Incline My Heart

Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes;
and I will keep it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep Your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of Your commandments,
for I delight in it.
Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain!
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in Your ways.
Confirm to Your servant Your promise,
that You may be feared.
Turn away the reproach that I dread,
for Your rules are good.
Behold, I long for Your precepts;
in Your righteousness give me life!  

Psalm 119:33-40

One thing it is important to recognize is that every church, ministry, and even Christian has an underlying belief of what will actually change people, and how God works in our lives (including for themselves). In an article titled, “How Do People Actually Change?”, Simeon Zahl calls this one’s “operative theology.” He explains operative theology as “not necessarily the theology we think we subscribe to, but the theology we are deploying or responding to in practice.” This is not mere theoretical discussion; this ends up being immensely practical in our own Christian lives and in how we minister to others we care about.

Some examples of common operative theologies include (1) the knowledge approach, which is about learning biblical information, (2) the emotional experiences approach, which is about feeling a certain way in a church gathering or spiritual discipline, (3) the “do more, try harder” approach, which is about motivating people to be more disciplined and live a changed life, and the (4) “participate in this ministry” approach, which is the belief that if you are part of a certain worship service, retreat, Bible study, or anything else, that will lead to life change. There are certainly more, but these are some we see in our culture regularly. Additionally, while this is a simplified overview, and each of these approaches might have elements of others included in them, Zahl also argues that most of us have one main foundational element at the heart of what we do. While there can be helpful elements in these, these operative theologies each miss a crucial truth about who we are as humans in the biblical view, and therefore, what is required to change us.

In Psalm 119:36-37, the Psalmist gives us insight into what actually changes people and how God actually works in our lives. It is based on what the Psalmist (and the rest of the Bible) sees as our core issue. That core issue is the human heart (Jeremiah 17:9). In verse 36, “incline my heart” is a phrase that shows the Psalmist knows that God must graciously give him the deepest motivation to follow Him. One way of reading this is, “Give me a desire for Your rules.” He is dependent on the Lord to give him desires that are not formed by his natural selfishness but are instead formed by Scripture. Knowledge, effort, and emotional experiences are not enough to change him. He needs God to change his heart solely by grace. In verse 37, we see two options about how to live: looking at worthless things or receiving life in the way of walking with God. Yet once again, the Psalmist’s request is for God to “turn his eyes away” from what is worthless, revealing his dependence on God’s work in him. The Hebrew means that his prayer is for God to “revive him with His Word,” and things that need revival are things that have lost life inside of them. The Psalmist is consistent with other biblical writers in demonstrating two key realities:

(1) In order to change, we need our hearts to be revived by God.  
(2) That only happens when we are captured by beholding something better than our sinful and worldly desires.  

In other words, the fundamental way that we change is not by getting through to our heads or wills, but to our hearts. How is this even possible?  

This is the bottom line, and it’s something the church cannot abandon. There is only one thing that can get through to the human heart and change it deeply: the love of Christ in the Gospel. Unlike the Psalmist, we have a completed Bible, so we know the testimonies and law he speaks of all point to and find their fulfillment in Jesus. What is the only thing able to make my naturally selfish heart delight in the Lord and His ways? When the Holy Spirit captures my attention and fixes my gaze upon the beauty and glory of Jesus, the one who is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found that treasure, he sold everything he had to buy that field (Matthew 13:44). When we realize that the greatest treasure, the most worthy object, is not a jewel but a person who loves us and gave Himself for us, we will be changed (Galatians 2:20). When we realize all that it cost Jesus to make us His treasure, He will become ours, and we will experience life in His ways.

A few weeks ago, my car battery died. I could yell at the battery, give the battery information on how to be fixed, or try to motivate the battery, but no matter what I did, the only thing that would fix the problem was this: I needed a new battery. In the same way, we need new hearts, and the good news of the Gospel is that God can give that to us (Ezekiel 36:26). A preacher can stand up all day and tell us what to do and how to live, but that does not give us the desire or ability to do it. We need a new heart, and the only thing that changes the human heart is the grace of God in the Gospel (Titus 2:11-13).

Charles Spurgeon once quoted English revivalist and hymnist John Berridge (1716–1793) as follows:

Run and run the law demands
But gives me neither feet nor hands.
Better news, the Gospel brings
It bids me fly, it gives me wings!