844. From this verse down to verse 6 the subject is the first state of the member of this Church following temptation. The present verse means the end of temptation. Previously the subject has been his temptation as regards things of the will, and also his temptation as regards those of the understanding. The end of temptation as regards things of the will is meant by 'the fountains of the deep were stopped', and as regards those of the understanding by 'the floodgates of heaven'. That this is the meaning of these phrases has been stated and shown already at Chapter 7:11, and that 'rain' means temptation itself at 7:12. Consequently there is no need to pause any longer to confirm these matters.

The heart means love. A good heart means love to the Lord and to the neighbor, while a hard or stony heart means the love of self or the world -- riches and things. When the psalmist asks the Lord to search his heart, he wants the Lord to see what it is that he loves. And we are what we love. What we eat may form our earthly body, but it's only temporary, what we love forms our spiritual body, beautiful or ugly as we have chosen. It's interesting to note that the first multi-cellular motion of our embryo is the pulsating that starts in a twist of blood vessel that is to become our heart, and the last motion of our natural body is our heartbeat. It is there for all of our natural life. And of course there is a beating heart in our spiritual bodies when we come to put them on.