Proverbs 20:5
The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters,
but one who has insight draws them out.
Every counselor should know this verse by heart. But the skill is not reserved for professional counselors. It is for anyone with understanding – understanding of what? The biblical teaching about the human heart. That it is sinful and deceptive even to the owner of the heart. That even the redeemed heart will have vestiges of sin which will inflict the owner until he is received into glory. That, nevertheless, all individuals are created in the image of God and receive a measure of God’s common grace, so that as wicked as they may be, they also possess great potential for creative, intelligent, even kind acts.
Understanding biblical teaching about the struggle against the flesh, the world, and the devil – all three are at play tugging at an individual’s heart. Every decision he makes is either a giving in or a standing against one or all of these three.
Understanding the ways individuals have developed to protect their hearts from being examined by others and even themselves – the defenses they put up, the masks they wear, the rationalizing they do, and so on. It is understanding their fears, what motivates them, what arouses them and discourages them.
It is understanding one’s own heart and what one needs to do to patiently listen, to love the other person, to let down one’s own defenses and be attentive.
A man of understanding is like a good fisherman fishing in deep water. He quietly, patiently, and knowledgeably casts his line and waits.
Revelation 19
After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for true and just are his judgments.
He has condemned the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”3 And again they shouted:
“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:
“Amen, Hallelujah!”
5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying:
“Praise our God,
all you his servants,
you who fear him,
both great and small!”6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)
9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”
The Heavenly Warrior Defeats the Beast
11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”[a] He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
king of kings and lord of lords.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”
19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.