Jeremiah 7:24
“But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.”
There is a phenomena in flying called vertigo. Vertigo is a feeling of not knowing whether you are flying up or down. It is a feeling that happens when a pilot flies an airplane in the clouds by sight or feeling. What happens is the pilot will have a feeling that the plane is going a certain direction when in reality the plane is not making that movement. The pilot then reacts and corrects what his feelings tell him is happening, only to cause the plane to go into a different direction than what they are truly flying. In some cases this can be deadly. It all happens because the pilot took his eyes off the instruments and started flying the plane by his feelings.
In the verse above, God’s people had spiritual vertigo. You see that they were going backwards and not forwards. I’m sure if you had asked them if they were moving in a good direction they would have replied in a positive manner. Most people don’t want to do wrong, but many times people make the mistake of relying on their own feelings for their directions in life only to find themselves in spiritual vertigo.
What caused the spiritual vertigo? God says that when He spoke they “hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart…” Notice, they stopped following their spiritual instrument which was God. When God told them to do something, they followed their heart. When God spoke, they didn’t listen because their heart told them differently. Instead of following the voice of God, they relied on what they felt was right and walked in the ways of their heart which led them to go backwards and not forwards. That backwards direction led them into the judgment of God.
I’m afraid that many Christians today make the same mistake. Instead of listening to the voice of God, they listen to what they feel is right. They listen to their heart instead of the God who knows the right way of life. The problem with listening to your own heart instead of the voice of God is that your heart is wicked. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” The heart is deceitful at the core, and it will lie to you. Your heart is wicked and cannot be trusted. If you follow the voice of your heart, you will find yourself going in the wrong direction.
Christian, God has given you many ways to hear his voice and you had better heed. God speaks to you through the Word of God. If you are not daily reading the Scriptures, you will not hear God’s voice tell you what to do. God also speaks to you through time of prayer. Many times I’m out walking and praying when the LORD begins to speak to my heart. God also speaks to you through authorities. I’m very thankful that for the majority of my life I’ve heeded the advice of authorities, for God speaks through them. When your pastor is preaching the Word of God, you better listen because God is speaking. Furthermore, God also speaks through times of quietness. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God…” Even in times of quietness you can hear the guiding voice of God if you listen.
Friend, it is vitally important that you listen when God speaks. Don’t listen to your heart for it will give you spiritual vertigo. When you listen to your own heart, you will find yourself going in a wrong direction. Stop relying on your feelings! Stop saying, “Well, I feel this is the right way.” It doesn’t matter what you feel, it should be what God says. If you will learn to silence the voice of your heart and listen to the voice of God, you will find that you will avoid spiritual vertigo.