die.

     The Bible tells us that our heart is the seat of our emotions from which we can devise good or evil; filled with love or hate. Our heart can be deceitful (Hosea 10:2) Ezekiel talks about having a heart of stone (Ezekiel 11:19) and in Psalm 86:11, David asks God for an undivided heart.

     Then in Proverbs 4:23, Solomon gives a warning about the heart when he writes, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (NIV)

     Guard, watch, protect, preserve, keep your heart in good working order. It is the “wellspring”—meaning it is the end, the limit, the starting point, the producer of who we are and what we do. Guard it!

     Over a lifetime, many things may attack your heart. Desire can attack your heart and force a decision for right or wrong. Dreams for your future may attack your heart requiring you to choose between God’s path or your own. Emotional pain may attack your heart calling to you to sequester yourself from a world of heartache.

     Heart attacks are satan’s specialty. But God, who formed you in your mother’s womb, who saw your yet unformed body, who ordained the days of your life (Psalm 139) is the same God who causes the heart to pump two thousand gallons of blood each day. He is the same God who connected sixty thousand miles of arteries, vessels, and veins to an organ weighing a few ounces.

     He is the same God who gives us the prescription for surviving and thriving during an emotional or spiritual heart attack: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30 NIV)

     Are you having a heart attack? Trust God! He is the same God who formed your heart, knows your heart and can heal your heart.

© Joyce Powell