Joel M Bradshaw

36Incline my heart to your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain!–Psalm 119

We continue our section by section journey through the longest chapter of the Bible!

Here, the psalmist brings up a very key principle. Our hearts will naturally be inclined towards selfishness and pursuits of the self. The only hope we have to pursue other things is if God leans our hearts into a different direction.

In this case, the psalmist will never stop pursuing selfishness without God’s direct intervention. God’s sovereign work in his life was the only thing that could change the motivation and pursuits of the inner person.

You and I will never pursue God on our own. We will at our core and in our own power always pursue our selfish ways. Only God can take our hearts and direct them towards Himself. And until he does this, we will never pursue him. Thank you God for inclining my heart towards you and away from myself. That’s the only hope I will have for pursuing you.–JMB