An Undecided Heart

[Psalm 78:23-41]

This past Monday, I took my mother to the hospital. She underwent MRI and CT scans. When she was having the MRI, the door to the room where the doctor and technician were was open, so I was able to briefly see my mother’s image on the monitor. They said the results would take some time to come out. Thinking about my mother undergoing MRI and CT scans to diagnose whether her body is healthy or if she has some illness, I reflected on how the body can be diagnosed medically using such methods, but how can we diagnose the human heart? When I thought about that, I realized that we can diagnose our hearts through the Word of the Bible.

In James 1:7-8, the apostle James says, “Such a person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They are double-minded and unstable in all they do.” He teaches that an unhealthy heart is a double-minded and undecided heart. Double-mindedness means a divided and confused heart, and an undecided heart is one that inevitably wavers. Such a heart is full of untruths and creates constant instability and unpredictable circumstances. Because this heart is not whole or healthy, it is easily hurt, discouraged, and broken. This kind of heart is weak and cannot overcome the many stresses of life, leading to a meaningless and lethargic life rather than a healthy and vigorous one. It is a sick heart. Therefore, Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

In today’s Scripture, Psalm 78:37, the psalmist speaks about the undecided heart: “For their heart was not steadfast with God, nor were they faithful in his covenant.” What does it mean that the hearts of the Israelites were not steadfast? It means “their spirit was not loyal to God” (verse 8). In other words, an undecided heart refers to an unfaithful heart. This unfaithful heart is neither loyal to God’s covenant nor can it be loyal (verse 37). I want to meditate on this undecided heart in three ways, hoping that this will be an opportunity for us to diagnose our own hearts. Therefore, I pray that we can lay our diagnosed hearts before God the Father, repent, be purified, and experience the transformation into a steadfast heart.

First, an undecided heart follows selfish desires.

Look at Psalm 78:30:
“They did not turn away from their cravings; even while the food was still in their mouths.”
The psalmist warns the people of Israel not to sin by using their ancestors as a mirror. In doing so, he specifically points out the sin of greed among their forefathers:
“They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved” (v.18).
How did the forefathers of Israel test God with their greed during the exodus?
Look at Psalm 78:19–20:
“They spoke against God, saying, ‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness? True, He struck the rock and water gushed out, streams flowed abundantly, but can He also give us bread? Can He supply meat for His people?’”
The ancestors of Israel doubted God’s power.
Even though God was fiercely angry at them, He commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, raining down manna to feed them and giving them the bread of heaven (vv.23–24).
Is this not the grace of God?
To these ancestors who deserved punishment in His wrath, God “still” opened the heavens and rained down manna.
God abundantly provided food to the Israelites who tested Him (v.25).
And with His power (v.26), He rained meat down like dust (v.27), so that the people of Israel ate and were filled (v.29).
God gave them manna according to their desires (v.29).
Nevertheless, they did not turn away from their cravings (v.30).
They sinned both when they lacked food and when they had plenty—truly obstinate people.
Therefore, God brought judgment upon them (see Numbers 11:33–35; Psalm 78:31) (according to Pak Yun-sun).

James 1:15 says:
“Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
Greed inevitably gives birth to death.
Yet human desire seems to have no end.
The very nature of human greed is that it is never satisfied.

Last week, I visited a Christian bookstore for church matters and came across a book titled “Extraordinary Hope” (author: Hee-Dae Lee).
Since it was related to cancer, I bought it and read it.
The author, a cancer specialist, had suffered from cancer himself and was healed by God’s grace. This made me even more interested in reading his book.
While reading about how he went from stage 4 cancer to what he called “stage 5 life” prepared by God, I became particularly intrigued by his description of cancer cells.
According to the author, cancer cells are those whose genetic code, which should cause them to go through cycles of growth and death, becomes mutated—so that they never die and continue to grow endlessly.
What makes cancer so frightening, he says, is that these cells take all the nutrients from other healthy cells for themselves.
In other words, cancer cells roam the body, constantly stealing high-calorie nutrients, hoarding them and growing unchecked.
In short, the author says, the essence of cancer cells is greed.

We must abandon greed.
While living in this world that constantly fuels our desires, we must daily—and moment by moment—lay down the greed that stirs within us at the foot of the cross.
Like our Lord Jesus, we must continually empty our hearts.
We must lay it down, and lay it down again.
And we must fill our hearts with the heart of Jesus.
We must learn the secret of being content with Christ alone.
Because of the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:23) and the inseparable love of God (Romans 8:38–39), we must give thanks in all things.
Therefore, we must no longer allow greed—like a cancer cell—to govern our hearts.

Secondly, an unstable heart does not believe in God.

