Incline my Heart!

Pastor Troy Husted

March 29, 2024

“Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain” (Psalms 119:36).

O' how my heart cries out to the Lord that I may continue daily inclining my heart to the Lord. That through my prayers that His Holy Spirit may desire my heart to seek His word. For I seek to know my Lord daily. To see the wonders of Christ Jesus, that transforms my heart to walk in the ways of His teachings.

For the Lord provides to all that turns to prayer to guide us through His precious word, the bible. We start to see the wonders of His word working in our lives and are united in a desire to do what is right before God.

Am I perfect before God? No, but I know that my daily devotions and prayers to God are setting the foundations that is sustaining my growth in His righteousness. For I still falter and fail, but quickly repent with a joyful heart. For I am human and the elements that surround us daily cause us to stumble.

We are impatient creatures that can easily become distracted when we are out among society. A society that throws every curve ball imaginable our way. For I am thankful that we have a Savior that shows forgiveness and mercy and continues to shape our hearts to His will...when we are willing to incline our hearts to Him.

For it is our weakness in our hearts as humanity that needs the strength of a Savior. That only God can provide. We struggle and quickly lose desire in seeking the Lord. This is why it is important to pray and mediate on God's word. It is an act that we must do faithfully and not on feelings. For our feelings are the fuel that pulls us away from seeking God and turns our desires to the things of the world.

Below is a portion of Chapter 16 from the book, "Reading the Bible Supernaturally" by John Piper. For many that have walked the journey with me over the years will truly come to understand this book and bring conformation to our hearts. For our teachings, studies, prayers and many post and discussions, over the years, have confirmed to us the trueness of God's glory and to come to seek the true gospel of Christ.

For we were and are learning to build a true relationship reliant on God's will.

When we pray, “Incline my heart to your testimonies” (Ps. 119:36), we are admitting we deserve nothing—​​​a cool heart toward infinite beauty is an infinite sin. We are confessing our helplessness and sinfulness. And we are looking away from ourselves to Christ. Our plea is: O God, for Christ’s sake! For the sake of your dear Son! For the sake of his infinitely precious blood (1 Pet. 1:19), hear my cry and restore to me the joy of my salvation (Ps. 51:12) and the delight I once had in your word (Ps. 1:2).

Restore to me the fullness of my love for you (Deut. 30:6). Grant me to say again from the bottom of my heart, “Oh how I love your law!” (Ps. 119:97). Surrendering Your Identity to God don’t miss how radical it is to pray this way about your Bible reading.

The prayer contains an absolute surrender of yourself to God. You are saying, in effect, I am happy for you to have the most basic control of my heart. I am happy for you to go beneath my conscious willing and control the roots of my desires and my longings and, therefore, all that flows from my innermost being.

This is radical. This is a surrender to God of your identity. Our very being as individual persons is who we are at the depths. Our deepest identity is not the mere outward acts of religious performance, or charitable efforts, or skillful achievement.

All of that is downstream from the spring of our identity. We are who we are in the hidden place, where desires and longings and passions and affections are born. When we pray, “Incline my heart,” we are surrendering the control of those depths. We are looking to Christ, and his death for sinners, and we are seeing a person worthy of the deepest trust.

For his sake we are saying to God, “I believe you are good. I believe you can be trusted. I believe you will not obliterate me but will make me what I was created to be. So I surrender to you the roots of my being—​​​the spring of my very identity. I ask you to take control of that and give me the desires that accord with your worth and my greatest joy in you.

I suspect that many who pray for God to help them with their Bible reading do not get the answer because they really are not willing to make the surrender involved in crying out, “Incline my heart.” They are saying deep inside, “I am not sure I really want to have a desire for God’s word that is greater than my desire for sex or money or popularity or marriage or family or life itself.” They are not really saying, “Your steadfast love is better than life” (Ps. 63:3).

They are holding back. A deep cherishing of some sin or some “desire for other things” prevents the surrender of the whole heart. But such negotiations with God—​​​such half measures—​​​are not accepted. “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Ps. 66:18).

God’s Word Is Himself revealed self-deception is likely happening here. The deception is that they are dealing only with God’s word and not with God. They don’t let themselves think that shrinking back from the fullest desire for the word of God is a shrinking back from God.

They allow themselves the illusion that one can have a long-term relationship with God while cultivating quiet idolatries in their heart. God sees through such subterfuges.

Jesus made plain what we all know in our deepest heart. The word of God is, as Derek Kidner says, “thyself revealed.” Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word” (John 14:23). That’s how close the relationship is between Christ and his word. Loss of interest in the word of God is loss of interest in God.

Therefore, here at the outset of answering the question, “How do we read the Bible in the strength of another?” we have encountered the deepest demand of all. Reading the Bible is something we should desire to do (Ps. 1:2; 1 Pet. 2:2), but the desires of our sinful hearts are fickle.

Therefore, everything begins with this test: do we really want to desire and enjoy the word of God above all created things?

Are we willing to surrender the spring of our desires—​​​our identity—​​​into the hands of God?

Are we willing to pray, “Incline my heart to your testimonies,” and not hold anything back?

In other words, the question about how to read the Scriptures is a question of radical Christian surrender of our deepest self into the hands of God to do as he pleases. It is a question about what it means to be a Christian.