Psalm 119:112

Today’s verse brings us to the end of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Nun. 

Psalms 119:112  I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.

We defined this word incline when we dealt with verse 36, but that was a long time ago.  So let’s define it again.

Incline – To bend (the mind, heart, will, etc.) towards some course or action; to give a mental leaning or tendency to (a person); to dispose.

The heart is the apparatus of thought, intent (will), and desire (Hebrews 4:11; Psalms 37:4).  Therefore, to incline the heart to something is to bend the thoughts, desires, and will toward that something so that you think about it, want it, and choose it.

In our modern culture we often encounter the idea that people should incline their ways to their heart.  “Follow you heart,” we hear.  But the Biblical instruction is the very opposite.  We should rather incline our hearts to the way we should go.  Instead of letting your heart guide you, you should rather follow the advice of Solomon and “guide thine heart in the way” (Proverbs 23:19). 

As a result of the fall of man into sin, man’s heart has an aversion to God’s statutes so that he cannot incline his heart and mind toward them.

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Romans 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Before a man will incline his heart to perform God’s statutes, the Lord must give him a new heart so that he possesses the ability to bend his thoughts, desires, and intents toward doing what the Lord commands.

Ezekiel 11:19  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

20  That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Philippians 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Being given a new heart, a man can now, with God’s continued assistance, incline his thoughts, desires, and intentions to perform God’s statutes.  But notice the qualification that I have just stated:  he can do this with God’s continued assistance.  Without continual supplies of grace, even the new heart is unable to surmount the opposition mounted by the world, the flesh, and the devil against one’s duty to God. Our brains, which are a part of our flesh, are programmed by the fall and by years of sinful practice toward breaking God’s statutes.  Our Christian duty consists in overcoming that inclination with the inclination of the new heart towards God’s law.  It is only “through the Spirit” that we can “mortify the deeds of the body” and obey the truth (Romans 8:13; 1Peter 1:22).  That is why we found the psalmist in verse 36 praying to the Lord:  “incline my heart unto thy testimonies.”  So must we be ever praying and seeking the help of the Holy Spirit if we are to maintain the right inclination. 

Now the psalmist resolved to perform God’s statutes alway, even unto the end.  He would obey his God every day in every situation to the end of his life or the end of the world, whichever came first.   I love Charles Spurgeon’s terse summation of this verse:  “He made it his end to keep the law unto the end, and that without end.”

And that brings us to the end of the octave Nun, pronounced like noon.  Now that Nun is past we will see what comes in the afternun, Lord willing.