Look at Psalm 78:32:
“In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.”
Although God, during the Exodus, opened the doors of heaven and graciously poured out abundant manna to the Israelites, their greed could not be satisfied.
Even after receiving punishment under God's wrath due to their insatiable greed (v. 31), the Israelites continued to sin and did not believe in God's wondrous works (v. 32).
Ultimately, they sinned against God because of their greed.
When lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin.
That sin is unbelief.
The psalmist identifies the sin of the Israelites during the Exodus this way:
“For they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance” (v. 22).
Although God had performed many wonders for them—from the Red Sea to the wilderness—they still did not believe in Him or trust in His salvation. As a result, God was furious with them (v. 21).
He caused their days to vanish like a breath and their years to pass in terror (v. 33).
It was only then that they earnestly sought God and remembered that God was their Rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer (vv. 34–35).

In John 20:30–31, the apostle John writes that Jesus performed many other signs besides those recorded in his Gospel, and he explains why:
“But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Jesus told the people that if they didn’t believe in Him, they should at least believe because of the works He did (John 10:38, 14:11).

The words of the risen Jesus to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:25 are true and applicable to us:
“How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”
Indeed, we are slow to believe the Word of God.
But Paul speaks clearly about this slowness to believe:
“…everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)
Therefore, for the progress of our faith, we must diligently listen to the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).
As a result, we must no longer be those who live only on milk and cannot eat solid food (Hebrews 5:12).
We must no longer be those who have not experienced the word of righteousness (v. 13).
Rather, we must become mature, those who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (v. 14).

Third, a heart that is not steadfast speaks lies.

Look at Psalm 78:36:
“But they flattered Him with their mouths and lied to Him with their tongues.”
When the people of Israel sinned against God because they did not believe in Him, God became angry with them.
At that time, the Bible says they turned back and earnestly sought God (v. 34), but in truth, their repentance was nothing more than flattery.
In other words, their repentance was fruitless, and in God's eyes, it was merely a form of lip service and hypocrisy.

Two reasons are pointed out for why their repentance turned into flattery before God:
First, because their repentance was not God-centered but entirely motivated by self-interest;
Second, it was only an outward attempt to please God, without any sincere grief over their sin from the heart (according to Park Yoon-Sun).

Regarding this tendency of the Israelites, the prophet Isaiah said:
“The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based merely on human rules they have been taught.’” (Isaiah 29:13)
In the end, while their lips seemed to honor the Lord, their hearts were far from Him.
This unstable, unfaithful heart ultimately led them to be unfaithful to the covenant with God (Psalm 78:37).

But what is truly astonishing is God’s faithful grace toward this unfaithful people.
Look at Psalm 78:38-39:
“Yet He, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; He restrained His anger often and did not stir up all His wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.”
God knew that these people who lied and sinned were but flesh, a fleeting wind that passes and does not return, and so He turned from His anger and, in His mercy, forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them.

Nevertheless, the Israelites continued to sin against God:
“How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.” (vv. 40–41)
They forgot God's grace and mercy, continually testing and grieving Him.

Yesterday, during the early morning prayer service, I meditated on Revelation 14:5:
“No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.”
This verse speaks of those who have been redeemed and belong to God and the Lamb — the symbolic 144,000 children of God — and says no lie was found in their mouths.
This refers to having truthful speech and conduct (according to Park Yoon-Sun).

Proverbs 6:16–17 tells us that one of the things God hates is “a lying tongue.”
Therefore, we must put away deceitful speech.
As those who have been redeemed, we must not lie.
In other words, we must have hearts and tongues that are honest and true.

God “turned His anger away many times” (Psalm 78:38), but the people of Israel grieved Him “many times” (v. 40). While God did not pour out all His wrath, the Israelites, on the other hand, poured out all their greed and sinned against Him.
In other words, while God restrained His wrath, the Israelites during the Exodus did not restrain their covetousness.
God “nevertheless” (v. 23) showed mercy and compassion to the people of Israel, but the Israelites “nevertheless” (v. 32) sinned against God and did not believe in His wondrous works.
The Israelites were not faithful to God’s covenant (v. 37), but God remained faithful to His covenant.
The hearts of the Israelites were not steadfast toward God, but God loved His people Israel with a steadfast heart.

Somehow, we can see God’s faithful, covenantal love pursuing the people of Israel—even as they pursued sin.
A heart that experiences this faithful love of God will serve Him with an ever more steadfast heart.
Instead of greed, it will be content with Jesus alone.
It will believe in God’s works, trust in His salvation, and live a life that glorifies Him with a sincere heart and tongue.

From someone with an unsteadfast heart toward God,

Reflections by Pastor James Kim
(With a heart full of gratitude for God’s faithful grace toward a sinner like me)