I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free.
Parallel Translations
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I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free.
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I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
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I will run the way of Thy commandments, for Thou dost enlarge my heart.
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Psalms 119:32 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Kings 4:29 God gave Solomon abundant wisdom and understanding, and very great understanding, even as the sand that is on the seashore.
- 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
- Psalms 18:36 You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.
- John 8:32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
- John 8:36 If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
- Hebrews 12:1 Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
- Psalms 119:45 I will walk in liberty, for I have sought your precepts.
- Isaiah 61:1 The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me, because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound,
- Luke 1:74-75 to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
- 1 Corinthians 9:24-26 Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win. Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air,
- 2 Corinthians 6:11 Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians. Our heart is enlarged.
- 1 Peter 2:16 as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
- Job 36:15-16 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction, and opens their ear in oppression. Yes, he would have allured you out of distress, into a wide place, where there is no restriction. That which is set on your table would be full of fatness.
- Isaiah 60:5 Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you. The wealth of the nations will come to you.
- Song of Solomon 1:4 Take me away with you. Let’s hurry. The king has brought me into his rooms. We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will praise your love more than wine! They are right to love you.
- Isaiah 40:31 but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 32 I will run the way of thy commandments.…
32 I will run the way of thy commandments. The meaning of the prophet is, that when God shall inspire him with love for his la he will be vigorous and ready, nay, even steady, so as not to faint in the middle of his course. His words contain an implied admission of the supineness inability of men to make any advancement in well-doing until God enlarge their hearts. No sooner does God expand their hearts, than they are fitted not only for walking, but also for running in the way of his commandments. He reminds us that the proper observance of the law consists not merely in external works, — that it demands willing obedience, so that the heart must, to some extent, and in some way, enlarge itself. Not that it has the self-determining power of doing this, but when once its hardness and obstinacy are subdued, it moves freely without being any longer contracted by its own narrowness. Finally, this passage tells us, when God has once enlarged our hearts, there will be no lack of power, because, along with proper affection, he will furnish ability, so that our feet will be ready to run.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By this he showeth that we can neither choose…
By this he showeth that we can neither choose good, cleave to God’s word, nor turn forward in his way, except he make our hearts large to receive grace, and willing to obey.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 119:32 I will run the way of thy…
Psa 119:32 I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
Ver. 32. I will run the way] Do thy work with utmost diligence and delight, come off roundly and readily therein, take long strides toward heaven.
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When thou shalt enlarge my heart] By thy free spirit, and by the joy of faith; when thou shalt have oiled my joints, and nimbled my feet, then shall I run and not be weary, walk and not faint, Isa 40:31; our promises of obedience must be conditional, since without Christ we can do nothing, Joh 15:5.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I will run the way of thy commandments, I…
I will run the way of thy commandments, I will obey thy precepts with all readiness, fervency, and diligence,
when thou shalt enlarge my heart: either,
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1. When thou shalt bring me out of my present straits or distresses. This in deed is called enlarging, as Psa 4:1; 18:36, but never, to my remembrance, the enlarging of the heart. Or rather,
2. When thou shalt replenish my heart with more wisdom and love to and delight in thee and thy law; for this enlargement of heart in Scripture is ascribed to wisdom, 1Ki 4:29, and love, 2Co 6:11, and joy, Isa 60:5; when thou shalt knock off those fetters of remaining corruption, and give me a more noble and generous disposition towards thee, and stablish me with thy free spirit, as it is expressed, Psa 51:12. Thus David both owns his duty, and asserts the absolute necessity of God’s grace to the performance of it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law,....…
Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law,.... A spiritual understanding; an understanding of the law, the perfection, purity, holiness, and spirituality of it; an understanding of the Gospel, and of Christ and the things of Christ; from whom grace and strength are to be had for the due observance of the law, as in his hands; which understanding must be given, and is a gift of pure, free, rich grace, to such who have it; though they cannot keep the law perfectly, as no mere man can, yet will keep it spiritually, from a principle of love and gratitude, and with a view to the glory of God and Christ, Jo1 5:20;
yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart; not only externally, and to be seen of men, and get applause from them; but doing the will of God from the heart, and with a good will and heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men; with a sincere affection for him, and with a single eye to his glory, Eph 6:6.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Run - I will obey thy precepts with all…
Run - I will obey thy precepts with all readiness, fervency, and diligence. Enlarge - When thou shalt replenish my heart with wisdom, and love to thee and thy law.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 32. I will run] The particle כי, which…
Verse 32. I will run] The particle כי, which we translate when, should be translated because: Because thou shalt enlarge, or dilate, my heart; make plain my path by cleansing me from my impurity, and taking the hinderances out of my way. I will then run without dread of stumbling, and every day make sensible progress.
