Secrets of a Peaceful Heart

In You, O LORD, I put my trust;
  Let me never be put to shame.
Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape.
  Be my strong refuge,
  To which I may resort continually;
You have given the commandment to save me,
For You are my rock and my fortress.

(Psalm 71:1-2)

The psalm writer has found the secret to a peaceful heart, and it has to do with the word “continually,” which is found three times in this joyful hymn of praise. It speaks of more than just habit. It has moved past being a discipline and has become a conditioning of the heart. It is a consistency, a constancy, a full dependency without reservation. It is a joyful abandonment of the self to God. There are three movements which arise continually in the heart of this worshipper:

• A continual habitation. “Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually.” The KJV renders it “habitation.” A habitation is a dwelling place, a place of residence — it’s where you live. When our habitation continually in God, as was the psalm writer’s, it is a strong refuge, a mighty fortress high upon a rock. It is an impregnable abode, the only place where we are truly secure.

• A continual praise. “By You I have been upheld from birth. You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb. My praise shall be continually of You” (v. 6). This man was brought to the wonderful realization that God continually sustained him, and so he lived in continual praise of God. “My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, and my soul, which You have redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long” (vv. 23-24).

• A continual hope. “But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more” (v. 14). This was his enduring response, especially when adversaries conspired against him. The biblical idea of hope is not about doubt and uncertainty. It is waiting in faith, patiently trusting in God. It is a positive expectation about the promise and power of God, a joyful anticipation of His grace and goodness. The psalmist goes on, “My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and Your salvation all the day. For I do not know their limits” (v. 15). He knew no limits to God’s righteousness and salvation because there are no limits to be found. Though we spent eternity diving into the depths of God’s love and goodness, we will never touch bottom. There will always be further to go in Him.

A continual habitation in God, a continual life of praise and adoration, a continual expectation of His goodness — three secrets to a peaceful heart.

The Servant Heart Connection

Take another look at Acts 4:29-30, the prayer of the first Christians as they cried out to God for boldness:

Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your Word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus. (Acts 4:29-30)

There is a very important word that occurs twice in this passage, and it makes all the difference in the matter of boldness and the manifestation of God’s healing signs and wonders. Can you spot it? It is the word “servant.”

Grant to Your servants . . . through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.

This is about God through and through. His servants, His Word, His hand, His holy servant Jesus. And if it is about God, then it must be about love. It is the “algebra of love”: God is love, love gives and serves.

Even Jesus, who is fully divine as well as fully human, rejoiced to be the servant of God. He came to obey the Father’s will, and thereby reveal the Father’s heart. He did nothing of Himself, not of His own will, His own thoughts, His own emotions. It was all the Father. Jesus said,

Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. (John 5:19)

I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. (John 5:30)

I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. (John 8:28-29)

Jesus also became a servant toward us, for our sake. The Bible says that He “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). Jesus Himself said, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

When those first Christians cried out to God for boldness, signs and wonders, they identified themselves with the servant heart of Jesus. They came asking as servants, just as Jesus their Master was a servant. And so they received.

If it is boldness you need, then tie into the love of God and become His servant for the sake of others. If you long for the healing miracles of God to be revealed in and around you, then go after the heart of the Father and His hand will follow.

Root out every thought of self-glory or of seeking a better position for yourself. The very best position is the servant position — it is the one Jesus chose. Let go of pride and bow down low, toward God and others. Then you will experience that great boldness which can only come from Love. Stretch our your hand to serve, and God will stretch our His hand to heal.

An Open Heart Is An Open Heart

He who gives to the poor will not lack,
But he who hides his eyes will have many curses.

(Proverbs 28:27)

When we close our eyes to those in need, we close up our heart. Ironically, that opens the door for curses to come into our lives. It is not that God closes His heart toward us. Not at all. It is just that, when we close our heart towards our brother in need, it is also closed towards God. God’s heart remains open, and His desire to bless us is unabated. But our heart is not able to receive His blessing because a closed heart is a closed heart — nothing gets out, nothing gets in.

God’s heart is an open heart. That is His nature. His heart is open to us and open to all those in need. After all, aren’t we just as much in need of God’s love and mercy as our brother. So when we open our heart to those in need, it is thus open towards God as well. In fact, our heart becomes an expression of God’s own heart. For an open heart is an open heart — open to God, open to man.

A New Heart, A Now Song

Been thinking about worship today, and some of the infighting that has gone on in the Church over worship music, old and new. Part of the problem has been that, although music may well be a part of worship, it is not the heart of worship. So some people feel like they can’t worship with new music, and others feel like they can’t worship with old music. But they’ve missed it — the problem is not in the music.

Old music is not the answer, because people tend to use the old music in old ways, and it becomes little more than sentiment. New music is not the answer either. For one thing, it is easy for the new music to become the old music pretty quickly, and it begins to be used in old ways. On top of that, it is also possible to use the old music in new ways.

But the real solution lies somewhere else. The problem is not the music we use in worship, but the heart with which we approach worship. What we need is not new music but a new heart — one that is focused on the Lord, one that is in love with Jesus, one that is open and obedient to the Holy Spirit. When we have that, music is not a problem. With a new heart, we can always sing a new song, whether it is a traditional hymn or a contemporary piece. For it will neither be an old song nor a new one — it will be a now song, freshly emerging from a heart that is in communion with the Lord.

The Secret of a Merry Heart

All the days of the afflicted are evil,
But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.

(Proverbs 15:15)

Let there be no doubt — a merry heart is better! What we see reflected in this proverb is an attitude and a priority. Some people look for the silver lining to a dark cloud, others look for the dark cloud to a silver lining. But the priority, and I believe the real reason for a merry heart, is spelled out in the next proverb:

Better is a little with the fear of the LORD,
  Than great treasure with trouble.
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is,
  Than a fatted calf with hatred.

(Proverbs 15:16-17).

There is nothing wrong with having great treasure and feasting on a fatted calf. May the Lord bless you and me with both! But they are insufficient to satisfy our hearts. What we really need is to walk in the fear of the LORD and in love.

Now, some people might conceive of the fear of the LORD and love to be two different and contradictory things. But such people really misunderstand both. They are not separate, nor does one contradict the other. They are actually two ways of looking at the same thing.

The fear of the LORD is not a matter of cringing in terror, it is a matter of respect and awe and reverence. Have you ever stood at the top of the Empire State Building or gazed out over the Grand Canyon. We call such views “breath-taking,” so stunning that they take your breath away for a moment. It is awesome, or to use an old word in an old way, it is awful (read “awe-full,” full of awe). That is what the fear of the LORD is like — living in recognition of the awesomeness of God and His powerful greatness.

The other side of this equation is love. “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is.” As much as we should live in constant awareness of God’s great and awesome power, we should also dwell and meditate on the awesomeness of His love.

The man who learns to walk in the fear of the LORD and dwell in the love of God will have a continual feast. For this is the secret of a merry heart.