Desperately wicked: The heart is not only deceitful, but also wicked - and desperately so. Many have been led to rebellion, disobedience, and great sorrow by following their heart, without challenging their heart and judging it by the measure of God's truth. "Follow your heart" is poor advice when the heart is desperately wicked. (Guzik)
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Thus says the LORD:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
“I the LORD search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Below is commentary from David Guzik on this pasage:
a. The heart is deceitful above all things: To this point the Prophet Jeremiah has given some reason to be cautious about the inclinations and direction of the heart. He noted how the evil heart of the people of Judah had led them astray.
· Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart (Jeremiah 11:8)
· They prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart (Jeremiah 14:14)
· Each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me (Jeremiah 16:12)
b. The heart is deceitful above all things: Our hearts often deceive us, presenting heart-fulfillment as the key to happiness. What we desire is often not what we need. The advice "be true to your heart" fails when the heart is deceitful above all things.
i. "In the OT usage the heart signifies the total inner being and includes reason. From the heart come action and will." (Feinberg)
ii. "The pravity and perversity of the man's heart, full of harlotry and creature confidence, deceiving and being deceived, is here plainly and plentifully described; and oh that it were duly and deeply considered." (Trapp)
c. And desperately wicked: The heart is not only deceitful, but also wicked - and desperately so. Many have been led to rebellion, disobedience, and great sorrow by following their heart, without challenging their heart and judging it by the measure of God's truth. "Follow your heart" is poor advice when the heart is desperately wicked.
i. The sense of the Hebrew for desperately wicked seems to have sickness more than depravity in mind. "Unregenerate human nature is in a desperate condition without divine grace, described by the term gravely ill in verse 9 (rsv desperately corrupt, neb desperately sick)." (Harrison)
d. Who can know it? The heart's deceit and wickedness are advanced enough that even the individual may not know or understand their own heart, and outsiders have even more difficulty in discerning the heart of others.
e. I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind: Though knowing the heart of one's self or others is difficult and sometimes impossible, God searches, tests, and knows the heart and mind. It is wise to trust what God says about us more than what we think or feel about ourselves.
i. I test the mind: "A second word is here set in parallel to heart, literally, 'kidneys', hidden depths. These, Yahweh assays or 'tests'…the two terms 'heart' and 'kidneys' cover the range of hidden elements in man's character and personality. Nothing is hidden from Yahweh." (Thomspon)
ii. "The Lord is called by his apostles, Acts 1:24, kardiognwsthv, the Knower of the heart. To him alone can this epithet be applied; and it is from him alone that we can derive that instruction by which we can in any measure know ourselves." (Clarke)
