“Take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; that my rage may not go forth . . . on account of the badness of your dealings.” But from where did their bad dealings originate? From inside, from their heart. (Read Mark 7:20-23.) Yes, through Jeremiah, God accurately diagnosed the source of the Jews’ bad dealings. Their heart was stubbornly rebellious. Their motives and thinking were displeasing to him. (Read Jeremiah 5:23, 24; 7:24-26.) God told them: “Get yourselves circumcised to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your hearts.”​—Jer. 4:4; 18:11, 12.

⁹ Hence, Jews in Jeremiah’s day needed figurative heart surgery​—‘circumcision of the heart’—​even as those in Moses’ time did. (Deut. 10:16; 30:6) To ‘take away the foreskin of their heart’ meant getting rid of what made their heart unresponsive​—their thinking, affections, or motives that were in conflict with God’s.​—Acts 7:51.

If the Almighty is examining the heart of even the righteous one, should not we ourselves do some honest self-inspection? (Read Psalm 11:5.) As we do so, we might discern an attitude, a goal, or a deep feeling that needs attention. We could recognize something that is making our heart less sensitive, some ‘foreskin of our heart,’ as it were, which we realize ought to be removed. That would be figurative heart surgery. If you agree that it would be good to examine your figurative heart, what might you look for? And how might you make any needed adjustments?​—Jer. 4:4.