ANALYSIS OF LETTER DALETH. - Fourth Division
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The psalmist -
I. Sets down the state of an imperfect man.
II. Confesses it.
III. Asks grace and mercy.
IV. Professes what in consequence he would do.
I. 1. "My soul cleaveth unto the dust:" His affections cleaved to things below, instead of being set on things above.
2. "Quicken thou me:" Give me a life according to thy law. By cleaving to the earth, he was earthly; by cleaving to the flesh, he was carnal; but by living according to the spiritual law, he was to become one spirit with God.
II. He confesses his imperfections.
1. "I have declared my ways." I acknowledge all my wanderings, sins, follies, and unfaithfulness, I have hidden nothing from thee.
2. Thou didst hear me; forgavest me out of thy mere mercy.
3. Do the like now: "Teach me thy statutes." These two things should be sought together: mercy to pardon, and grace to assist and renew.
III. He proceeds in this prayer.
1. "Make me to understand:" Where the mind is darkened, the heart cannot be well ordered.
2. He that asks good things from God should ask them for a good end: "Make me to understand; so shall I talk," &c.
3. He would show God's wondrous works: I shall talk of thy wondrous law, - thy wondrous Gospel, - thy wondrous mercy in saving sinners, - the wondrous means thou usest, &c.
IV. He returns to his confession, and states what he purposes to do.
1. "My soul melts:" I am full of trouble and distress.
2. "Strengthen thou me:" Give me the grace thou hast promised.
3. "Remove from me the way of lying:" Give me power to avoid all sin.
4. "Grant me thy law graciously:" Print the matter of it in my heart, and abolish my corruption.
5. He chooses the truth.
6. He adheres to it.
7. He will continue in it.
8. Yea, and with greater diligence than ever. To make up for lost time, he will now run: and, while running, keep in God's way. Some run, but they run out of it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 119:32. I will run the way of thy…
Psa 119:32. I will run the way of thy commandments — I will obey thy precepts with all readiness, fervency, and diligence; when thou shalt enlarge my heart — When thou shalt replenish my heart with more knowledge of, love to, and delight in, thy law: when thou shalt knock off those fetters of remaining corruption, and give me a more noble and generous disposition toward thee, and establish me with thy free Spirit, Psa 51:12. Thus David both owns his duty, and asserts the absolute necessity of divine grace to enable him to perform it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I will run the way of thy commandments -…
I will run the way of thy commandments - That is, I will not merely keep them - which might be expressed by “I will walk in them,” but I will hasten to keep them; I will do it with alacrity, as when one runs to accomplish an object. I will devote to them all the energies of my life.
When thou shalt enlarge my heart - Or, more literally, “For thou wilt enlarge my heart;” expressing confidence that God would do this, so that he would be thus inclined and enabled to keep his commandments. it is an acknowledgment of dependence, and at the same time the expression of a confident belief that God would grant him the grace needful for him. The phrase “to enlarge the heart” means to make it free; to deliver it from all hindrances to what is right; to fill it with noble and holy purposes; to stimulate and animate it. The heart is contracted or made narrow by selfishness, pride, vanity, ambition, covetousness; it is made large by charity, love, hope, benevolence. Sin narrows the soul; religion enlarges it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 32. When his heart is set free from the…
32. When his heart is set free from the cramping constraint of trouble and anxiety, the Psalmist will use his liberty for more energetic service. Cp. Psa_25:17 note; Isa_60:5. Another explanation makes the second clause the reason for the first, I will run … for thou dost enlarge &c.: I will serve Thee with alacrity, for when I do so, Thou dost expand my heart with a sense of joy and freedom.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (32) Run the way.—Plainly the psalmist means that he…
(32) Run the way.—Plainly the psalmist means that he will not only be able to walk in the Divine way, but even to run in it when certain restraints are removed which now confine and check him. Hence we may understand, by the enlargement of the heart, not so much the expansion of the faculties as deliverance from oppressing fears, &c, as Psa_4:1; Psa_18:36, and render “when thou hast set my heart at large.” So the Prayer Book Version, “set my heart at liberty.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I will run the way of thy commandments, when…
I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart. The phrase used in the second clause is ambiguous. It may mean, "For thou hast enlarged my heart.
