Day 85, Year 1

Making Decisions with Your Heart

“A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, but a fool’s heart at his left.” (Ecclesiastes 10:2 NKJV)

“The right hand of the LORD is exalted; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly.” (Psalm 118:16 NASB)

One core of transforming from foolishness to wisdom is to think deliberately and make decisions with our hearts. The first verse of today speaks of the position of the “heart,” not in a biological sense, but rather in the Israelites’ understanding of “left” and “right.” According to the second verse, power, action, help, or protection originated from the right side. Contrarily, the left side is subordinate, inferior, and a follower. In other words, wise people value their own hearts and view them as their source of power. 

In contrast, foolish people’s hearts are subordinate and followers, perhaps habitually following their lusts and impulses. There could be many reasons why some people do not value their hearts. For instance, some are too concerned about the opinions of others, or goals, money, and achievements they pursue. Conversely, we need to value and seek heartfelt understanding so as to value and comprehend the spiritual and useful truths, thereby becoming wise.

In addition to seeking delicacies that turn one’s heart to be “waxed gross” as mentioned before, the use of the heart is often overlooked in secularized societies. Take the education systems of some developed regions as an example, students are repeatedly asked to memorize, comprehend, and apply. Throughout this process, they only use their minds to consider how and what, but rarely use their hearts to ponder why in their syllabi. Their thinking process often becomes superficial and worldly without stepping back and asking why. Hence, their hearts remain underutilized and undeveloped.

Similarly, this world has too many things that could lead people to addiction or indulgence, causing their hearts to be blinded, desensitized, or numbed, and eventually making them foolish.

Thus, we need to seek the right hand of God to save and liberate us so that our hearts can be awakened. Indeed, the works of God’s right hand are countless. When we are willing to pay attention to His works, we may receive His abundant wisdom and power from them, thereby abandoning our foolishness and embarking on His path of wisdom and power. We also need to value our hearts and remove everything that blinds them as much as possible, so we can always seek, understand, receive, and follow God’s work from our hearts.

Reflection questions:

1) According to the verses of today, is your heart currently on your “left” or “right” side? What is the proof?

2) If someone’s upbringing and education have caused their hearts to be on the “left” side, how would you help them?