THE INSTRUCTING HEART

“I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; MY HEART also INSTRUCTS me in the night seasons” – Psalm 16:7

God transforms the bewildered heart into the Instructed and INSTRUCTING HEART: “I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; MY HEART also INSTRUCTS me in the night seasons” (Psa.16:7). This Psalm of Faith depicts David’s single-minded trust and whole-hearted allegiance to the Lord. He sought refuge in the Sovereign Lord God and His supreme welfare (vv. 1-2). He affirmed that the Lord is pleased in His saints; whereas the apostates have many sorrows, even as the godly person keeps apart from their impious worship (vv.3- 4). David looked to God Himself as his inheritance, rather than to His blessings or gifts (vv. 5-6).

The faithful is rewarded with many blessings, including: enjoying God’s counsel and guidance (v.7); defence, stability, and security (v.8), gladness, rest, and rejoicing (v.9), and preservation from corruption (v.10). Above all else, to have the Lord is to have all there is! In verse 7, David determined to “bless the Lord”: To do everything he could to please the Lord who always gave him counsel. As a result of all the wonderful things God had already done for him, David committed himself to do whatever it took to please the Heart of God. We have an all-powerful God who has done so much for us! What can we, simple humans, do for Him?  If we are truly grateful for His goodness, we can do what David did: Please His Heart.

Getting guidance from the Master of the Universe would be enough to make anyone excited and grateful. But, how do we receive such guidance? David’s allegiance to the Lord, and his whole-hearted trust in Him provided the basis for receiving God’s counsel. The manner in which the counsel came is also of special interest: “My HEART also instructs me in the night seasons” (v.7b). It didn’t come in some spectacular manner such as through an angel or a vision, but through David’s inner thought processes as he prayerfully meditated in the night seasons. God can use more spectacular means to deliver His wisdom and will, but more often, He uses simple, everyday channels to achieve His purposes. Primarily, God instructs us by His Word and His Spirit, through our hearts.

David revealed that His reins or HEART instructed him in the night sessions.  The word “reins” in the King James Version means ‘kidneys’ in modern expression. This reflects a Hebrew idiom which basically means internal organs or inward parts. In ancient times soothsayers used to examine the bowels of an animal to foretell the future; hence “inward parts” assumed a metaphoric meaning of a prophetic instrument, such as the modern use of the term “crystal ball” wound not infer an actual ball. David was saying he received prophetic insight from God, from deep in his heart, in the night seasons. These most probably came through dreams or prayerful meditations at night: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (Psa.1:2).

I’ve sometimes wondered why God created us to require sleep! Couldn’t we have lived without the need to sleep? Ordinarily, it seems such a waste of precious time to spend one third of our lives sleeping! But the reality is that our spirit never sleeps. So, what does it do while the body dozes off? Does our spirit just sit on the bedside watching the clock, waiting for time to pass by until it can get back to work? The Bible doesn’t provide explicit answers, but there is enough to say that much more goes on at night than we are aware. David had some insight into the night and he was ready to bless the Lord with special gratitude.

The Psalmist maximised his night seasons: “Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge” (Psa.19:2); “When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches” (Psa.63:6); “I will remember my song in the night; I will meditate with my HEART, and my spirit ponders” (Psa.77:6). The Instructing Heart delivers divine counsel in life’s night seasons!