The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
The Hebrew word translated “desperately wicked” means to be so weak and sick that it is incurable. And it gets worse, because the word translated “heart” means the moral character of the inner man, the center of thinking and learning, the source of emotions and feelings, and the courage of the will.
Does this mean the Christian is doomed to have an incurably weak deceitful moral character, intellect, and emotions that cannot be trusted to make any decisions and cannot be healed?
Sadly, I have heard this verse used like this by preachers who want you to obey their legalistic rules and regulations. They are essentially saying, your heart cannot be trusted so you should obey their heart. What!?
Is that what this verse means?
Or is the incurably “deceitful heart” in this verse a metaphor within a larger context? Consider the same message later in Jeremiah…
For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines. (Jeremiah 30:12-13 KJV)
Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. (Jeremiah 30:15 KJV)
For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after. (Jeremiah 30:17 KJV)
Jeremiah warned that Israel’s condition was hopelessly critical. Her wounds were incurable by anyone or anything. After all, their wounds were caused by God’s judgment against their sins. But God promised that he could heal their wounds and restore their health.
And the next verse proves the point. These people had never surrendered to Jesus Christ. They had secret motives. The were seeking a reward for their works. And their actions deserved judgment.
But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:10 NLT)
This is the universal promise of God
We can be forgiven. We can be changed. We can be reborn. We can be cleansed.
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. (Ezekiel 36:25-27 NLT)
The deceitful heart in Jeremiah 17:9 is an unsaved heart. It has been darkened by turning away from God. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. It is not doomed to remain an incurable deceitful heart unless you want it to.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse. Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. (Romans 1:18-21 WEB)
But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40 WEB)
Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind. (1 Corinthians 2:14-16 WEB)
Your deceitful heart can be healed
Have you been to Jesus to have your sins washed away? Have you been crucified with Jesus? Have you been born again from above? Are you a new creation? With a new nature? Then you have received a new heart from Jesus Christ. This new heart is different from your old incurably deceitful heart.
For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake; seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:5-6 WEB)
For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which you have toward all the saints, don’t cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:15-23 WEB)
Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a great priest over the house of God, let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful. Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:19-25 WEB)
Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you; and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you, to the end he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 WEB)
Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7 WEB)
For deeper study
- The attitude of a godly person (Philippians 2:5) – Your attitude controls your whole life. What kind of attitude yields a successful godly life? What kind of attitude leads to destruction?
- You can know you are saved – Can you know if you are saved from the judgment of hell? Let’s go back to the Bible and see what it says about salvation and staying saved.
- More impossible ways to lose your salvation – All these impossible things would have to happen for you to lose your salvation. None of these things can happen. Therefore, your salvation is secure.
Featured image by Midjourney