Gods Open Heart Surgery–Soul Talk

Heart of Cape Town Museum by mallix

It started happening when I was a teen. Suddenly out of nowhere my heart began racing, like real fast. Clocking speeds of 180 beats per minute was not uncommon to me. Eventually the heart would slow down and return to normal pace. Scary doesn't begin to describe how I felt.
In my teenage thinking I was wondering what had I done to cause this. It could happen at any time, and there didn't have to be a pretty girl any where near to set me off.
Perhaps it was sin and God was trying to get my attention, to point me to repentance. So I prayed and prayed and prayed. Nothing changed, in fact over the years it got worse. The frequency of attacks got closer and more severe.
I went to see a doctor who felt that it was a heart condition and prescribed some medication and advised me not to drink any caffeinated drinks.
So I took all the medication, knocked off drinking coffee and tea, but still the attacks continued and they were getting worse.
After an attack, which could go on for an hour or so, I would be left feeling sick, winded, and exhausted. My heart had just raced flat out with the rest of the body unable to keep up.
I was referred to a specialist. He looked at the ECG’s of heart, asked lots of questions and then diagnosed that I had paroxysmal atrial tachycardia. Basically I had some extra wiring in my heart and it was short circuiting every now and then. I needed a rewiring of my heart. Heart surgery was called for.
Now when I hear the word’s ‘Heart Surgery’ my mind jumps to all those TV shows that have a team of doctors and nurses digging and delving around the heart, monitors bleeping, fountains of red blood spurting, and cries of ‘We’re losing him Doctor Bob’. A very calm peaceful thought – NOT!
Well, praise the Lord, it wasn't to be like this. They were to thread some wires up through my veins into the heart and zap the misfiring parts of my heart. Simple!
It was amazing. Laying there on the surgery table I was able to watch the whole proceeding. Through some sort of x-ray I was able to watch the wires being passed up through the groin, right into the heart. The surgeon was then able to control my heart. My life was literally in his hands. He could start the racing heart beat and he could stop it. Once he had found the problem area he just zapped it with some radio beams and basically fried the problem area. No more problem.
I was out of hospital the next day and back to work a couple of days later.
Why do I tell you this story?
Well, I have another heart. One that can’t be seen by human eyes. I sometimes have a broken heart, and sometimes it’s a heart full of joy. The heart is the centre of my personality, and it controls my intellect, emotions, and will. It is always used figuratively in Scripture to refer to the seat and centre of human life.
I have a heart and God, the master surgeon ( above all other surgeons) knows it well.
God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah says this

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things
   and beyond cure.
   Who can understand it?
¹⁰ “I the LORD search the heart
   and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
   according to what their deeds deserve.” Jeremiah 7:9-10

God examines me, thoroughly. He knows me way better than I know myself. He knows all my motives, and he knows why I act and respond in the way that I do. He wants to change my heart. Listen to what he says through another Prophet Ezekiel.

I'll give you a new heart. I'll put a new spirit in you. I'll cut out your stone heart and replace it with a red-blooded, firm-muscled heart. Then you'll obey my statutes and be careful to obey my commands. You'll be my people! I'll be your God! Ezekiel 11:19

God is in the business of changing our heart. He looks inside of us and sees a mess. He also sees hope as we yield our hearts to him, the master surgeon.

¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

I love the Word of God, the Bible, especially when I am able to involve it with Soul Talking with someone. It maybe a discussion around a Jesus story, it might be just quietly letting a verse work its way meditatively through the thoughts.
God sees what we cannot see and he wants to show it to us. God knows our interior world and wants to reveal it to us, so 66 Love Letters (The Bible) have been given to us that penetrate to the deepest parts of the heart.
How have the 66 Love Letters penetrated your heart recently? Leave a comment below.
Barry Pearman
Image by mallix Creative Commons Flicker
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