Incline My Heart (Psalm 119:112)

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Audio (5:59)

Bleeding Heart. Photo: Bruno, Pixabay.com Content License

Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible with 176 verses, is nearly all about God's commandments. I must admit, reading it felt somewhat tedious -- at least it did until the Lord directed my eyes to a curious verse that stood out to me.

"I incline my heart to perform¹ your statutes²
forever,³ to the end."⁴ (Psalm 119:112, ESV⁵)

Interesting. Just what does it mean to "incline my heart"?

Clearly, this talks about the psalmist's own action, since the common Hebrew verb nāṭâ is first person singular. It has the basic idea of "extend, stretch out," but is translated a multitude of ways depending upon context. Often it means "turn" -- "turn aside" or "turn toward" something or someone. But often it is used figuratively⁶ -- turn one's heart, turn one's ear.⁷ In our verse it has the idea of "to turn toward."⁸ Here the psalmist intentionally turns his heart toward God in order to live out his commandments.

Ability to Direct or Incline One's Heart

The psalmist asserts his own ability or agency to direct his heart towards obedience. It makes sense, since our obedience isn't up to God; it is up to us. We might be "inclined" or predisposed to obey or disobey,⁹ but we can make a true decision to decide for God. We can purpose to serve him. Many Bible passages affirm this. Here are a couple that use this verb nāṭâ.

Joshua: "Incline your heart¹⁰ to the Lord, the God of Israel." (Joshua 24:23, ESV)

Solomon: "... making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining¹¹ your heart to understanding...." (Proverbs 2:2, ESV)

Asking God to Incline or Turn Our Hearts

What surprises me as I look for verses that include "incline" and "heart" is that, in most cases, these words are part of a prayer or request to God that he turn our hearts!

"May he ... incline our hearts¹² to him,
to walk in all his ways...." (1 Kings 8:57-58, ESV).

"Incline my heart¹³ to your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain!" (Psalm 119:36, ESV)

These prayers are not an attempt to hold God responsible for our hearts, but to plead with him to help us changeable people. We are aware of our weakness and call upon God to help us. The writer of the hymn "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" confesses:

"O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart; O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above."¹⁴

We, too, are often aware of our tendency to wander, and so call on God to help us. David echoes this prayer in Psalm 141.

"Do not let my heart incline¹⁵ to any evil...." (Psalm 141:4, ESV)

The word "let" or "allow" isn't in the Hebrew text. Literally, the line reads:

"Do not turn my heart to any evil." (Psalm 141:4, NRSV)

What? Does God turn us toward evil? No. This is a Hebrew idiom. Jesus uses a similar Hebraism in the Lord's Prayer:

"Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."

Is God likely to lead us into temptation? No. Of course not! God never leads us into temptation (James 1:13). This is a Hebraic manner of speaking. Hebrew parallelism makes clear that we are asking the Father to help us resist evil or the evil one.

God holds us responsible to turn to him, but we need his help. Indeed, the Spirit's wooing is necessary for us to come to him.¹⁶

Even to the End

And so we return to our verse. It could have just as easily been a prayer that God would help my wavering heart, but here it is a faith statement of intent:

"I incline my heart to perform your statutes
forever, to the end." (Psalm 119:112, ESV)

Prayer

Lord, I turn my heart to You and Your teaching. I decide to follow You, to obey You. And not just for now, but "forever -- to the end." To my life's end, Lord, let me listen to You, follow You, obey You. And beyond that, even to the end of time, I will love You. Amen, Jesus. Amen.

End Notes

References and Abbreviations

[1] "Perform" (ESV, NRSV, KJV), "keeping" (NIV) is the Qal infinitive construct of ʿāśâ, "do, make" with many nuances. Here it means to "perform, carry out (orders)," "keep (Passover)," to actually "do" what he has commanded (Holladay 285, 9).

[2] "Statutes" (ESV, NRSV, KJV), "decrees" (NIV) is the plural of ḥōq, "statute" (TWOT #728a), here, "definition, rule, prescription" given by God (Holladay 114, 9b), from ḥāqaq, "scratch, mark (in tablet), then "specify, decree" (Holladay 114, Qal 3).

[3] "Forever" (ESV, NRSV), "alway" (KJV) is the adjectiveʿôlām, "forever, ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, old, ancient,' indefinite continuance both into the future and into the ancient past (Allan A. MacRae, TWOT #1631a).

[4] ʿēqeb, "last, end" (Holladay 281, 1). Psalm 119:33 -- "I will keep them to the end."

[5] Other translations of Psalm 119:112: "I incline my heart" (ESV, NRSV), "I have inclined my heart" (KJV), "my heart is set on" (NIV), "I devote myself to" (NJB).

[6] Marvin R. Wilson, nāṭâ, TWOT #1352.

[7] Asking God to incline his ear or listen to us: 2 Kings 19:16; Psalm 10;17; 17:6; 31;2; 71:2; 86:1; 88:2; 102:2; 116:2; Daniel 9:18. Commanding man to listen obediently to God: Psalm 45:10; 78:1; Prov 4:20; 5:1; 22:17; Isaiah 55:3; Jeremiah 7:24; 26; 11:8; 17:23; 25:4; 34:14; 35:15; 44:5.

[8] Holladay 235, Qal 4d.

[9] "A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left" (Ecclesiastes 10:2).

[10] "Yield" (NIV), "incline" (ESV, NRSV, KJV), Hiphil imperative of nāṭâ, "incline, bend down," with "heart" = "give one's loyalty" (Holladay 235, Hiphil 4).

[11]"Inclining" (ESV, NRSV), "turning" (NIV), "apply" (KJV), Hiphil imperfect of nāṭâ (Holladay 235, Hiphil 4).

[12]"May he turn our hearts" (NIV).

[13] Literally, "Do not incline my heart...." "Turn my heart" (NRSV, NIV).

[14] Robert M. Robinson (1735-90), verse 3 of "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (1758). He was a Calvinist, converted under the ministry of George Whitfield. He spent time with the Calvinistic Methodists, later became a Baptist pastor (Wikipedia article, "Robert Robinson (Baptist)").

[15] "Incline" (ESV, KJV), "be drawn" (NIV), "turn" (NRSV) is the Hiphil imperfect of nāṭâ.

[16] "Prevenient grace" is a theological term that refers to God's grace that works with a person prior to salvation. In John 16:8-11, Jesus refers to the Spirit's role in terms of conviction. Paul and Peter both see the Holy Spirit's "sanctification" (KJV, ESV), "sanctifying work" (NIV) involved in bringing a person to salvation (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).

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