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The Two Engravers

Are you aware that there are two parties who are desiring to write a message on your heart every moment of the day? They write their specific thoughts on the tablet of your heart in accordance with your will. Your heart then becomes the foundation for either one's thoughts, ideals, and principles. The two parties that we speak of are God and Satan.

We derive this idea of the engraving of our hearts from Hebrews 10:16 where God says - "THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAITH THE LORD, I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR HEARTS, AND IN THEIR MINDS WILL I WRITE THEM."

We see this same concept repeated throughout the Bible -

• Proverbs 3:3 says - "Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart."

• Proverbs 7:2-3 says - "Keep My commandments...Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart."

• Jeremiah 31:33 adds - "...this shall be the covenant...I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts..."

There is no question about it! God wants His Word to be in our hearts and to have top priority. As we read, study, and meditate on each Scripture, God is said to, in turn, write them upon the "table" or tablet of our hearts.

His Word is to be stored up in our hearts to the extent of our thoughts being constantly and decisively guided by its principles.

Our souls are to always be kept under its influence and impressions.
It is to be a definite and commanding principle in all of our decisions.

We are to not only know its verses but apply them to every area of our lives as well.

Just as someone dear unto us would be said to be "written on the tables of our hearts" even so is the Word to be esteemed, treasured, prized, and received.

We see this concept confirmed throughout the Scriptures -

• Deuteronomy 6:6 - "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart..."
  Psalm 37:31 - "The law of his God is in his heart..."

• Psalm 40:8 - "I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart."

• Psalm 119:11 - "Thy word have I hid in mine heart..."

• Psalm 119:98 - "...Thy commandments...they are ever with me."

• Proverbs 2:10 - "When wisdom entereth into thine heart..."

• Isaiah 51:7 - "...the people in whose heart is My law..."

• Colossians 3:16 - "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly..."

• 2 John 1:2 - "For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us..."

But we need not go any further to realize that there is someone else who is also writing on the "tablet" of men's hearts. That one is Satan.

Nowhere is this concept more clearly illustrated than in Jeremiah 17:1 which says - "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart..."

Here we see the deep-seated effect of sin on a person's heart.

Whenever we yield to Satan in temptation, he is said to legibly inscribe on our hearts with a "pen of iron" and the very sharp "point of a diamond" our own sin. In the case of Judah, their sin was idolatry.

The only way to remove this lasting imprint is through repentance - a complete turning from and forsaking of the sin - which calls for the Blood of Jesus to remove it.

This argument proves that our hearts are the vying ground for the Holy Spirit or for Satan. Either the tablets of our hearts are filled with the directives of God or Satan, depending on whom we yield to throughout the day.

The Scriptures abound with example after example of those who opened their hearts for God's inscriptions or for Satan's.

Ezra 7:27 tells us that God wrote a certain directive in the heart of King Artaxerxes to remodel the "house of the LORD" - "Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, Which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem."

Nehemiah 2:12 - God wrote the call in Nehemiah's heart to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall - "And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem..."

2 Corinthians 8:16 - He put it in the heart of Titus to rally together the Corinthian Church to collect the financial offering for the poor saints in Judea - "But thanks be to God, Which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you."

On the other hand, we see other Scriptures depicting how Satan wrote wicked and evil ideas, impressions, and inklings on various people's hearts.

In John 13:2, we read about how he wrote the evil idea on the tablet of Judas' heart to betray Jesus - "And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him." Because Judas loved money more than God, he fell prey to this demonic influence and, in turn, became the instrument of treachery against the very Son of God.

In Acts 5:3, we read of Ananias' yielding to the devil's power by lying to the Holy Ghost concerning his sold property - "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?"

Other Scriptural examples of Satan's insidious engravings on men's hearts can be seen in such verses as -

Genesis 3:13 - "And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat."
1 Chronicles 21:1 - "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel."

It is interesting to note that there was one on whose heart the devil was not able to inscribe his wicked ideas or notions. That Someone was the very Son of God - the Lord Jesus Christ.

When he came to the Master, "waving" his "pen of iron" with the "point of a diamond," Jesus refuted him with the Word of God, saying - "It is written..."

In this example, the Scriptures are seen as the most effective weapon against Satan's "pen of iron."
Fill your heart with the Word of God, and this adversary will never be able to write his words upon your heart.

Daily, we are faced with the situation whereby we are either allowing God to write upon the tablet of our hearts or Satan.

Is it any wonder that in Proverbs 4:23, Solomon strongly admonished us to "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life"?

What he was actually saying here was that above all thy keeping or more than any thing else in your life - certainly, definitely, and absolutely "keep thy heart."

Whatever you do, don't let down your guard for one minute.
Take heed to your spirit at all times. Maintain a strict watch on your affections and emotions.

At this very moment, someone is writing something on your heart.
Is it Jesus or Satan?

May God Bless His Word.
Connie

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