Psalm 139: 23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” When was the last time you had an electrocardiogram or a heart examination by your physician? At my annual physical exam, my physician listens to my heart and takes my pulse and blood pressure to see if there are any suspected heart problems. He does not order an electrocardiogram for further examination unless he suspects a problem. However, a couple of weeks ago I had a heart flutter and palpitation that I wanted to ignore. I had no pain and had just run two miles, but my loving wife said, “No, you are going.” So off to the emergency room, we did go for a four-hour examination of my heart and waiting on the results of tests. Fortunately, I had no problems, and the electrocardiogram showed nothing more than my heart throwing a few extra beats common to a strong heart. The episode was caused by a lack of sleep, too busy a schedule, caffeine and nicotine from a cigar that I had the night before with my son-in-law. Google has all the answers. I am admitting to the cigar to show how many things that we do are not heart healthy and have consequences.

At church the next Sunday, we sang the song which included these words, “Break my heart for what breaks yours.” This made me think of how important it is for us to often ask the Lord to examine our hearts to expose our anxious thoughts and hurtful ways. Let him do an examination and electrocardiogram and then lead us in his way. Just as men do not like to go to a doctor for an examination and often neglect going, we neglect to go to our Savior for the same examination of our heart. Just as there were multiple factors that sent me to the emergency room, there are multiple things in our lives that contribute to spiritual heart issues. What if we started each day with a heart examination by praying our Scripture this week to him? Just like I have cut out the factors causing my heart concern, God will diagnose and prescribe what we need to do to be spiritually heart healthy. He is still the Great Physician who specializes in conditions of the heart. Do you have the courage to say to him, “Break my heart for what breaks your?”