The whole heart.

Psalm 119:2 KJV

[2] Blessed are they that…seek him with the whole heart.

What does it mean to seek God with the whole heart? The biblical heart has several faculties and functions. So to seek God with the whole heart is to seek Him with all the faculties and functions of the heart.

What are at least some of the heart’s faculties and functions? What does the heart do?

1. The heart acquires affections.

   
   

   affection

   3. an affecting or being affected

   COLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY. 2025

   
   

   This meaning of “affection” = someone or something is so important to you that what happens to them affects you a lot. Affects your thoughts, desires, emotions, actions and so on.

   
   

   1 Chronicles 29:3 KJV

   [3] Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house,

   
   

   Romans 1:26 KJV

   [26] For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

   
   

   Colossians 3:2 KJV

   [2] Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

2. The heart thinks.

   
   

   Genesis 6:5 KJV

   [5] And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

   
   

3. The heart believes.

   
   

   Romans 10:9 KJV

   [9] That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

   
   

   Beliefs Includes values, what one believes to be valuable.

   
   

4. The heart desires.

   
   

   Desire = tendency towards anything that promises enjoyment, pleasure, satisfaction, and away from pain.

   
   

   Desires include passions, “dreams,” appetites.

   
   

   Psalm 21:2 KJV

   [2] Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.

   
   

5. The heart makes decisions.

   
   

   Genesis 8:21 KJV

   [21] And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

   
   

   Some decisions are carried out and some are not.

6. The heart reasons and arrives at motives, purposes, etc.

   
   

   1 Samuel 27:1 KJV

   [1] And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.

   
   

   Why did David escape to the land of the Philistines ? What was his reason?

   To avoid getting killed by Saul.

   
   

   Why does a person go seeking the Lord? One reason is to get the rewards.

   
   

   Hebrews 11:6 KJV

   [6] But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

   
   

7. The heart stores knowledge.

   
   

   2 Corinthians 4:6 KJV

   [6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

8. The heart experiences emotions.

   
   

   John 16:22 KJV

   [22] And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

   
   

   Genesis 6:6 KJV

   [6] And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.