36
Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
And not to covetousness.
Incline My Heart
My Thoughts
After all that David had been asking for in the previous 35 verses of this psalm, he asks the Lord to incline his heart to the Word. Could it be that his mind was being attacked with thoughts to distract him from serving the Lord? How many times have you had thoughts come into your mind where you stop and think, “Where did that come from?” It can be thoughts of anything, yet in the second part of this verse, David says, “and not to covetousness.” The lesson for me here is that when I find myself entertaining thoughts that do not point toward God, to ask Him to point me back to the Word, so that I can be taught what to do by the Holy Spirit, and to even call out what kind of thoughts I want to be kept away from. When Jesus said “And lead us not into temptation,” was it not similar to David praying to not have his heart inclined to covetousness, which is one of many temptations?
David’s prayer in Psalm 119:36 highlights the struggle against covetousness, recognizing it as a significant spiritual threat. He seeks God’s help to incline his heart toward obedience to divine testimonies rather than worldly gain. Commentators stress that natural tendencies often lead hearts astray, thus underscoring the necessity for divine grace to foster a desire for holiness. They emphasize that covetousness breeds various sins and spiritual corruption, depicted through biblical examples. Ultimately, the prayer reflects a longing for inclination toward what is righteous, aligning one’s heart with God’s will instead of succumbing to material desires.
Note: Psalm 119 is an acrostic pattern. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet; each of the 22 sections is given a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter. Today, we’re looking at verse 36, which is in the 5th section, which is called “He ה”. According to the hebrews4christians.com website, the letter Hey (“He” in several versions of the Bible) is the 5th letter of the Aleph-Bet, having the numeric value of five. The pictograph for Hey looks like a man with his arms raised. The meaning of the name “Hey” is “look” or “behold”. Hey is considered to be formed from the Hebrew letters Dalet and Yod which can be a picture of returning to God by means of the transforming power of the Spirit. Another description is opening the door of the heart and the picture is of the Spirit of God indwelling the believer.
………Bill
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“Incline my heart unto thy testimonies.” Does not this prayer appear to be superfluous, since it is evident that the Psalmist’s heart was set upon obedience? We are sure that there is never a word to spare in Scripture. After asking for active virtue, it was meet that the man of God should beg that his heart might be in all that he did. What would his goings be if his heart did not go? It may be that David felt a wandering desire, an inordinate leaning of his soul to worldly gain,—possibly it even intruded into his most devout meditations, and at once he cried out for more grace. The only way to cure a wrong leaning is to have the soul bent in the opposite direction. Holiness of heart is the cure for covetousness. What a blessing it is that we may ask the Lord even for an inclination. Our wills are free, and yet without violating their liberty, grace can incline us in the right direction. This can be done by enlightening the understanding as to the excellence of obedience, by strengthening our habits of virtue, by giving us an experience of the sweetness of piety, and by many other ways. If any one duty is irksome to us, it behooves us to offer this prayer with special reference thereto: we are to love all the Lord’s testimonies, and if we fail in any one point, we must pay double attention to it. The learning of the heart is the way in which the life will lean: hence the force of the petition, “Incline my heart.” Happy shall we be when we feel habitually inclined to all that is good. This is not the way in which a carnal heart ever leans; all its inclinations are in opposition to the divine testimonies.
“And not to covetousness.” This is the inclination of nature, and grace must put a negative upon it. This vice is as injurious as it is common; it is as mean as it is miserable. It is idolatry, and so it dethrones God; it is selfishness, and so it is cruel to all in its power; it is sordid greed, and so it would sell the Lord himself for pieces of silver. It is a degrading, groveling, hardening, deadening sin, which withers everything around it that is lovely and Christ-like. He who is covetous is of the race of Judas, and will in all probability turn out to be himself a son of perdition. The crime of covetousness is common, but very few will confess it; for when a man heaps up gold in his heart, the dust of it blows into his eyes, and he cannot see his own fault. Our hearts must have some object of desire, and the only way to keep out worldly gain is to put in its place the testimonies of the Lord. If we are inclined or bent one way, we shall be turned from the other: the negative virtue is most surely attained by making sure of the positive grace which inevitably produces it.
______________________________________________________
Enduring Word
Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness: The psalmist rightly understood that covetousness was a threat to walking in God’s way. A heart inclined toward God’s word would help him be satisfied in what God provides. (Guzik)
i. “He is asking God to turn his heart toward the Bible rather than allowing him to pursue selfish gain. For the first time, he is confessing a potentially divided mind.” (Boice)
ii. The Bible tells us how covetousness has ruined many people. (Guzik)
· Balaam sold out God’s people and his own soul because he coveted (Numbers 22, 2 Peter 2:14-16).
· Ahab murdered because he coveted (1 Kings 21:1-13).
· David committed adultery and murder because he coveted (2 Samuel 11:2-17).
· Achan stole and brought Israel to defeat because he coveted (Joshua 7:21).
· Judas stole from his fellow disciples and betrayed Jesus because he coveted (John 12:6 and Matthew 26:14-16).
· Gehazi lied because he coveted (2 Kings 5:20-27).
· Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit because he coveted (Acts 5:1-6).
iii. “It is a handmaid of all sins; for there is no sin which a covetous man will not serve for his gain.” (William Cowper, cited in Spurgeon)
______________________________________________________
Albert Barnes
Incline my heart unto thy testimonies – Cause my heart to be inclined to them, or to be disposed to keep them. This, too, is a recognition of dependence and a prayer for guidance.
