April 22

The unfolding of Your words gives light; it informs the simple. — Ps 119:130 BSB

The word “simple” literally means something that is not twisted or folded together. But in their natural state, all people are the opposite of this. Their plans and schemes for worldly success or fleshly pleasure are tangled and complicated, constantly twisting together threads of self-interest and deception.

When the Holy Spirit begins His work in a person’s heart, He starts to untwist these knots. He takes the rope that Satan and our own hearts have twisted together over the years and untangles it completely, leaving the strands separated and exposed. The light that shines into the soul from Christ reveals the deceitfulness and hypocrisy that were previously hidden. A person becomes “simple” when the folds of their heart are shaken out, and they realize that God sees into every corner of their being. They come to understand that there is nothing in their heart, no word on their tongue, that the Lord does not know completely (Psalm 139:4).

Nathaniel in the Bible is an example of this. When he was under the fig tree, praying and seeking God, the Lord’s eye looked into his soul, unraveling the devices of his heart and making him a simple man before God—“an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit” (John 1:47).