Write God’s Word on the Tablet of Your Heart

What is the tablet of your heart? Why is it important to know? Where do we start?

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;

      bind them around your neck;

      write them on the tablet of your heart.

So you will find favor and good success

      in the sight of God and man.

Proverbs 3:3–4 (ESV)

This is not the only place we see these words, but it is a reminder of what we are to do. Of course, we must take it figuratively and not literally!

The tablet of your heart is not just your mind it is also the very essence of who you are. Writing on the tablet of your heart has life altering implications because it changes who you are. This is the power of God working in you through his word.

You can memorize great portions of scripture without the desired effect, so this is more than an exercise in memorization.

Where we start

What we need and what God wants is for us to live a life of peace and purpose, in unity with God and his will and with one another. That is a high bar to reach. God has given us everything we need to live in that direction in his Word. His Word must be imprinted in our thoughts and in our desires. We must want to follow Jesus. We must deeply desire to follow the Word.

I want to be very clear. We do not write God’s word on the tablet of our heart in order to earn God’s favor or salvation. We are saved by grace. We are forgiven by God’s mercy. We walk by faith. But once God has saved us, he wants to transform us (Romans 12:1) – and he will do it! We must be active in this process and that is what we are presenting here.

Here are five beginning steps to take. Slowly read and digest these, then I will share with you a little more to help you.

One – Desire his will

We must want to do God’s will. This seems so logical but sometimes we want his forgiveness and the promise of eternal life without having to live the life he has laid out for us. There is a consistent call in scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, for us to live in the will and way of God. We are to follow Jesus all the way!

Two – Consume his will

When I am hungry, I want to eat. I want to consume some very good food. It is, at that point, one of my deepest desires. I don’t want to read about food, look at food or even smell food. I want to eat food. In the same way, we don’t want to just hear about God’s will or learn about God’s will we want to meditate and apply his will to our lives. We want to comprehend how doing his will looks in our daily practices. Then, we want to do it!

Three – Expand our knowledge

It is good to know some of God’s will but we must continue to expand our knowledge of his will. Then, when we know more we want to consume that as well. Continually feeding our appetite for his will and way will help us more fully understand how God works, what God wants and how we can do it. We will also begin to comprehend the wonderful benefits of his will for our own lives.

Four – Continually reinforce

In order to write his will on the tablet of our heart, we must continually reinforce what we already know of his will. We must erase all doubt from our minds. It is good to consume his will and then do it again. It is so helpful for us to relearn the same lessons from his Word repeatedly. That’s why we never stop reading and studying his Word.

Five – Pray

Specifically, we must pray that God’s will is done in our lives. We pray that every moment of every day we are in step with his leadership. We pray that we never lose sight of his will and that we always grow in our desire to be obedient to him.

Next

This means we read, reread, meditate and focus. Then we evaluate how we are doing. Obedience to his will becomes our loving response to his incredible mercy, grace and love. Like a child, we trust him. We embrace the reality that his will is good and pleasing and perfect (Romans 12:2). God is good. His way is perfect!

My son, keep my words

      and treasure up my commandments with you;

keep my commandments and live;

      keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;

bind them on your fingers;

      write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 7:1–3 (ESV)

Your turn

So what will you do with what you have learned here? I pray that you will be encouraged to reignite your passion for doing what God would have you do all the time. Why not take the first step right now?

Go for it!