Not For Gain

From The Gospel Chapel

“Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness,” Psalm 119:36. 

   By nature we serve under the yoke of Satan, but God takes that yoke off. He delivers us from the servitude of Satan and of sin. He draws us to Him as a tender, loving Father.

 

   Unto a wayward Israel the Lord said in Jeremiah 31:3:

“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

   God inclines the heart to that which is good. He alters the course of our affections by the secret operation of the Spirit of grace. Therefore, He not only draws, He leads and works His grace in the heart by His intimate, parental love.

 

   I have never known a God who drives with a whip, but I can testify of a God who draws with His love. This is what I believe the Lord teaches us in Psalm 103:11-14:

“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”

   Those who have a holy reverence for God’s will are the ones who receive His mercy. They desire, like David, to have their hearts inclined to do His will and to have sins’ yoke taken from them. That is the mark of grace.

 

   Our blessed heavenly Father knows our fallen condition. He knows our natural inclinations after covetousness, therefore He will hear our cry as we find in our text:

“Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness” (Psalm 119:36).

   Every inclination we receive from God is only for good. In James 1:13 we read:

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.”

   God does not incline any man to covetousness, but when He removes His restraining grace, He permits us to follow the evil inclinations of our own hearts and to destroy ourselves. Look at verses 14 and 15:

“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

   The plea in our text, “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness,” expresses the new desire that accompanies the new heart that David revealed in Psalm 119:72:

“The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.”

   I want you to see the difference between the inclinations he is praying for and that of covetousness. He would be willing to give up any price in gold and silver rather than to manipulate the law of God. David’s motive in serving the Lord was not that the Lord would make him rich.

 

   See how Satan passed judgment upon Job’s motives in serving God in Job 1:9-11:

“Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.”

 

   Satan accused Job of serving the Lord out of covetousness.

 

   David’s prayer for God’s inclinations after godliness was not for gain! What he rejoiced in was fellowship with his God. He asked for God to direct the inclinations of his heart because he did not want the Lord to withdraw Himself. That is why he did not want to offend God. David wrote in Psalm 4:6-8:

“There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.”  Amen.

Have you any room for Jesus,

He who bore your load of sin?

As He knocks and asks admission,

Sinner, will you let Him in?

 

Room for pleasure, room for business—

But, for Christ the Crucified,

Not a place that He can enter,

In the heart for which H died?

 

Room and time now give to Jesus,

Soon will pass God’s day of grace;

Soon thy heart left cold and silent,

And thy Savior’s pleading cease.

Source unknown, 19th century.