The fourth and fifth items might be seen as a pair. They are “the heart that schemes evil” and “the feet that race to do wrong” (Proverbs 6:16-19). The natural person is motivated and driven by selfish motives. We think of ways to get what we want, when we want it, often at the expense of others and God’s will. We have hard hearts in this respect. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” It was the nature of man’s heart that broke God’s heart. In Genesis 6:5 we read, “then the Lord saw that wickedness was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Kitchen says, “The ‘heart’ describes the totality of the inner man, including his rational powers, emotions and volition. The ‘feet’ are what engage a man in what his heart has devised. Together, they describe the inner man and his outward activities. The Lord hates the one whose nature is bent toward, and quick to pursue, that which is contrary to His (God’s) nature.”
Solomon discovered and recorded for us all that pleasures, wealth, power or possessions will never satisfy the longings of man’s heart. Regarding the pursuits of the hearts of man, J. M. Boice writes, “They fill for a time. But they are rather like a Chinese dinner, and the person is soon left empty again. Consequently, those who pursue them are doomed to a constant and relentless search for that which will never satisfy the true hunger and desire of their soul.” Our hearts push our feet to run after the selfish pleasures of life. These frantic pursuits serve to distract our attention from God’s truth. The truth is, as C. H. Benson puts it, “Sin is the undertaker that digs every grave and officiates at every funeral. Sin is the occasion of all want and wretchedness, all pain and privation. There are some men who say there is no heaven. They wish to know nothing better than this earth. If this is heaven, it is a very strange one—this world of sickness, sorrow, and sin. The man who has that idea is to be pitied. This world, which some think is heaven, has nothing in it to satisfy the soul.”
Paul thus urged his young disciple, Timothy, to “…flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness” (1 Timothy 6:11). Again, in his 2nd Letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 2:22) he says, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” In Matthew 5, Jesus develops these two negatives into positives and blesses “the pure in heart” and those “who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” What will be the result of the pure heart that drives our feet to run after righteousness? Jesus says that those who long for righteousness will be satisfied. He says that those with pure hearts “will see God.” While all the worlds wealth and pleasures will never satisfy our souls, seeing and knowing Christ, the true wisdom of God, will! As the pure wisdom of God, Christ has “made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin” (1 Corinthians 1:30).