Running the way of God"s commandments.
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I WHAT THIS IS.
1. It is not a common thing. In ordinary men you do not see it at all; they very often run, and at headlong speed, but it is the reverse of the way told of here. And even when we have become Christians, there is too often only a creeping along, a very slow walking, and that interrupted by many a halt, and sometimes by positive turning back; but how little of this running!
2. For running means increased energy in Gods service. The very word implies that. It is the very opposite of listlessness, taking our ease, and of all indifference. Go along by the side of a country mill-stream in the hot summer months. As you come to the mill you hear no sound. The pleasant beat of the wheel, the murmur of the grinding, and the cool plash of the water on the far side of the stream, are all missing. You draw near, and you see the cause. The stream has well-nigh disappeared; the muddy banks are steaming in the heat; there is but a small dribble of water at the bottom; the mill-wheel is motionless and blistering in the sun. But come that way again after the spring or autumn rains, or during the wet winter months. How the water rushes along! How it whirls the mill-wheel round! how it compels the miller to find an overflow, lest its force do serious damage! Now, the contrast between the miserable, scant supply of water in the hot summer months, and that other full, rushing flow, is no greater than that between the common life of too many Christians and that running in the way of God"s commandments of which the psalm here tells.
3. And careful laying aside of hindrances. Many of our hindrances allow of quiet walking, but not of running. (cf. Heb_12:1)
4. More steadfast looking to the end of the way. "Looking unto Jesus." If we look aside, we linger, swerve, and slacken our pace.
5. Greater joy in Gods service. Running is a symbol of joy. (Act_3:8)
II IT IS VERY DESIRABLE.
1. For its effects on our own spiritual life.
2. For its influence on the world.
3. And on the Church.
4. And, above all, for the honor of Christ. Note
III ITS CONDITION. "When thou shalt enlarge my heart." That is:
1. The understanding; that we may see and know the truth.
2. The affections; that we may feel it.
3. The conscience; that we may be aroused.
4. The will; that we may resolve. S.C.
Strength to run.
Running is to be distinguished from walking, as involving active determination and persistent energy. A man may walk in simple habit and routine; a man only runs when he wills to run, and makes positive efforts. So the psalmist is not satisfied with a kind of obedience to the Law of God which is a sort of regular thing in which he has been brought up; he cannot be content without having his heart in it, putting energy into it, and making a life-work of it; and this he expresses in the figure of running. The Revised Version gives, "when thou shalt enlarge my heart." The Prayer-book Version gives, "when thou hast set my heart at liberty." Putting these together, we learn that the "enlargement of the heart" is not so much any expansion of the faculties, as deliverance from oppressing fears that prevent the free movement of the soul. The heart enlarged is the heart set in a large place, where there is room to run; then run it will. So often, by reason of bodily conditions or hindering circumstances, our hearts are limited and confined they can neither "fly nor go." It is a good sign if then the heart frets against the bondages, and is ready to run whenever God is pleased to set it free. The key-note of the whole psalm may be expressed in the words, "I would if I could;" and the whole prayer of the psalm is, "O God, let me.
I IT IS WELL THAT WE SHOULD WANT TO RUN IN THE WAYS OF OBEDIENCE AND GODLINESS. The peril of the godly life is drifting into ease and indifference; the doing of religious duties as mere routine; the meeting of religious obligations listlessly and without heart. It may be that we cannot run; it ought always to be that we want to run. We must not rest without energy and activity in the religious life. A formal obedience should be as distressing to us as it is to God.
II IT IS WELL THAT THE CHERISHED WANT SHOULD KEEP US WAITING ON GOD FOR THE OPPORTUNITY. The want would soon die down if we trusted to ourselves for cherishing it. It never dies down if we keep turning it into the prayer of patient, but persistent, waiting upon God.
III IT IS CERTAIN THAT GOD RESPONDS TO THOSE WHO IN THIS SPIRIT WAIT ON HIM. The liberties and enlargements always come. And God makes the waiting for them as true a blessing as getting them. R.T.
Liberty.
