Posted to Beer Lahai Roi by Lisa Laree
A happy 2025 to all, and a blessed 10th day of Christmas! The holiday season is winding down and it's time to get back into our cruise through the Bible, looking at the verses containing 'Heart' or 'Hearts', as translated by the New International Version, 1984 edition (the Exhaustive Concordance we own, lol). We are nearly halfway through the Psalms, looking today at verses in the 61st - the 70th psalms.
And we hit a verse right off the bat in Ps. 61 -- one of David's:
From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Ps. 61:2 - 'Heart' is the familiar Strong's H3820 - Leb - inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding.
The word 'heart' is used to describe David's mental/ emotional state; David's heart 'grows faint'...his inner man; his spirit. Dude was seriously discouraged and his drive, his ability to keep going, was waning fast. And his request...take me to the rock that is higher than I...is a beautiful recognition of the strength and steadfastness of the Lord. Think about 'rock'; it's solid, fixed, not moving. "Higher than I" ...bigger than I am, stronger than I am, able to see farther that I can, with deeper understanding than I have. The theme of God as a refuge is repeated in both this psalm and the next, which David also penned.
He describes the evil intent of those around him in Ps. 62:4; 'him', in this case, is the king...David:
They fully intend to topple him from his lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. Selah. 'Hearts' is a (pauses for a two hour dive in past posts to see what words we have seen so far) Hebrew word that we have encountered once before, H 7130, qereb: midst, among, inner part, middle.
In their inward parts, they curse....'hearts' does make sense, at least to modern western-thinkers. The point is that there are folks who behave one way outwardly but have entirely different thoughts/attitudes than they exhibit. But David has a response to these folks
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah. - Ps. 62:8; 'Heart' is the familiar H 3824, Lebab.
God is our refuge. That's pretty much the theme we're working with now.
And, if God is our refuge,
Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. -- Ps. 62:10; H3820 again.
The next mention of Heart/Hearts is Ps. 64, another one of David's:
At the end of a 5-verse description of his enemies, David writes
They plot injustice and say, "We have devised a perfect plan!" Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning. -- Ps. 64:6; 'Heart' is H3820.
'Mind' and 'Heart' here seem to be source of the evil these folks are plotting. However, verse seven begins with 'But God...' and then David describes how God will move to defeat those folks. He ends the psalm with
Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him! -- Ps. 64:10; 'Heart' is 3820 again.
Still talking about God as a refuge for the righteous, who should praise him for his works and his protection. Contrasting the last two verses...there is cunning and malice in the heart of the evil, but praise in the heart of the upright. Pretty sharp distinction.
Psalm 66 is an unattributed praise song that contains one caveat
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the LORD would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. -- Ps. 66: 18-19; 'Heart' is, once more, H 3820.
That's a pretty extreme thing if it results in God not listening to our prayer. What does it mean to 'cherish sin in the heart'? The word translated 'cherish' is Strong's H7200, ra'a: verb: to see, literally or figuratively, -- advise self, appear, approve, behold, ...consider, ...(make to) enjoy, have experience, gaze, take heed, ...look (on, one another, one on another, out up, upon), mark, meet...perceive, present, provide, regard, (have) respect, show (self)...
I am going to jump back to a topic from Joshua 6, something I've written about before, more than once...what I call the 'sin progression'...as summarized by Achan, in his confession of taking the 'things under the ban': I saw, I coveted, I took, I hid. Somewhere between physically seeing the plunder and actually taking it, there was an unknown span of time in which he actually considered his actions. It may have been very brief, but it was there. He had the opportunity to turn away from the thing he knew was wrong...but he didn't. The moment he shifted his thinking from 'I shouldn't' to 'I could....' to 'I will...' matches what I think 'cherished sin in my heart' could mean.
The last references to 'Heart/ Hearts' in this set of ten psalms are in Psalm 69...another one of David's.
Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none. -- Ps. 69:20. 'Heart' is H 3820 again.
This verse is SO RELATEABLE. I actually have the last half of that verse underlined; I'm pretty sure that's from a time when I found myself excluded...from a thing...and found no (or very little) sympathy or comfort or understanding or even acknowledgement. It was rough, y'all. And it has happened more than once over the years. King James has the phrase 'I am full of heaviness'...and that's a great description of those times. It was hard to deal with, basically on my own. But I found, like David, that God is good. I remember the heaviness but have moved on.
The poor will see and be glad-- you who seek God, may your hearts live! Ps 69:32; 'Hearts' is H3824 again.
Just for completion of that thought, I'm going to list the next verse (69:33) as well...to get the whole promise.
The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people.
HE hears the needy...even if no one else does. And being heard makes all the difference.
Disclaimer: I know these posts are kind of all over the place; it's because there's such a wide variety of topics/situations that are covered in ten consecutive Psalms. It would probably be better to do a study of 'heart/ hearts' just in the Psalms, but since it's part of the larger whole we're kinda stuck jumping around.
I am very grateful for the two dozen or so of you (based on the blog stats) who are hanging with me on this journey! :-D
