Psalm 16:7-8
I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him
at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
'Listen to your heart' - that's the message we absorb from
the world around us. Whether or not you're old enough to remember the 1980s classic Roxette song of that name, you’ll recognise the idea.
It's surprising to find David saying the same thing … 'even
when I lie awake at night, I'm listening to what my heart is telling me'. But what IS his heart telling him? It seems that he listens to his heart only because his heart is full of God's word. It is the LORD who counsels him. He ponders God's words, he remembers God's instructions, he thinks about the ways God has led him so far and marvels at God's wisdom.
Is that where your thoughts go when you lie awake at night?
Wouldn't it be great if this was true of us? Instead of lying awake worrying, which leaves us feeling shaky, we could lie awake treasuring God's promises to us, reminding ourselves that ultimately, with him as our refuge, we will never
be shaken.
How do we get a heart like David's? We probably need to
start by admitting to God that our hearts aren't like that, and ask him to change us, by his Spirit. And then we’ll want to make
choices about what we listen to. We’ll feed ourselves regularly with God's word, storing it up in our hearts ready for when we need it. When we realise that our minds have settled into patterns of worry, or we're dwelling on things that aren't in line with God's truth, we’ll direct our thoughts back to God. We may have to keep redirecting our attention 1000 times a day. But I bet David
had to do that too. He made deliberate choices: ‘I WILL praise the Lord’, ‘I KEEP my eyes on him’ (even when they are distracted away). Let's pray that that God would enable us to do the same, and that our hearts and minds would be increasingly filled with his word.