The utterance of a man conscious of imperfect obedience to the will of God; and one who deplores his weakness. Also the expression of hope and confidence. A time will come when God will enlarge his heart. Also the hungering of joyful purpose: "I will run," etc. Two main thoughts.
I SPIRITUAL LIBERTY IS NECESSARY TO DOING THE WILL OF GOD.
1. It is freedom from the bondage of worldly passions and appetites. There can be no spiritual active obedience to the will of God as long as we are under the dominion of worldly principles and affections.
2. Spiritual liberty is freedom from the fear that springs from a sense of guilt. We must be free from the terror of guilt before we can serve God with joy and freedom. Remove Jesus Christ and his doctrine from between God and ourselves, and we stand in the presence of terrifying law; and have the feeling of helpless weakness. Faith is the instrument of our freedom: What we can perceive and trust in Christ by the faculties of the mind.
3. The highest liberty is found in love. Love to God and love to man. Here we ascend beyond faith to the loftiest pitch we are capable of to the development of the most perfect freedom, and we run in the ways of God.
The profoundest aphorism of Scripture is that "love is the fulfilling of the Law.
II THE PRODUCTION OF THIS LIBERTY IS A DIVINE WORK. "When thou shalt enlarge," etc. If God has laid upon us laws which his power must enable us to obey, how is our duty to be explained, and where lies our sin, if we fail in obedience?
1. God is the First Cause of all life; but man is a second cause. He "worketh in us to will and to do according to his good pleasure." It is his will and work that our will should coincide with his, and work towards the same holy ends.
2. But he does this by methods which impose duty and responsibility upon us. The principle on which God enriches men with increasing gifts of power and grace is the use we make of them. The Divine teaching attributes to us the power of increasing the talents entrusted to us, so that future bestowments are made to depend upon our appropriation of those that have gone before. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 32. I will run the way of thy…
Ver. 32. I will run the way of thy commandments. With energy, promptitude, and zeal he would perform the will of God, but he needed more life and liberty from the hand of God.
When thou shalt enlarge my heart. Yes, the heart is the master; the feet soon run when the heart is free and energetic. Let the affections be aroused and eagerly set on divine things, and our actions will be full of force, swiftness, and delight. God must work in us first, and then we shall will and do according to his good pleasure. He must change the heart, unite the heart, encourage the heart, strengthen the heart, and enlarge the heart, and then the course of the life will be gracious, sincere, happy, and earnest; so that from our lowest up to our highest state in grace we must attribute all to the free favour of our God. We must run; for grace is not an overwhelming force which compels unwilling minds to move contrary to their will: our running is the spontaneous leaping forward of a mind which has been set free by the hand of God, and delights to show its freedom by its bounding speed.
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What a change from Ps 119:25 to the present, from cleaving to the dust to running in the way. It is the excellence of holy sorrow that it works in us the quickening for which we seek, and then we show the sincerity of our grief and the reality of our revival by being zealous in the ways of the Lord.
For the third time an octave closes with, "I will." These "I wills" of the Psalms are right worthy of being each one the subject of study and discourse.
Note how the heart has been spoken of up to this point: "whole heart" (2), "uprightness of heart" (7), "hid in mine heart" (11), "enlarge my heart." There are many more allusions further on, and these all go to show what heart work David's religion was. It is one of the great lacks of our age that heads count for more than hearts, and men are far more ready to learn than to love, though they are by no means eager in either direction.
