You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might
The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip. (Psalms 37:31 NASB)
I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart." (Psalms 40:8 NASB)
It has been taught that that law is written in the hearts of the believers and while certainly this teaching is true, it has been taught that this is limited to Christians, not those prior to Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (those folks in the Old Testament). Interestingly enough, there is scripture that shows that the law of God is in the heart of those prior to Jesus coming to earth and prior to the Holy Spirit indwelling the Christian.
The whole of the law hinges or hangs upon the commandments: "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:5 NASB)
The first commandment, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" is the key to having the law of God in your heart. Without the love of God in your heart, mind, and soul is simply obeying His commandments by rote. We only need look at the Pharisees to see where that got them. (Leviticus 19:18 NASB) (Matthew 22:39).
We are taught many things growing up whether or not we come from a Christian home. We are taught to not lie, steal, murder, etc. no matter what type of background we may come from. Yet, these are all God’s laws. Even in Old Testament times, in pagan countries, those that worshipped false gods, had these basic teachings. These are the laws of God.
It is also taught that once a person becomes a Christian, that somehow, the laws of God are automatically known to them in their heart (written in their heart). Many of the laws of God are already known to us such as do not murder, do not steal, etc. I inherently knew certain acts were wrong. It did not take my conversion in Christ to know that murder, theft, lies, etc. were wrong actions, I just knew.
By the same token, there were laws that I did not know were forbidden just because I became a Christian. For instance, I had to read in scripture that to covet was an act that was wrong. I did not realize that this was so important to God that He placed it in the 10 commandments. I would not have known that God desires and commands us to pray for our enemies. I did not automatically know that upon my conversion.
So what does it mean to have the law written upon our hearts? Obviously, God does not place all knowledge about His laws in our minds the moment we convert. Unless one is raised in a Christian home, one does not automatically come into full knowledge about His laws the moment we are born again and the Holy Spirit indwells us. Some laws we just inherently know from our. "For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them," (Romans 2:14-15 NASB)
To have the law upon our hearts or written upon our hearts means that God’s laws are internalized in us. "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. (Deuteronomy 6:6 NASB) I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart." (Psalms 40:8 NASB) We internalize His laws because we love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and soul. His law becomes written on our heart, that is, we internalize His law. God does not impute this knowledge to us at the moment of conversion. If that were the case, there would have been no need for God to produce scripture as it would all be automatically within our knowledge base at the moment of conversion. We have no excuse to not know what He expects of us. They are all written out if we take the time to read His word.
This brings back the question, was the law written on the hearts of those in the Old Testament. God commanded the children of Israel to love Him with all their hearts, mind and soul. This is not a commandment such as do not murder (which any person can keep). It is a commandment of the heart. God would not require His children to keep a commandment of their heart that they were incapable of keeping. We only need to look at David; a person that God said was after His own heart. "But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." (1 Samuel 13:14 NASB).
Yet, we all know what David did; he committed adultery and murdered which God, in His omniscience, knew would happen before it happened. Despite that knowledge, God still said David was a man after His own heart and appointed him a ruler. Because David loved the Lord with all his being, he confessed and we only need to read the Psalms of David to realize his anguish over what he did. David did not need to open up a book to read that he committed sins, David knew. David stated, "Your Law is within my heart."
So the question is what does God write on our hearts? The argument that no Christian argues is "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and love your neighbor as yourself." It is upon these two great commandments that the rest of the law hinges. By that, it means that without these two commandments, anything that we do is meaningless.
What is the difference between David who committed two despicable sins and someone else that God punished by taking his life? Again, it comes to what is in the heart – the absolute love of the Lord our God with all that we have.
When we are born again, for we are under the New Covenant, He writes these two laws upon our hearts. And based on these two laws, we have a desire and to obey the rest of His laws – a Christian’s desire to not lie should not be based upon fear of getting caught in a lie, it should be based upon pleasing Him that saved us from destruction. This desire is internalized in us. We should follow His commandments based upon the two greatest commandments which are written on the hearts of all Christians.
This is not a new teaching under the New Covenant. These two commandments were written upon the hearts of those that followed the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob under the Old Covenant.
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Photo: Sunset Sky by Anna Cervova
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