Cure for the Hurried Heart

Attention deficit disorder is real!  I know this, even suffer with it at times.  Many children are given medication to help with the problem but back in the day, the problem was easily resolved in other ways: a good thump on the noggin, a solid yank of the hair, or a strategically placed whack with a yard stick.  Trust me, these worked well!

 

Go ahead and cringe the next time you hear someone say "follow your heart."  I wonder about the person who first said those words, and where he is today.  When I follow my heart, I end up in terribly nasty places - mentally, emotionally, and [worst of all] spiritually.  Aside from God telling us the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), the heart will never – by default or on its own – lead us to God.  J. P. Greaves wrote, "It is only with the pious affection of the will that we can be spiritually attentive to God."  An act of the will - personal deliberation and discipline - is what is required to become and be attentive.  One of our boys took medication for ADD and although it helped, there was a marked change in his personality: his carefree and bubbly personally was exchanged for quiet seriousness. Clearly, we didn't care for medication as a solution.  In contrast, however, for the heart that tends to wander from its Creator because of worldly distractions, there is a healthy cure: "Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord." (Zechariah 2:13).  Oh, how I need moments of silence in my life. I imagined once my children were grown, I would have fewer distractions; my oh my, was I wrong.  Satan is no respecter of seasons of life - he works nonstop to interrupt and detour us from God's presence!  F. W. Faber wrote, "[God] is always whispering to us, but we do not always hear, because of the noise, hurry, and distraction which life causes as it rushes on."  We must see that we do not refuse "Him that speaketh" (Hebrews 12:52).  Don't count on your heart to slow you down or draw you near to God's presence - ain't gonna happen!  "Be earth, with all her scenes, withdraw -- Let noise and vanity be gone -- In secret silence of the mind - My heaven, and there my God, I find." (Isaac Watts).  Let us turn away from all things except the one needful thing: as Jesus said of Mary who chose to sit at His feet, to be near to her Lord - "... one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:42).  One of my favorite hymns from childhood encourages me to apply this wonderful medicine for my soul:  "Sitting at the feet of Jesus - Where I love to kneel and pray - Trusting in His grace and mercy - To drive the shadows from my way." Find some time, some place, today [each day] to cure the hurried heart.  Seek and find Him!