And not to covetousness – To gain; to the love of money. This seems to be referred to here as the principal thing which would turn away the heart from religion, or as that from which the most danger was to be feared. There are undoubtedly many other things which will do this – for all sin will do it; but this was the chief danger which the psalmist apprehended in his own case, and perhaps he meant to refer to this as the principal danger on this subject which besets the path of man. There are many more persons turned away from the service of God, and kept away from it, by covetousness than there are by any other one sin. When the psalmist prays that God would not “incline” his heart to covetousness, the language is similar to that in the Lord’s prayer – “And lead us not into temptation.” That is, restrain us from it; let us not be put in circumstances where we shall be in danger of it. We are not to suppose that God exerts any positive influence either to make a man covetous or to tempt him. See James 1:13-14.
______________________________________________________
John Gill
Incline my heart unto thy testimonies,…. To read the word of God, to hear it opened and explained, to observe and keep the things contained in it; to which there is a disinclination in men naturally: but the Lord, who fashions the hearts of men, and has them in his hands, can bend and incline them by his efficacious grace to regard these his testimonies; which, as Aben Ezra observes, are more precious than all substance, and so are opposed to what follows:
and not to covetousness; not to mammon or money, as the Targum; the love of it, which is the root of all evil, and very pernicious and harmful; in hearing the word it chokes it, and makes it unfruitful, 1 Timothy 6:9. Not that God inclines the heart to evil, as he does to good; but he may suffer the heart to be inclined, and may leave a man to the natural inclinations of his heart, and to the temptations of Satan, and the snares of the world, which may have great influence upon him; and this is what is here deprecated; see Psalm 141:4.
______________________________________________________
Matthew Henry
That God would make him willing to do it, and would, by his grace, subdue the aversion he naturally had to it: “Incline my heart to thy testimonies, to those things which thy testimonies prescribe; not only make me willing to do my duty, as that which I must do and therefore am concerned to make the best of, but make me desirous to do my duty as that which is agreeable to the new nature and really advantageous to me.” Duty is then done with delight when the heart is inclined to it: it is God’s grace that inclines us, and the more backward we find ourselves to it, the more earnest we must be for that grace.
The sin he prays against, and that is covetousness: “Incline my heart to keep thy testimonies, and restrain and mortify the inclination there is in me to covetousness.” That is a sin which stands opposed to all God’s testimonies; for the love of money is such a sin as is the root of much sin, of all sin. Those, therefore, that would have the love of God rooted in them must get the love of the world rooted out of them; for the friendship of the world is enmity with God. See in what way God deals with men, not by compulsion, but he draws with the cords of a man, working in them an inclination to that which is good and an aversion to that which is evil.
______________________________________________________
Miscellaneous Quotes
“Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” Without a restraining hand, the heart is prone to turn aside into the byways of petty love of self. The remedy must be from above. Heavenly aid is therefore sought.—Henry Law.
“Incline my heart.” Were we naturally and spontaneously inclined to the righteousness of the law, there would be no occasion for the petition of the Psalmist, “Incline my heart.” It remains, therefore, that our hearts are full of sinful thoughts, and wholly rebellious until God, by his grace, change them.—John Calvin.
“Incline my heart.” In the former verses, David had asked understanding and direction to know the Lord’s will; now he asketh an inclination of heart to do the Lord’s will. The understanding needs not only to be enlightened, but the will to be moved and changed. Man’s heart is of its own accord averse from God and holiness, even then when the wit is most refined, and the understanding is stocked and stored with high notions about it: therefore, David doth not only say, “Give me understanding,” but, “Incline my heart.” We can be worldly of ourselves, but we cannot be holy and heavenly of ourselves; that must be asked of him who is the Father of lights, from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift. They that plead for the power of nature, shut out the use of prayer. But Austin hath said well, Naturn vera confessione non falsa defersione opus habet: we need rather to confess our weakness, than defend our strength. Thus doth David, and so will every broken-hearted Christian that hath had an experience of the inclinations of his own soul, he will come to God, and say, “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.”—Thomas Manton.
“Unto thy testimonies.” The contrast is most striking. There are the divine testimonies on the one hand, and there is “covetousness” on the other. God stands on one side, the world on the other. The renewed man chooses between the two; he does not require long to think, and God is his choice.—John Stephen.
______________________________________________________
Cross-References
Psalm 141:4 (KJV)
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing,
To practise wicked works with men that work iniquity:
And let me not eat of their dainties.
Hebrews 13:5 (KJV)
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Ezekiel 33:31 (KJV)
31 And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
Colossians 3:5 (KJV)
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
______________________________________________________
Closing Thoughts
Cease listening to instruction, my son, And you will stray from the words of knowledge. Proverbs 19:27 NKJV
He ה: Divine Breath and Revelation
33
Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes,
And I shall keep it to the end.
34
Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law;
Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
36
Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
And not to covetousness.
37
Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things,
And revive me in Your way.
38
Establish Your word to Your servant,
Who is devoted to fearing You.
39
Turn away my reproach which I dread,
For Your judgments are good.
40
Behold, I long for Your precepts;
Revive me in Your righteousness.
- Exploring the Beauty of Psalms: Insights and Commentaries
- Monthly Breakdown of Our Blog Content
- Psalms Commentary: Faith and Inspiration
Leave a Reply