Apr
30
The Lord Weighs the Heart
Filed by Becky Albrecht Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
A group of women from Grace and Peace Presbyterian Church, along with some friends, have been gathering together on Tuesday evenings in Pottstown, PA, to view and learn from a DVD series from Peacemaker’s Ministries. The video series, by Tara Barthel, is Living the Gospel in Relationships.
As we talked at the study about “heart issues”, I was reminded of a short story written by Mrs. Jean Shaw in her book Second Cup of Coffee.
The verse about which Mrs. Shaw writes is Proverbs 21:2. “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
She illustrates the verse with the following story:
When Will came home with the news that he had been promoted to vice-president, Barbara’s first thought was Oyster Bay. She didn’t say it out loud, of course, but with Will’s increase in salary they could afford to move to a bigger house. Not that Osprey Park wasn’t nice. They had lived there for ten years. Will had put in a fabulous vegetable garden, screened in the patio, and even remodeled the kitchen. But Oyster Bay had class.
Will wouldn’t want to move. He liked being settled. Barbara decided not to say anything right now. She would pray about the matter–ask the Lord for a sign.
A week later Doris Brewer called from Palms Realty. “Barbara, you told me a year ago how much you wanted to move to Oyster Bay. I just got word that there’s a house on the outer circle. Would you like to give it a look before everyone else does?” The Lord had given Barbara her first sign.
The house was beautiful. Four large bedrooms, patio with pool, even a boat dock. The children would love it. But how could she convince Will? Barbara prayed again, “Lord, prepare his heart.”
That night after dinner, Barbara asked Will how his mother was doing. “Not too well. She tires so easily. She seems forgetful. She ought to move out of that house.”
“Will, why don’t we offer to take care of her? I know I could manage.”
“In this house? There aren’t enough bedrooms. You remember how miserable we were when she shared with Kitty two years ago? You can’t put a seventy-year-old woman and a junior-high student in the same room.”
“We could move to a bigger house. There’s a lovely home for sale on Oyster Bay. I looked at it today. It has four bedrooms. One is perfect for your mother.”
Will agreed to think about it. Barbara presented all the other arguments–how good it would be for the children, the extra space for vice-presidential entertaining, and the fun of having their own boat. But really, the main reason to move was to care for Will’s mother.
Two weeks later they signed the papers. They sold the house in Osprey Park. Will was strangely quiet the day the van came. He spent the day out in the garden, of all things, picking the last tomatoes. The children found it hard to say goodbye to old friends.
Barbara’s days were filled with redecorating and buying new furniture. Will asked about moving his mother but Barbara had to put the matter off. “You can’t put an old woman in a house that’s all torn up by painters and paperers. Just as soon as they’re gone, we’ll move her in.”
About three months elapsed before the way was clear. By then Will’s mother was too sick to move. The doctor at the geriatric center gave her a few weeks to live, at the most. When she died, Barbara was really sad. But the old woman would have been terribly hard to care for. And they did have a lovely guest room now, so something good had come out of the situation. Barbara would thank the Lord for working things out the way He did.Prayer: Lord, I can easily fool myself into doing what I want to. Teach me your will through your Word. Make me honest with myself.
[Jean Shaw, Second Cup of Coffee p. 136-137]
The psalmist wrote: “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” (Psalm 139:24-25, nasb).
May God continually help each of us to be honest with ourselves, honest with each other, and honest with God.
