The Reins

“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.”
Jeremiah 17:10 KJV

Why does the Lord search our hearts? To see what resides there. The word says he tries the reins. A rein is symbolic of the ropes that a rider holds that controls the direction, and movement of a horse. It stops it in its tracks, it pulls it to the left or right or it gives it slack to move forward.
Whatever resides in our heart is what controls our reins. That’s why the bible says “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked…” Jeremiah 17:9 KJV.  That’s because it is not biased, it is a vessel, it receives whatever you put in it and it doesn’t just keep it to itself, it pumps it throughout the whole body. Which means that what is in our heart affects and controls our entire life in such a manner that it is a repetitive cycle. It’s the very things that we have placed on a pedestal in our lives that our very decisions and ways are guided by.
So when God says he tries the reins, it means that our trials and our tribulations are based on who’s or what’s in control of our lives. Sometimes we find ourselves walking, trodding, or running fast ahead and then all of a sudden something happens and we get stopped in our tracks or tugged to the left or the right. Now think about it, when you have sorrow in your life it’s always by someone or something that you held as a token in your heart. When you are joyful, it always seems to relate to that very same thing. How is it that the very thing that makes us happy has the power to make us sad and vice versa. That’s just it…  At those moments it causes us to think about how committed we are to it. Because it always throws us off balance when we least expect. It gives way to doubt, trust issues and unstable emotional thoughts. The bible says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23 KJV.
Why? Because the heart is meant to pump one thing blood. That blood feeds every part of your body. It is vital to life. That’s why the blood of our Lord Jesus is so important and that’s why the heart is so sacred. The blood brings life, and that life is Jesus. Our Lord dwells in and flows from our heart. It is his dwelling place but we have to let him in so that he can dwell. The bible says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20 KJV.  You see, we ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but the tree of life came to manifest itself in Jesus through his blood. That life is now in the blood that flows; it is now a liquid. So it requires us to SUP in an exchanging manner. ‘Sup with him’ is us taking in his life into our hearts, and us with him (he with me) is him taking our life in exchange.
So, when he tries our reins, he is testing what dwells within our heart that controls our lives; because when he does so, what lies within will manifest itself through our ways and will be revealed by the fruit of what we do. And from this fruit, we shall receive our reward.

It goes even much deeper because having our Lord dwell within our hearts; the blood of Jesus is our repetitive cycle that pumps within us. Now we produce fruit, but not just any fruit. It is the fruit of the spirit which is OF the tree of life.

The end becomes the beginning. God always finishes before he starts.

Be blessed.

G.M.