Judges 16:18-19: “And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying: ‘Come up this one, for he hath told me all his heart.’ Then the lords of the Philistine came up unto her, and brought the money in their hand.”
“One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to his eyes.” The Fox to the Little Prince. By Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
Three times Samson claims to reveal the secret of his strength to Delilah and three times she tells the authorities of the Philistines and three times they get their rear ends whipped by Samson. You would think by this fourth time they would start to get wind of the fact that Samson has been playing a little game with them. You know fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me. Yet, this fourth time they not only return they actually come with money to pay Delilah off. Why was Delilah and the Philistines so certain that this time Samson really let the beans out of the bag, or the cat out of the bag, I think you spill the beans and…any ways you get my point.
The difference this time is that Delilah said Samson “told her all his heart.” Have you ever been in a testimony meeting? We don’t do that much anymore. Pastors are worried that someone will start preaching and take over the whole service, which is what often happens during a testimony time. And if you try to put a cap on it you are hindering the Spirit. So pastors often opt to just overlook the testimony time or if they do they have a popcorn testimony time. You know, you pop up and say a couple words and sit down. That keeps people in line. Besides testimonies get pretty boring when someone not skilled in public speaking can’t take the cues that they are putting everyone to sleep or it is like being stuck on a merry go round where you can’t get off or in this case they don’t know how to end their testimony so they just keep talking. Yet, every once in a while someone starts to speak and suddenly they have captivated the entire audience. Everyone is awake and on the edge of their seat hanging on every word that this person, who has no formal training in public speaking, is saying. The reason is that that person is speaking from his heart.
The word for heart in Hebrew is lev which has numerous meanings including thought, reasoning, understanding, will, judgement, design, affection, love, hatred, courage, fear, joy, sorrow, etc. I have searched for a simple description of the word lev or heart and I believe the best I found was from Rabbi Samson Hirsch who described the heart as the center of your being where your emotions are aroused.
We are so trained to hide our emotions in the Western world that it is really difficult to share our hearts with someone or to even think with our hearts. I am not talking about emotions, although your heart is the seat of your emotions, but your heart is really who and what you are. How many times has someone told you off and said: “But I am not angry, I am ok with it, I just wanted you to know.” Yet you know full well that person is angry and has revealed his heart to you. But that person does not realize he is angry, he thinks he is cool and just expressing himself. Others see his heart but he doesn’t. How many times has someone said: “I’m telling this to you in love.” They really believe they are telling you in love but they cannot hide the truth of their hearts. Others know our hearts better than we do. Animals know our hearts better than we do. A dog reads you facial expressions, hear the tone of your voice, they can sense the electrical impulses from your mind and tell if you are angry, sad, happy or depressed.
I grew up in a Baptist church where I was told not to trust my emotions. This was good advice except I took it too far and did not trust my heart. Yet if my heart belongs to God, that is how He communicates with me.
As I spend this time in silence I am letting my heart be my guide. I am learning to listen with my heart for it will hear what my ears cannot hear, I am learning to speak with my heart for it will speak what I cannot speak and I am learning like the Fox said to The Little Prince to see with my heart for my heart can see what is invisible to the eyes.
In silence God’s creation begins to speak to the ears of my heart, I begin to talk to God with the lips of my heart and I begin to see in every bird that dances and sings before me what my eyes cannot see. In silence I shut down my eyes, ears and lips as well as my sense of smell and touch. I allow all five senses to become just one sense with my heart.
The Talmud teaches that in the spirit world there is only one sense. You do not have a human body to feel, eyes to see, ears to hear or a mouth to speak you are a spirit that has all that wrapped up in one sense and if you can wrap your brain around that and your heart is joined with God you will hear, see, smell, touch, and speak things that are too wondrous to describe. Too wondrous because it is all about God and you begin to experience how insignificant and at the same time important you are when you rest in His heart.
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