A Wise Man’s Heart is at His Right Hand
This morning I was reading in Ecclesiastes. While much of Ecclesiasties is from the perspective of a man who had strayed from God, there is still some truth and wisdom to be found in these writings of Solomon.
Ecclesiastes 10:2 says:
A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.
What Does it Mean to Have Your Heart At Your Right Hand?
Are you in control of your heart or is your heart in control of you? This verse is saying that a wise man has control over his heart.
When the Bible talks about your heart, it is usually referring to the mind and emotions. Your feelings and affections. The core of your soul.
How do we keep our heart at our right hand? By controlling our thoughts and feelings instead of letting them control us! You may think this is not possible, but it’s not only possible; it’s how we were designed to live.
God designed our emotions to serve us, not control us. The apostle Paul said that he was always keeping his body in subjection, lest he be disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:27).
A negative emotion is supposed to be an indicator that we are believing something untrue. God didn’t create us to live in negative emotions. We don’t have to be victims to how we feel. We are supposed to choose how we feel by believing the truth.
I struggle with this as much as anybody. Sometimes feelings seem like they are not controllable. Sometimes feelings may seem like they’re stronger than you- they feel like they ARE you. But this is not true. You can control your emotions. God has given you the power to do so.
Notice it says that a fool’s heart is at his left hand, meaning that he is completely controlled by his thoughts and emotions. He’s controlled by the passions and fleeting affections of his heart.
Let’s look at a few ways to keep control over our hearts:
1. Guide Your Heart
Did you know you are supposed to be guiding your heart? This is the exact opposite of what most people think. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say “just follow your heart”. Ecclesiastes says this is what the fool does!
In the book of Proverbs, we are instructed to guide our hearts.
Hear, my son, and be wise; and guide your heart in the way. Proverbs 23:19 NKJV
We can guide our heart by what we are most consistently feeding it. I’m not talking about physical food here, but soul food. What we feed our minds is what will be in abundance in our hearts. Our hearts will follow the course we chart for them, just as a captain guides his ship. We can steer our hearts toward happiness or sadness by the things we focus on.
If we are constantly listening to the world’s messages of unbelief, our hearts will be full of fear and anxiety.
If, instead, we decide to listen to and read messages of faith and trust in God, our hearts will be full of peace and joy. We can guide our heart! Your victory will be determined not by what comes at you, but by what comes from within you.
2. Control Your Emotions
Easier said than done, I know. But the truth is, we can control our emotions. We don’t have to submit to every feeling that comes through our hearts. We can choose or reject feelings.
A good way to change how you’re feeling is with your tongue. Begin to speak positive words over yourself. Look in the mirror and prophesy how you’re going to feel for the rest of the day.
It’s important to remember that feelings are not always based on truth. They are based on your thoughts about the situation.
Two people may experience the exact same situation, yet have completely different emotions. How is this? Because they see the situation through different perspectives. They tell themselves two different stories about the situation, therefore they have different emotions to go along with it.
Can you tell yourself a different story about what you’re going through? Can you see it through a different perspective? Perhaps you can look at how you are becoming stronger or how you will be able to help others when you’re on the other side of this.
God’s emotions are always full of hope, faith, abundance, creativity, gratefulness, love, and compassion. They flow from thoughts of truth. We are designed to live the same way.
Don’t be condemned if you are experiencing negative emotions, just know that you have the power to keep them at your right hand, under your control.
3. Be Intentional About Your Thoughts
Do you allow yourself to think on anything that comes into your mind? This is a basic principle of a life of freedom, yet we often forget how important it is to take every thought captive.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
Taking every thought captive is something we are going to have to do for the rest of our time here on earth.
For as long as I’ve been walking with the Lord, I’ve never come to a place where I said “Ok, I can stop taking thoughts captive now”. I wish this was the case! But the truth is, for as long as you’re on earth, the enemy is foing to keep throwing negative lying thoughts at you. It’s up to you whether you accept them and repeat them to yourself. If you do, before long you will be wallowing in negative emotions.
We have to form a habit of taking every thought captive. If the thought is not in agreement with what God says, it needs to be cast down.
This is one of the basics of Christianity, and we have to master the basics.
How to Know What’s In Your Heart
If you’re not sure what’s in your heart, think about what your dominant emotion is. Remember, emotions indicate to us what we’ve been thinking about.
If we are primarily discouraged about life, we’ve been taking thoughts from the enemy and accepting them. Take a stand right now and choose to only accept thoughts that are full of hope and peace!
What comes out of your mouth is the greatest indicator to what’s overflowing in your heart. Listen to the words you speak. Jesus said this is how you can tell what’s in your heart.
For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45 NKJV
Take Control of Your Heart
Let’s make a choice to keep our heart at our right hand, in subjection to us.
Your heart will bring forth whatever you plant in it, just like the earth brings forth whatever is planted in it. This is why it’s so important to control your hearts.
We don’t have to be victims of our thoughts and emotions. We can intentionally choose what we think and how we feel. We are overcomers, and just like the wise man in Ecclesiastes; we can keep our heart at our right hand!
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8:37 NKJV