On Searching Your Heart: Reflections on Psalm 4:4

Recently I have been taking time to reflect more deeply on a few verses of scripture that have spoken to me. The latest is Psalm 4:4 “when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent”.

I love the “and be silent” at the end. In other words, search your hearts, but don’t be super defensive. Don’t rush to a thousand excuses for why this is. Search your heart and sit with what you find. Think about it. Let it challenge you. Would you like what you find to be different? If so, what might you need to do?

I’m also impressed that we should do this when in bed. I guess technically that could be at any time of the day, but I imagine the Psalmist was thinking of the period before we drift off to sleep at night. The instruction is that we use the time for a contemplative search of our hearts. Presumably it involves a review of the day. What did we do right? What should or could we have done differently? How could we have turned up to all that life offers more fully, openly and faithfully? These are important questions, and the suggestion is that we fall asleep pondering them. I don’t know about you, but I often find that the things I am thinking about when I fall asleep come to me in a fresh and renewed way when I wake up. I often see them in a new light and think, “why didn’t I see that before?” While we sleep our unconscious picks away at the unresolved issues of the previous day helping to reframe them so that we think about them more helpfully. It’s why before making an important decision it’s usually best to ask for a night to sleep on it.

On hearing the instruction to “search your hearts”, twenty first century listeners are likely to think about their feelings and emotions. After all, that’s what the heart is about, isn’t it? Hmmm, perhaps in contemporary Western society, but not back in the Psalmist’s day. When the Hebrews spoke about the heart they were thinking about the centre of our being – the place where out thinking, acting and feelings meet. While the instruction to search our heart certainly includes an examination of our feelings and emotions, it goes further. It is not enough to have felt the right way. For the Hebrews the obvious question was “did my actions back up my good intent.” Meaning well, or having a pleasant disposition towards someone is not enough if at some point we don’t swing into action. And that action won’t be impulsive, but carefully considered and thoughtful, for the heart is the centre of thinking as well. To search my heart includes a rigorous appraisal of the robustness of my thinking and any plans I have devised. It is a full on examination of what’s going on in my life.

All this may sound rather exhausting. But that is not the intent. The examination might take place in silence, but it is done in the presence of God. Because of this the writer has a calm and settled certainty. Listen to the way the Psalm ends: “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” For you alone, Lord…

Nice chatting…

Photo by ömer aliko: https://www.pexels.com/photo/kitten-lying-in-bedding-17575707/

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