HEBREW WORD STUDY – CONFINEMENT – SHAMAR שמר Shin Mem Resh

Proverbs 4:23: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

Last evening I watched a documentary on the history of espionage.  They said that the most effective tool an intelligence agency can use is that of sex.  In other words they train a man or woman in the art of seduction and turn them loss on an ambassador, a key business man, politician or whoever they are trying to secure secret information.  These trained operatives target the individual and get them to fall in love with them.  The documentary said that it was much more effective to reveal information out of love than threats or blackmail. 

No wonder King Solomon warned to watch your heart.  As a king having six hundred wives and concubines he knew first hand how easy it was to let the beans out of the bag with someone you are smitten with (I think that is cat out the bag. You spill your cookies, or is it beans, no its…forget it).  

Out of your heart are the issues of life. The word issues in Hebrew is totsaah which comes from the root word yatsa’ which is a word used to make an exit, to go out into public or results.  What flows from your heart will bring the results in your life.  In the Akkadian the word is used for the rising of the sun. The first thing that comes out of you is the expressions of your heart.  One translation calls it the source of your life which flows from year heart.  The word heart is lev which represents your mind, thoughts, will and affections which are the immediate cause of your actions. 

When you speak with your heart you are expressing the reality of what you believe and think. The word keep as in keeping your heart is the word nasor which means to closely watch, guard and protect your heart. There are fund raisers which show pictures of children in third world nations who are starving and living in squalor.  You see that and you respond from your heart by sending a donation. I don’t believe Solomon is warning against that, what he is warning is just going with your heart without doing your homework.  You may learn that 75%  of your donation is going to pay for the photographers, the literature, postage, with the biggest cut going to the president of the organization.   If your heart still says to go with it, then follow your heart. At least your heart knows the true facts which it does not know without the nasor or guard at the door of  your heart. 

King Solomon instructs that we guard our hearts with all diligence.  The word diligence in Hebrew is shamar which is the word for a jail or prison, to keep in confinement.  We are to keep our hearts in confinement and be careful when and to whom we share our hearts. As the victims of those seductive spies learn all too well.  When they find themselves in handcuffs, they are wishing over and over that it they had kept their hearts prisoners rather than becoming a prisoner themselves by setting their hearts free without a nasor or guard. 

You see God has set that example, for He too guards His heart. Psalms 25:14: “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him;”  God will only reveal the secrets of His heart to those who fear Him. There are about three words in Hebrew for fear. This word is yara’ which is a fear of offending someone, hurting them, wounding their heart or even breaking their heart.  If a husband shows his wife that he is fearful of breaking her heart, she will reveal the secrets of her heart to her husband so he will know what not to do.  However, she is taking a great risk in revealing those secrets for if their relationship really goes South and her husband may become vindictive and really hurt her, she has given him the ammunition he needs to really break her heart. The key to the successful spy who is going to seduce his or her target is to win the absolute trust of the target.  In the end that target person will experience the ultimate in betrayal learning that he or she was just used by their lover. 

So too, with God. God is taking a big risk in loving you. When you love someone you are opening yourself up a world of hurt if you give you love to the wrong person.  So too, God is taking big risk loving you, but He feels it is worth it, it is worth risking a broken heart. 

However, if God cannot completely trust you, do you really think He will reveal His secrets to you?  We are created in His imagine. God wants a relationship like we long to have a relationship with another person. A relationship built of absolute trust, where you know you can say anything you want and you will know it will be kept secret. You can have a bad day and do or say things and yet your are confident that that relationship will still remain solid.  

We constantly hear sermons about trusting God and how important it is to trust in Him. But I rarely hear a sermon where we need to prove to God that he can trust us. That He can reveal His secrets to us and we will guard those secrets in our heart and not allow anything, any issue of life leave our hearts that may knowingly break God’s hearts. 

If a wife reveals to her husband; “It would break my heart to think you are viewing pornography” A husband could use that bit of knowledge to be vindictive to his wife or to carefully make sure he does not view pornography to protect the heart of the one he loves.  The same way God may reveal to you: “It will break my heart if you participate in certain behavior” what do you do?  Do you think: “Oh, He is God, it is not big deal, He will forgive me.”  Or do we say: “God, I love you so much, as much as I would like to participate in this behavior I don’t want to break your heart so I will not do it.” 

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