One of the most frantic calls a towing service ever receives is from a cement truck company: “We’ve got a fully loaded mixer broken down at Main and Blossom! We need you there ASAP!” Because when that drum stops turning, the concrete sets up fast! And if the concrete sets up in the drum, someone has to get inside that mixer drum and chisel out the concrete… with a jackhammer! Can you say, “Earplugs!”?
Have you ever set posts in concrete only to realize the next day that your measurements were off?
Images like those flash across my mind when I come across a phrase in the Bible about setting our hearts.
David challenged the leaders of Israel, “Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God…” 1
Even though their countrymen forsook the Lord, “many from the tribes of Israel set their hearts on seeking the Lord…” 2
“King Rehoboam did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.” 3
“If riches increase, do not set your heart on them.” 4
An apparent quality of our hearts is that they can be set. And like concrete, set hearts don’t budge easily. That can be good. If our hearts are set rightly we’re not easily moved from our position. But if our hearts are set wrongly, it may take a jackhammer to fix things.
Heavenly Father, because we recognize our natural tendencies, our weaknesses, and even our lack of holy desire, we’re asking You to supernaturally enable us to “set our hearts on seeking You.”
1 1 Chronicles 22:19
2 2 Chronicles 11:16
3 2 Chronicles 12:14
4 Psalm 62:10