the heart of the matter

Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

It is my desire to get back to the study that we had begun in Ecclesiastes and continue to try to glean truth from there. You can review the previous six devotions in the history of this blog if you would like.

the first statement in this verse is what we want to meditate on today, that being here Solomon notes that "I said in mine heart" The heart in the Bible in this context is not speaking about the organ in your chest, but rather it is synonymous with the soul of man. the soul is your intellect(how you think, Prov. 23:7), your will (such as in this passage), and your emotions (I Kings 11:3-4, Solomons heart was turned because of his emotions).

It is common to hear people say, follow your heart, however that is a dangerous prospect according to the Bible. It says in Jeremiah 17:9 that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it. Solomons problems began when he stoped following the direct Word of God that he had received, and the Godly wisdom that had been given to him, and began to follow his heart instead.

We should be careful that we never let our hearts lead us away from the Lord and deceive us.