36. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies. It may be that David felt a wandering desire, an inordinate leaning of his soul to worldly gain; possibly it even intruded into his most devout meditations, and at once he cried out for more grace. The only way to cure a wrong leaning is to have the soul bent in the opposite direction. Holiness of heart is the cure for covetousness. What a blessing it is that we may ask the Lord even for an inclination. Our wills are free and yet, without violating their liberty, grace can incline us in the right direction. This can be done by enlightening the understanding as to the excellence of obedience, by strengthening our habits of virtue and by many other ways. If any one duty is irksome to us it behooves us to offer this prayer with special reference thereto: we are to love all the Lord’s testimonies, and if we fail in any one point we must pay double attention to it. The leaning of the heart is the way in which the life will lean; happy shall we be when we feel habitually inclined to all that is good.
And not to covetousness. This is the inclination of nature; it dethrones God; it is selfishness and sordid greed, a degrading, groveling, hardening, deadening sin, which withers everything around it that is lovely and Christlike. He who is covetous is of the race of Judas, and will in all probability turn out to be himself a son of perdition. The crime is common, but very few will confess it.
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