As we think in our hearts, so we are

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Did you ever notice that people in God's Word often "think to themselves," "say to themselves," or think or speak in their hearts?

They aren't speaking out loud to anyone. They're considering something on the inside, and only they and the Lord really know what's going on within them.

For as (a person) thinketh in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7

It may sound strange to hear that someone thinks in their heart, since science would tell us differently, but the Bible makes clear that the heart is the ultimate decision-maker of the soul.

It's with the heart that we either accept or reject the Lord.

LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. Psalm 15:1-2

Our hearts can and will lie to us and mislead us. At least some of what's in our hearts is dangerous to us.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

But David knew to talk back to his heart, speaking the truth of God's Word in his heart, just as Jesus used God's Word to speak back to Satan when tempted by him in the wilderness.

Without faith in the Lord, people have no defense against the lies of their hearts, and the wicked are especially open to deception.

They agree with the evil advice of their hearts.

He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it. Psalm 10:6,11

David also understood that his heart was so dangerous that he not only needed to talk back to it using the weapon of God's Word, but needed the Lord's protection from it too.

He knew he couldn't see the silent sin within his heart that well, but that the Lord does. He appealed to the Lord to protect him from himself, and to find and destroy the evil within him which he couldn't see.

Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. Psalm 19:12-14

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

Sometimes in God's Word we seem to be shown the deceptive heart in action. God shows us the wickedness that the people aren't aware of themselves. In the parable of the unjust judge, Jesus reveals what was going on in the heart of this judge who didn't care about God or man.

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. Luke 18:1-5

It's doubtful that the unjust judge ever clearly said in his mind something like, "though I fear not God, nor regard man..."

Instead, his heart thought that but deceived him, making his evil actions and attitudes sound noble to him. And he still probably told himself that he was justified while he mistreated and cheated people.

But the unjust judge couldn't fool the Lord, who sees perfectly in the darkness, hears the counsels of the heart, and promises to judge them one day.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Hebrews 4:12-13

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. 1 Corinthians 4:5

Wickedness in the heart begins with denying God.

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

We usually apply this verse to atheists, but it actually would seem to include any unbelief in the heart.

For instance, when the angel Gabriel visited Zacharias and told him that his wife Elizabeth would miraculously conceive a son, Zacharias doubted.

And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. Luke 1:18-20

Zacharias believed in the Lord and was a faithful, blameless man, but at that moment when Gabriel told him what God was going to do, his heart said to him, "there is no God," and he believed it. The foolish unbelief in his heart got him to forget God, and Gabriel made him unable to speak until after his son's birth because of that unbelief.

Like Zacharias, and also Jesus' own disciples, who while He was with them, squabbled with each other and began to jockey for position among themselves, sometimes envied each other, and as Peter did when he said he wouldn't abandon Jesus on the night He was betrayed, boasted of their own faith, we will still have some unbelief in our hearts, as long as we're in this life.

And like David understood, the answer to unbelief in our hearts isn't in something we can do, but on whom we choose to depend - ourselves or the Lord.

When we come to accept Jesus as our Savior, He gives us a new heart:

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. Ezekiel 36:26-27

The answer when we find ourselves having fallen for the unbelief in our hearts is to keep pressing on by the measure of faith that we do have.

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14

And we can be confident that we can go to the Lord for what we need to keep our faith alive:

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16