Don’t Open your Heart to Strangers
By: Alan Smith
Proverbs 12:25: Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad. (NKJV)
Have you ever had an arrow shot into your heart? I’m not talking about a physical arrow, but one that hits the very heart of your soul. If you think about it, I’m sure you have. Sometimes we open our hearts to the wrong spirits. These spirits take on the appearance of friends that are kind, loving, and very understanding; but for some reason they always leave us feeling sad and unfulfilled. In truth they are our enemies sent from the dark side, shooting an arrow into our hearts. How can we identify one of these arrows? Well, let’s look at the one called ANXIETY.
Anxiety is stealth in its activity and it is a deadly killer to our souls: it just keeps on hurting. Once the anxiety is in us, our human soul becomes acclimated to its presence and we begin to call it a friend. Now, before we go any further, let’s take a minute to look at the Hebrew word for anxiety. It is OT: (daw-aw'); a primitive root; to dart, i.e. fly rapidly; (deh-aw-gaw'); from OT: anxiety: fear, heaviness, sorrow (KJV). As we look into this meaning, we see that this arrow of anxiety “flies rapidly” into our hearts. I know I have felt this one before, have you? First the arrow must enter our hearts. It enters through openings called “doors” of the heart. A door can let things in or it can let things out. Some things that come into our hearts we need; but some things we do not need. Anxiety is the name of the arrow and it has been dipped into poisons called heaviness and sorrow. Slowly, these two deadly poisons destroy our spiritual nervous system. We become weary and heavy laden, and then we begin to walk in our own strength and knowledge and wisdom. Before we know it, our trust is not in God, and the heaviness and sorrow increase. It is important that we understand here that this anxiety, dipped in heaviness and sorrow, is usually induced by fear—fear we cannot see. So, from the Hebrew meaning above, who is fear?
Fear is the one that knocks at the door. Let me show you the dialogue that occurs when he tries to enter into our hearts. Fear says, “Knock, Knock.” “Who’s there?” I ask. “The spirit of Fear,” he replies. “May I come in?” “You certainly may not,” I reply with a good religious yell! “I am a Christian and I do not let spirits like you into my heart.” “I have a gift to deliver to you,” he says. “Just open your door a little and I will hand it over to you. I promise you will not even see me.” If he promises I will not even see him, he must be honest. I have heard this voice before, so it must be fine. I finally reply, “Okay, come in.” As I slowly open the door of my heart, a package appears and lands in a dark corner that has been prepared to receive it. It is a vacant place in my heart in which no one else resides. I walk over and pick it up. I cannot believe how heavy this package is. Suddenly, there is a black substance that starts oozing from the package. It has a horrendous odor and it makes a stain that I cannot remove. I begin to work diligently to scrub and clean the stain, but nothing seems to remove the smell or the stain of sorrow that I am now experiencing. Sadness overcomes me for fear this smell and stain will always be with me. I feel so hopeless and alone; anxiously trying to determine what to do. How did this happen; how could I have let this spirit enter into my heart? I need help, so I begin to cry out aloud to God. “God, if you are real and if you are out there, please help me. I feel so dirty and so forsaken. Please help me!” He replies, “I have always been here. It is my greatest joy to help you. The very fact that I created you is proof that I love you already.” Now I begin to sense a little hope. God is hearing my cry, and perhaps He can help me get rid of the smell and the stain. I turn to Him and ask, “What must I do to get out of this trap?” “Only trust”, He replies. “But trust what?” I ask with tears flowing down my face. Then, with the kindest words I have ever heard, He says, “Just trust Me; trust that I can change this smell into a fragrance that smells like roses, and that I can clean the stain whiter than snow. Just trust me to finish this work that I have begun in you. Just let me in when I knock. Just receive my gift of Grace, dear child.” ”Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20) Let’s not open the doors of our hearts to strangers, but only to the ones that truly love us.
Just a thought for today!
Alan
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