Another Paradox In the Bible?

Tom:

Dave, let me read those verses:  Jeremiah:17:9The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
See All..., “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:  who can know it?”  And then, Jeremiah:29:13And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
See All...:  “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” So I assume this writer has the problem of on the one hand, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, but on the other hand we are to seek God with our heart.  Now is this the same heart?

Dave:

Yes, I don’t see the problem there.  You didn’t read verse 10, Jeremiah:17:10I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
See All..., it goes on, when it says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, the next verse is:  “I the Lord search the heart.”  So when I am seeking God with my whole heart, and that simply means sincerely, not just to use Him to my ends and God says, “Ye will seek for Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”  A lot of people have their own idea of God.  Mother Teresa, I remember, said whatever God is in your mind you must accept.  Well, there are many false gods and the Bible is very clear about that.  So God is saying if you really want to know the true God, if you want to really know Me, and you really want to know Me, so that I can reveal myself to you and show you the relationship I want to have with you, then you will find Me, if you seek for Me with all your heart.

Tom:

Dave, how can that be when the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, can a heart even do that?

Dave:

Yes, I think I know when I sincerely want to know God.  “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked,” I think, involves something else, my motive.  And when I am coming to the Lord—well, for example, pride enters in, and someone tries to reason with me and I’m stubborn and proud and I don’t realize that I am.  Or I think that I really want God’s glory, when in fact I want my own.  I remember Andrew Murray, years ago, said that whenever you start to pray there are two men in your heart, one is the Pharisee who says oh God, I thank you that I am not like other men, and so forth.  The other one is the publican who beats upon his breast and says, God, be merciful to me a sinner.  But if I say Lord, like David in Psalm 139, “Search me O God, know my heart, try me, know my thoughts, see if there be any wicked way in me, lead me in the way everlasting,” I can rely upon God to really reveal my heart to me, reveal the desperate wickedness and the deceitfulness of my heart.  And in fact, that’s why I want to come to God.  I am seeking God with all my heart, so that He can show me where I fall short.  And so that He can lead me in the paths of righteousness.  So, I don’t see a contradiction here. In fact, I see a very good reason for seeking God with all my heart because I know my heart is deceitful.  Lord, please show me my heart, and please guide me and reveal yourself to me.

Tom:

Dave, one more point about the, could we say that, for example in verse 9, “The heart is deceitful of all things and desperately wicked,” that’s not an absolute, is it?  When you gave the example of Andrew Murray saying hey, there are too many here, there’s the Pharisee and the publican.

Dave:

Yeah, you raise a good point, Tom, because I think the Calvinist would say that we are so totally depraved that this is all we can ever think is desperately wicked thoughts.  On the other hand, the Calvinist does acknowledge that there are people who do good things, for example, the soldier—would be a number of examples.  These are not Christians who throw themselves on a hand grenade to save their buddies lives.  So, you are right, it is not an absolute, and  maybe the person who asked this question was thinking this is an absolute.  Well, if it’s an absolute we can’t think anything but deceitful and desperately wicked thoughts.  Then how could we even search for God with our whole heart?  But the fact that God tells us to must indicate that we, even ungodly, unsaved, unregenerate persons must have the capacity, the capability of seeking Him, otherwise He wouldn’t tell us to do so.

Tom:

Right and this would make no sense.

Dave:

So when I seek Him, I put myself in His hands.  Interestingly it says THE heart, it doesn’t say a wicked person’s heart, it says every heart.  And you know what Proverbs says, “As in water, like a mirror, face answers to face, the face reflects itself.”  So the heart of man reflects the heart of man.  So this, we are all included in this, and it is a call for all of us to seek the Lord with our whole hearts.

Tom:

Right and it’s an encouragement as well.  That’s why finding these two verses in Jeremiah, you know, the weeping prophet, on the one hand it sounds like it’s a downer in 17:9, but God gives us the solution and it’s in Him, seeking Him, knowing Him, and being able to do this.

Dave:

Amen, that’s wonderful.