by Dona Hake
I can still remember the horrible situation that West Virginia had to face with the contamination of their water supply. A chemical seeped into the water supply and threatened to sicken hundreds of thousands of people. Officials found out about the spill when people started calling in complaints about a strong licorice-type smell in the air.
I found it interesting that this potentially harmful chemical seeping into the water had a sweet smell of licorice. Some said it smelled like cough syrup, and the smell puzzled them. I am sure they figured out how this happened but what really mattered is that it rendered over 300,000 people no drinking, no bathing, and no cooking with the water. One chemical literally zapped the pureness of their water to poisonous and harmful, and brought a huge amount of people helpless, and without pure water.
Let us look at this story, and apply it to how our hearts can become contaminated by the things that seem sweet and okay in this life. God’s Word speaks to us through Proverbs 4:23, and warns us as well to be careful and be vigilant to watch over our hearts. This scripture warns us to guard the purity of our heart and all that flows from it. Our heart is as a wellspring from where all issues flow. A wellspring is a source or supply of anything, especially when considered inexhaustible.
Proverbs 4:23 (AMP)
“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance
and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.”
Let us be careful to never leave down our guard over our hearts. There are so many “sweet smelling” temptations in this world that could taint and poison our hearts in which the life of God desires to flow purely. Oh that we will take it seriously to guard our hearts with all vigilance for this is where life begins and flows from.