Sight-Heart Connection - Tammuz

​There is a connection between our sight and our hearts.  When the Lord was giving the children of Israel instructions for how to live in the Promised Land and to receive His blessings He told them to look at their choices and to love and obey Him with all their hearts.   "Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessings and a curse!   You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today.  But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from Him and worship gods you have not known before."  (Deuteronomy 11:26-28 - NLT)
 
"When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where He scattered you." (Deuteronomy 30:1-3)
 
The wisdom of Solomon shines through in what is written in Proverbs 23:26.  "My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to My ways."  He explains the importance of our hearts in Proverbs 4:23. "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."  The New Living Translation puts it this way: “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."
 
This heart-sight connection is particularly important now as we have moved into the fourth month on the Hebrew calendar—Tammuz.  Tammuz is connected to the Hebrew letter CHET that pictures light radiating from your eyes.  We must guard what our eyes take in and what is written on the tablet of our hearts.  What we take in is reflected in our eyes.  This is the month when we should make worshiping the Lord our focus.  Worship helps direct our hearts toward Him and purifies them.  And look at the promise God made relating to this!  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." (Matthew 5:8)  
 
The Israelites made major mistakes during the fourth month.  Tammuz is the month of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn son.  Reuben lost the blessing of being the firstborn son.  He allowed his eyes to look upon his father's concubine, Bilhah, and his heart to covet a relationship with her, and slept with her. (Genesis 35:22) We can well imagine why Jacob transferred the blessing of the firstborn to his son Joseph.
 
It was during this time that the Israelites lusted after a man-made god.  They collected gold rings from the ears of the people, molded a calf from the melted gold and sacrificed offerings to their idol.  Their hearts were truly hardened to the One True God.  It was during this month that 12 spies were sent out to look at the Promised Land.  During their 40-day search they forgot the promises of God for them.
 
This is a time to agree with God's plans for your lives.  Focus on the Lord through worship and declare His promises.  Agree with His call on your life.  Be careful about the covenants you make during Tammuz.  You want your covenants to be designated by the Lord so that you can walk in power and strength. Strengthen and purify your hearts by believing and confessing the promises of God.  I take the words of Isaiah 33:15-17 as a great encouragement for this month:  "He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil--this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him.  Your eyes will see the king in His beauty and view a land that stretches afar."  God desires intimate relationship with us and wants us to take the land before us to enlarge our territories.  Let us guard our hearts, walk in righteousness and focus on the Lord in worship so that we are able to see the King of kings.