Jeremiah 17:10 I 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. Taken by the gardener into a gentleman's garden, I saw long rows of beautiful chrysanthemums, preparing for a flower show. "Each one of those has to be examined every day, said he, lest earwigs get into the tender tops and eat out the young buds." And while I watched I saw the under-gardener going from one to another, gently opening the top shoots, and seeing that no hidden evil lurked within. "Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom" (Psalm 51:6). What earwigs of thought, desire, imagination get into the heads of the Lord's plants, their best parts! How jealous Paul was of young converts, lest earwigs of false doctrine, or evil practice, should destroy his labour. The head Gardener sees to this. "I the Lord search the heart" (Jeremiah 17:10). (Footsteps of Truth.) Parallel Verses KJV: I 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. |