Daily Inclination

“Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” (Ps. 119:36, ESV)

By nature, our hearts are inclined away from his laws and decrees. The sinful effects of the original sin are stamped within us. “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” (Rom. 5:19a, ESV). The doctrine of the original sin still affects us. We always fall for what we want to do and fail to do what we ought to do. “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Rom. 7:19, ESV). To reflect on the dilemma between “want to” and “ought to”, John Piper notes, “The biblical doctrine of original sin boils down to this (to borrow from St. Augustine): We are free to do what we like, but we are not free to like what we ought to like.”[1]

The psalmist prays for the inclination of his heart towards God’s laws, statutes, and decrees, for they mirror the face of God. Whenever the heart of the psalmist is inclined to God’s laws, the face of God is drawn near.

Each day we ought to pray for our inclination so that we can think and do what we ought to. Our inclination towards Scripture ought to be our starting point in daily worship.

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[1] John Piper, Taste and See: Savoring the Supremacy of God in All of Life (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2005), p. 42.