The seeking of admonition and deliverance is mediated in the prophet by the approach and entry of prayer before the face of the Lord: "Let my prayer draw nigh before Thee... let my petition be heard before Thee." This is also among the signs of success. Prayer is then like the smoke of a censer, which now spreads on the ground, then spreads in the air, then rises as a "stalk" of grief (Song of Songs 3:6). The latter depicts undistracted prayer, in which the mind, not engaged in anything extraneous, soberly stands before God, omnipresent and all-seeing. Such a prayer by its very nature draws near to the Lord and enters before Him. It is formed simultaneously with the establishment of hope and love in the heart and is inspired by them, and only it attracts both admonition and deliverance. All this together is a sign of the highest degree of spiritual state, in which the God-given spirit dwells in God, and God dwells in him, having found in him a beneficent abode, because of the purity that has settled within.

Verse one hundred and seventy-one

"My lips shall regurgitate singing, when Thou hast taught me by Thy justification."

They will "regurgitate" by themselves, without any tension and preliminary deliberation. A song to God will be born in the heart, it will be plucked out by the lips and carried to heaven. It is a song of doxology, thanksgiving, and every prayer. If this has begun to happen to you, then know that you are already in your rank, in the rank of angels, praising and singing the praises of the God they intelligently see.

At first, the mind prays with intensity, forces itself to pray by force of will. And this, of course, is mental prayer. Mental prayer gradually warms the heart and leads it into another prayer – a prayer of the mind and heart. The heart, having learned to pray under the influence of the mind and having warmed up, itself begins to move towards prayer and draw the mind into it. This prayer of the heart is a real prayer, as it should be, a prayer that embraces the whole being of man, for where there is a heart, there is the whole man. This state is revealed by the inward gravitation, which occurs during prayer, reading, meditation, and even without all this, it is like this. The latter is higher than the former.

It is precisely this state that St. Isaac understood when he asked: "Does your mind, without the participation of the will, admire the concept of the incorporeal? Does a joy suddenly flare up in you, incomparable with anything else? Does a certain pleasure emanate from the heart and attract the mind entirely?" If so, it is a sign that the person experiencing it has gone far on the path to perfection. Further, St. Isaac describes this state in the following way: "At times a kind of pleasure and joy enters the whole body; carnal language cannot express this. Sometimes this pleasure flows from the heart at the hour of prayer, or during reading, or as a result of the intensity of thought. And sometimes it happens without all this, during activity, and at night, when you are between sleep and awakening, as if awake and not awake. But when this delight comes upon a man, beating in his whole body, then he thinks at that hour that the Kingdom of Heaven is nothing else but the same thing." After this, how can one not "regurgitate" singing to the lips of someone who is in such a state?

But one must know that it is not the fruit of prayerful labor alone, but the consequence of the entire God-pleasing life, all the labors of good deeds and asceticism, and is revealed when the heart begins to approach purity. The prophet points to this in the words: "When Thou hast taught me by Thy righteousness." Justifications are commandments. Learning them does not mean memorizing the written commandments, but active habituation in them, just as one learns any skill. When this happens, then the commandments dwell in the heart and form a constant order that governs all its movements, so that in any case, before any thought, an indication of how to act proceeds from the heart of itself. Such a heart is a holy and pure heart, from which comes only the right and God-pleasing heart. It is this that the prophet provides as a source of regurgitation through the lips of thanksgiving, or praise, or prayerful singing to God. Pray: "Build up a pure heart in me, O God, and renew the spirit of righteousness in my womb" (Psalm 50:12).

Verse one hundred and seventy-two

"My tongue declares Thy words, for all Thy commandments are righteousness."

Doctors know the state of bodily health by language, and speech denounces the state of spiritual health. Intelligent speech shows an intelligent person, pious speech shows a God-fearing person, and depraved speech shows a depraved person. Whoever has a soul that hurts, he talks about it. If your tongue speaks delightfully only about the words of God, then this is a sign that your soul aches for them, that is, you love them, desire to fulfill them yourself and see their fulfillment from others. If you are disposed in this way, it means that the words of God, the commandments, are not contained in your mind, but are embraced by your heart, fulfill it and constitute its order; and this shows that you are no longer a slave, but a son, acting not under compulsion, but willingly, according to your good intentions, as having entered into the plans and intentions of the father.

This is natural: when you have loved the words of God, then you speak only about them, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, and it is impossible to restrain them, so as not to speak about them. But there must also be other motives, namely, thanksgiving to God and love for the brethren. The prophet still in his feelings of repentance said: "I will teach the wicked in Thy way, and the wicked shall turn to Thee" (Psalm 50:15). Repenting, he vows that not only will he always walk in the ways of God, but he will also teach others the same, for in the multiplication of the number of those who walk these paths lies the glory of God, the Founder and Guide of those paths.

One saint in humility said: "I have lost my way and sunk in the mud; And although I myself am still mired in it, I shout to others: do not come here, or you will sink as much as I do." Another, in the same humility, was in the habit of saying: "I am a pillar that is placed on the roads, and although I do not move from the place myself, I correctly show the way to others." Whether in one disposition or in another, the words of God are spoken with the tongue out of goodwill to their brethren. Having experienced in practice that sin binds, and the commandments give freedom, and moreover in a variety of ways, who can refrain from announcing to others where the path is and where the parting is? The prophet also proclaims with the tongue of the words of God, because they are all true. If you want to live the present life, live as the commandments command, for any other life is not life.

If the prophecy of the words of God is a good sign, then silence about them is a sign of evil, and speeches contrary to them are the worst sign. Where they speak as if scientifically, but not in God's way, where they talk about empty things, and even more so about shameful and sinful things, there both those who speak and hear are obviously alienated from the words of God; but those who are strangers to the words of God are also strangers to God, Who proclaimed them; but whoever is a stranger to God and to God, what is it? In the Apocalypse the depths of Satan are commemorated (Rev. 2:24). And indeed, there are meetings to which no other name can be given.

Verse one hundred and seventy-three