February 12, 2020 -- Psalm 119:112 -- Inclined by the Spirit to holy service

Incline my heart to perform your statutes

forever, to the end.

Psalm 119:112 English Standard Version

This may seem like an odd prayer. Hasn’t the psalm-writer been vowing to follow God and promising to keep His precepts and speaking of his love for the law of the LORD for the previous 100+ verses? You bet he has, but an important point is being made here, one we need to understand. Our salvation is fully dependent on God. He has chosen us before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1). He breaks through the stubborn resistance of our hearts and places in us a longing for His salvation (Ephesians 2). The Sovereign LORD brings us up from the dead—we were dead in our sinfulness and unable to choose God. He made us alive in Christ and gives us a heart that beats with longing for Him powered by the Spirit. Our role is this: to pray for God to work out His salvation fully and completely within us.

The prayers we pray include the following elements. We confess our sins. We acknowledge before Him our weakness and failures. We have to put far from ourselves any pride or self-reliance. We are utterly incapable of saving ourselves. We can not add one atom of contribution to our salvation. When we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, we are wholly saved. Our sins are fully paid for and we are given the credit of Jesus’ perfect obedience. The Spirit of God seals this to our hearts. Our response then is to live in thankfulness before God. This includes giving to the LORD our God all the honour and glory of admitting our absolute dependence on Him for every good thing. Even our rebellious hearts are not under our control, we need Him to tame these rebel hearts and bring them into submission to Himself for His glory.

What freedom we have, when we pray this prayer “incline my heart to perform Your statutes”! We did not save ourselves. In fact, the King of Glory chose the weak people, those who are mocked and scorned by the world and effects His salvation in us so that all the credit is His alone! (Check out I Corinthians 1:26-30). Our eternal life in Jesus Christ does not depend on us—it rests on His accomplished work. Our life is a prayer asking for the Spirit of God to bring glory to Jesus by honouring His work and applying His redemption to our lives. The Father in heaven receives the praise and glory for all of this as the One Who sent the Son into the world.

Beautiful Savior—You are the King of Creation. Jesus You are the Son of God and the Son of Man—the Lamb of God Who takes away our sin. You are worthy of our worship and praise, our love and adoration. Spirit of God, move us to love Jesus more fully and purely. Spirit of power, incline our hearts to the word and will of our Father in heaven so that the work of Jesus is credited and praised in us and through us. Great are You Lord, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, worthy of all praise. Amen.