Incline my heart to your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain! Psalm 119.36
Once again, we can
see the brute honesty of the Psalms. The psalmist understands himself. He sees
how he can sin. He admits that his heart could be drawn toward selfish gain.
Don't think about that simply in terms of gaining money. There are many things that
our hearts yearn for. Some of them are fine. But let's face it. There are
things that we want just to satisfy some foul desire, something self-centered.
The psalmist acknowledges how he can sin.
So, what does he do?
Aware of his own weakness, his own tendency to sin, he gives himself to prayer.
But it isn't some generic prayer like, 'Don't let me go after the wrong stuff'.
He is specific about the problem: selfish gain. And so, he is specific about
the solution: a heart that yearns for God's testimonies, His laws. That is what
he wants God to do, to give him that kind of heart. And as that is being given
the desire for evil things, like selfish gain, slowly but surely die away.