DECEMBER 11 - Incline My Heart

DECEMBER 11 - Incline My Heart

 

Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. — PSALM 119:36 KJV

 

 

I had wheeled up to my desk with every intention of spending a half hour or so in my Bible. Before I had a chance to open the Word, my eye glanced to a couple of clothing catalogs that had arrived in the mail that morning. A brightly colored blouse on the cover of one grabbed my attention. Lord, I’ll get to the Bible in a minute. . . . I just want to check out the price on that blouse! Twenty minutes later, I still had my nose in the catalog. I’m ashamed to say, the Word had been pushed aside.

 

 

This is why I have learned to pray, “Lord, incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” There are days when I don’t even want to pick up the Bible. But I know if I succumb to a ho-hum attitude

toward the Word of God, my spirit will shrivel, my faith will shrink, and my hope will become dull and dim. So I plead, “Lord, don’t let me get away with this! Put the ‘want to’ in my heart . . . persuade it . . . bring it around . . . predispose it . . . please, incline my heart to your Word and don’t let me covet anything in its place!”

 

 

Another prayer is from Psalm 86:11, “Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” My heart is fragmented and often I find it going every which way. I’m thinking about laundry to pick up, a project to finish for Sunday school, a birthday card I need to put in the mail, and a “warning” light on my dashboard that needs to get checked out. So many things vie for my heart’s undivided attention. So I ask God to gather the fragments, get my heart together, and unite it to fear his name. Ask God to be the Lord of your heart. Give him full rein to rule it. Invite him to sit on the throne of your heart.

 

 

Lord Jesus, incline my heart to recognize and respond to your voice . . . and your voice alone.