Responses of the Heart

I can’t let go of this beautiful psalm that I wrote on yesterday. So instead of the Paul verse which my bible software has highlighted today – I do get a little tired of too much Paul – I prefer to focus on verse 8 of this beautiful psalm:

“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.

I quote the NRSV rendering of this verse, because David’s heart seems to have initiated Davi’d desire to dwell in the house of the Lord, where he will behold the beauty of the Lord (yesterday’s verse). It is true of human nature in general that our desires are most genuine and most fruitful when they arise from within our deepest inner being – which in biblical language is the ‘heart’. But our hearts are divided, especially in our advertising-dominated world. When we talk about our ‘heart’s desire’ we often mean nothing more than something we saw on an afternoon talk show or online. That’s not what ‘heart’ means in the Bible. Heart in the Bible – as in Psalm 27 here – means the undivided self. Thus Jesus can say, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). We sing this verse every Sunday in the Liturgy, as part of the Beatitudes.

Hearing, singing, responding – this is the dynamic of David’s psalm. And it is the dynamic of Christian worship! David heard his heart, he sang his psalm – and he responded, he took action, he sought the face of the Lord. He went into the house of the Lord. And he found confidence not to be terrorised by his enemies. (Remember, David was a warrior and a king. Who said warriors and kings can’t also be poets?) Read the entire psalm again and see this dynamic at work in David’s stormy life.

I know for myself how easy it is to talk the right words, but do nothing more than talk. Life is full of honourable intentions. I can’t count the times that a parishioner feels it necessary to tell me, “You’ll see me in church soon.” But I still don’t see them. But the real matter is not whether I see them “in church” but whether God sees them. And whether they see the face and beauty of God! As we move into an increasingly non-participatory form of Christianity, people think nothing about separating themselves from the corporate worship that is the essential task of the church. Kids sports can only suffice as an excuse to a point. At some point the question needs to be asked: What does your heart tell you? Is there still any warmth in your heart for God? Is your Christian faith just words?

David’s heart commanded him to get up and seek the face of God. You want to dwell in the house of the Lord, David? Then don’t just write psalms about it, go and seek his face. This is heart talk – the inner dialogue of an undivided self, the “pure in heart.” So here now is the big question. Where do you seek the face of God? Jesus told us where we would find his face: in the faces of the poor and suffering! But we might never recognise the face of God in the suffering and the poor if we don’t allow Liturgy and worship to train us and to reveal the face of God through words, songs, icons, and the responses of the heart. Worship gives us the eyes and compassion to see God “in the land of the living”, and that is how David concludes his wonderful, heart-shaping psalm:

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!