David’s psalms are like his personal prayer journal. When you put them together, we can learn a lot about what David thought. In the rest of the posts this week, we’re going to look at how David writes about the heart in his psalms. Through David’s comments on the heart, we will learn more about what it means to be a person after God’s own heart.
The first psalm I want us to look at is Psalm 7. Psalm 7:10, David writes,
“My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart.” To be upright refers to honesty and piety, which means it is a heart, a conscience, that is aligned with God’s heart, because God is a God of truth and rightness. So a person after God’s own heart is committed to truthfulness.
Continuing this theme in Psalm 15, David asks two interesting questions. Look at verse 1,
“Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?”
While we don’t usually think in terms of God’s tent or mountain, David is referring to the dwelling place of God. What do Christians call the dwelling place of God? Heaven. David is saying, “How do we get to heaven?” It’s a question we really want to know the answer to.
Christians talk about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and believing in and following him, as the way to eternal life in heaven. But David lived before Jesus. So David’s answer to the question, “How do we get to heaven,” will sound different from a Christian answer. David’s answer doesn’t talk about Jesus, but it does talk about heart. Look at verse 2. Who can go to heaven?
“The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart”
There it is again. A heart after God’s own heart is committed to being truthful. But David just keeps going. Look at how he describes a person who has a heart after God’s own heart in verses three through five,
“…whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.”
David is describing the active life choices of a person with a heart after God’s heart. They are truthful, they are generous, they respect the Lord, they do not honor vile people. The person with a heart after God’s heart is person with a particular way of life. They make choices that are in line with the kind of choices that God would make.
Notice how practical some of these illustrations are. In verse 3, what comes out of their mouth is neither slanderous, nor wrongful, nor slur. The person who has a heart like God’s does not want to tear people down, and they actually don’t tear people down. They build people up. They encourage. They express kindness.
In verse 4, they keep an oath, even when it hurts. They don’t change their mind. They are locked in to their word, and they keep it. A man in my church family told me that one of our local volunteer fire companies is getting a new ladder truck. It’s very expensive, about $1.9 million. For that reason, they chose a manufacturer that guaranteed the price. It will take 3-4 years to build the truck, and costs could easily rise during that time, but the company locked in their price. My friend said not all companies lock in their prices. But the company they chose will kept their oath. Likewise, a heart after God’s heart keeps its word.
Now turn to Psalm 24, verse 3. What do you notice? Same questions! How do you get to heaven? David’s answer in verse 4 is,
“The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.”
In this case, it is a pure heart. Before, we learned about an upright heart. “Pure” refers to being unstained, unblemished, untainted. Pure is 100% real. A heart that is 100% pure, David writes in Psalm 24, is like clean hands, not dirty, because it does not trust in idols and false gods. A person with with heart like Gods strives to be free from idolatry and give their lives to God and God only.
What, then, are idols in our day? Jesus named one that was prevalent in his day, and that idol is still prevalent in out day. It is the idol Mammon or money. In Matthew 6:19–24, Jesus teaches,
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. … No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
A heart that is in line with God’s heart does not trust in money’s promises of the good life. A heart that is in line with God’s heart is careful to examine whether that heart has become infatuated with money, with desire for money.
Another contemporary idol is power. It seems that some Christians across the USA have a thirst for political power, believing that if we get a person in political power who those Christians think sympathizes with some Christian ideas, then things will be okay in our country. That desire could easily lead to worshiping the politician and the power rather than God. People can begin trusting the words of a politician, instead of testing those words against what the words of Jesus says, and then putting their trust in God.
Do you struggle with these idols? Other idols?
Photo by Evangeline Shaw on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 