He Knoweth the Secrets of the Heart
Psalm 44:21
by Willliam P. Cheshire, Jr., M.D.

Who can truly know the heart? I will never forget in medical school my first glimpse of a living, beating, human heart, and the hands of the surgeon intent on preserving life with suture and scalpel. Physicians are privileged to view the most inner parts of the human body, which is "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14) in the image of the Creator (Genesis 1:26). And although the heart’s wondrous palpitations have always fascinated and worried physicians, medical diagnosis fails to fathom what the Bible calls the thoughts of the heart (Hebrews 4:12), which the LORD himself searches (Jeremiah 17:10).

Laënnec’s invention of the stethoscope in 1816 introduced a new method of listening to the patient. The original stethoscope was a pair of connecting hollow wooden tubes that evolved into the very symbol of medical diagnosis donned by those to whom the sick would look in hope of being healed. The tubes were designed to be disconnected for perpendicular storage inside the physician’s top hat, where they formed, interestingly, the shape of a cross.

The first sounds audible to Dr. Laënnec, listening through the hollow tube pressed against his patient’s chest, would have been the respirations and heart beat. The rhythmical passage of air through the respiratory tract makes a soft "shhh... shhh..." sound. The metered closure of heart valves produces a faster sound something like "da da... da da..." One can almost imagine the occasional collision of these sounds in the doctor’s ear. Together they approximate one of the biblical names of God–El Shaddai–which in Hebrew means Almighty God. As in Psalm 150, "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD."

Through the lens of modern technology physicians now monitor cardiac function in intricate detail. For example, through echocardiography we discern the complex motions of the heart’s chambers and valves by the patterns cast by reflected sound waves. Magnetic resonance and computerized tomography yield images of unparalleled anatomical precision. Angiography outlines in shadows its vessels and chambers.

The human heart as viewed by these techniques in cross section resembles the Hebrew letter, v [sheen]. v is often associated with God’s name, yD'v' lae [El Shaddai]. How awesome it is to think that God would have imprinted his holy name on the heart of every human being.

Let us explore what more the v in our hearts could represent. The focus of cardiology is to decipher chest pain and to detect disease, which entered the world with sin. Likewise the first mention of the heart in the Bible is in Genesis 6:5: "The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time." In examining our own hearts, we should not forget that v is also the first letter in tj'v]; [shechath], which means corrupt. The second occurrence of the word heart [ble, lev] in the next verse reveals the response of God’s heart to our corruption–"his heart was filled with pain."

Hearts can be hardened. The Hebrew word, rymiv' [shamiyr], meaning thorn or flint, suggests the spiritual rigor mortis to which the sinful heart is inclined. This is the word found in Zechariah 7:12; "They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets." When Moses proclaimed to the Israelites, "You forgot the God who gave you birth" (Deuteronomy 32:18), he used the verb jk'v; [shakach, to forget].

Dare we allow our hearts to forget the Almighty, yD'v' lae [El Shaddai]? King David prayed in Psalm 77:18, "Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked." Malachi (3:2) asked, "But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire." Ezekiel (21:7) warned that "every heart will melt." Jeremiah (2:12) prophesied that, because of our rebellion, the wrath of the LORD will cause even the heavens to "shudder with great horror." This expression derives from the Hebrew word, r['c; [sa‘ar], meaning to storm, to shiver, to be afraid. As we pause to consider the holiness of the living God, the word r['c; is abbreviated on our mortal hearts.

Thanks be to God for not leaving our hearts in perilous turmoil. "He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed" (Psalm 107:29). Psalm 145:18-19 assures us that "the LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them." This cry, h[;w]v' [shavah], comes from the heart. In the same way Jesus’ disciples cried out to him when the storm overtook their boat in Matthew 8:24-26. Jesus replied, " ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm." Messiah Jesus speaks likewise to our hearts: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me" (John 14:1).

It is the heart that with gladness recognizes its Savior’s voice. "My heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy" (Psalm 28:7). "I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart" (Psalm 9:1). "In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name" (Psalm 33:21). The Hebrew word in Psalm 33 for rejoice is jm'c' [samach].

According to the [m'v]; [Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4-9], one should "love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments . . . are to be upon your hearts." Moses’ declaration that "the LORD your God will circumcise your hearts" (Deuteronomy 30:6) foreshadows the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah (31:33): "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." Ezekiel (11:19) adds: "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." Paul explains the fulfillment of this prophecy in the ministry of the body of Messiah, which is written "with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Corinthians 3:3). The LORD "sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’ " (Galatians 4:6) and to strengthen us so that Messiah may dwell in our hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17).

Throughout the Torah Moses instructed the Israelites to keep, or rm'v; [shamar, i.e. to hedge about], all the commandments of the LORD. "The word," he explained (Deuteronomy 30:14), "is very near you; it is . . . in your hearts so you may obey it." Joshua exhorted, "Yield your hearts to the LORD" (Joshua 24:23). Concerning the righteous, Psalm 37:31 states that, "The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip." David confessed in Psalm 119:30, "I have set my heart on your laws." Solomon admonished, "Your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God" (1 Kings 8:61). Messiah summarizes the relationship between the heart and the law in this way: "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15).

Through Messiah’s redemptive death as atonement for our sins, King David’s prayer in Psalm 51 becomes reality in the lives of all who believe: "Create in me a pure heart, O God." As the prophet Isaiah (1:18) foresaw, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." The prophet’s word for snow is gleeve, [sheleg]. With the blood of Jesus, the first letter of this word is written on our hearts. The letter v reminds us of what God in his mercy can accomplish within us.

Unlike most other muscles, the heart beats effortlessly. Although its contractions expend metabolic energy, this requires no conscious exertion. Psalm 119:32 says, "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." I believe this characteristic of the heart is a foretaste of the era of messianic rest symbolized in the tB;v' [shabbat, Exodus 20:8], in which the people of God cease from labor on the seventh day and are refreshed. Isaiah anticipated the day of the LORD’s rest in verse 40:31: "Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Jesus the Messiah is Lord of the shabbat (Mark 2:28). Jesus beckons, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). John teaches that, by obeying God’s commands, we know that we belong to the truth and can "set our hearts at rest in his presence . . . And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them" (1 John 3:19-24). The Author of the tB;v' [shabbat] has written in Hebrew his invitation for rest upon our hearts.

This reading of the LORD’s handwriting on our hearts would be incomplete without mention of one more word. "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7). These encouraging words of rabbi Paul, although written in the Greek language, convey the Hebrew concept of !wOlv; [shalom]. Paul also exhorts us to "let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts" (Colossians 3:15). "Shalom" connotes much more than the English word, "peace." Shalom includes a sense of fullness in number, completeness, perfection, security, safety, prosperity, wholeness, soundness, friendship, reconciliation, even health. Shalom is the word David chose to greet Nabal in 1 Samuel 25:6 when he said, "Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!"

"You who seek God, may your hearts live!" (Psalm 69:32).