Ver. 32. I will run in the way of thy commandments when, etc. You must remember that the speaker, the Psalmist, is not an unconverted man, but one who had long before been brought under the dominion of religion. He is not, therefore, soliciting the first entrance, but the after and multiplied workings of a principle of grace; and he states his desire in an expression which is singularly descriptive of the outgoing of an influence from the heart over the rest of the man. His wish is that his heart might be enlarged; and this wish amounted to a longing that the whole of himself might act in unison with the heart, so that he might become, as it were, all heart, and thus the heart in the strictest sense be enlarged, through the spreading of itself over body and soul, expanding itself till it embraced all the powers of both. If there be the love of God in the heart, then gradually the heart, possessed and actuated by so noble and stirring a principle, will bring over to a lofty consecration all the energies, whether mental or corporeal, and will be practically the same as though the other departments of man were thus the result turned into heart, and he became, according to the phrase which we are accustomed to employ when describing a character of unwonted generosity and warmth, "all heart." So that the desire after an enlarged heart you may fairly consider tantamount to a desire that every faculty might be brought into thorough subjection to God, and that just as God himself is love love being rather the Divine essence than a Divine attribute, and therefore love mingling itself with all the properties of Godhead, so the man having love in the heart might become all heart, the heart throwing itself into all his capacities, pervading but not obliterating the characteristics of his nature. And exactly in accordance with this view of the enlargement of heart which the Psalmist desired is the practical result which was to follow on its attainment. He was already walking in the way of God's commandments; but what he proposed to himself was the running that way: I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart. A quickened pace, a more rapid progress, a greater alacrity, a firmer constancy, a more resolute and unflinching obedience, these were the results which the Psalmist looked for from the enlargement of his heart. And truly if all the faculties of mind and body be dedicated to God, with a constant and vigorous step will man press on in the way that leadeth to heaven. So long as the dedication is at best only partial, the world retaining some fraction of its empire, notwithstanding the setting up of the kingdom of God, there can be nothing but a slow and impeded progress, a walking interrupted by repeated halting, if not backslidings, by much of loitering, if not of actual retreat; but if the man be all heart, then he will be all life, all warmth, all zeal, all energy, and the consequence of this complete surrender to God will be exactly that which is prophetically announced by Isaiah: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Henry Melvill, 1798-1871.
Ver. 32. I will run. By running is meant cheerful, ready, and zealous observance of God's precepts: it is not go, or walk, but run. They that would come to their journey's end, must run in the way of God's commandments. It notes a speedy or a ready obedience, without delay. We must begin with God betimes. Alas! when we should be at the goal, we have many of us scarce set forth. And it notes earnestness; when a man's heart is set upon a thing, he thinks he can never do it soon enough. And this is running, when we are vehement and earnest upon the enjoyment of God and Christ in the way of obedience. And it notes again, that the heart freely offereth itself to God.
This running is the fruit of effectual calling. When the Lord speaks of effectual calling, the issue of it is running; when he speaks of the conversion of the Gentiles, "Nations that know not thee shall run unto thee"; and, "Draw me, and we will run after thee." When God draws there is a speedy, earnest motion of the soul.
This running, as it is the fruit of effectual calling, so it is very needful; for cold and faint motions are soon overborne by difficulty and temptation: "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Heb 12:1). When a man hath a mind to do a thing, though he be hindered and jostled, he takes it patiently, he goes on and cannot stay to debate the business. A slow motion is easily stopped, whereas a swift one bears down that which opposeth it; so is it when men run and are not tired in the service of God. Last of all, the prize calls for running: "So run that ye may obtain" (1Co 9:24). Thomas Manton.
Ver. 32. I will run. It was not the walking, "the way of God's commandments, "but the running "the way of God's commandments, "to which David aspired. The text has no connection with the case of one who habitually pursues the opposite path; it has exclusive reference to the pace at which the line of duty is to be traversed... It may not unnaturally excite surprise, that "the sweet singer of Israel" he who was emphatically declared to be "a man after God's own heart" should, nevertheless, in the words of the text, seem to imply that he was not yet "running the way of God's commandments." But, dear brethren, the greater an individual's comparative holiness, the more intense will be his longing for absolute holiness. To others, David might appear to be speeding marvellously along the path of life; and yet he himself deemed his movements to be far less rapid. It is humility was one of the evidences of his holiness. Hugh B. Moffat, 1871.
Ver. 32. I will run the way. His intended course in this way he expresses by running. It is good to be in this way even in the slowest motions; love will creep where it cannot walk. But if thou art so indeed, then thou wilt long for a swifter motion; if thou do but creep, creep on, desire to be enabled to go. If thou goest, but yet haltingly and lamely, yet desire to be strengthened to walk straight; and if thou walkest, let not that satisfy thee, desire to run. So here, David did walk in this way; but he earnestly wishes to mend his pace; he would willingly run, and for that end he desires an enlarged heart.
Some dispute and descant too much whether they go or no, and childishly tell their steps, and would know at every step whether they advance or no, and how much they advance, and thus amuse themselves, and spend the time of doing and going in questioning and doubting. Thus it is with many Christians; but it were a more wise and comfortable way to be endeavouring onwards, and if thou make little progress, at least to be desiring to make more; to be praying and walking, and praying that thou mayest walk faster, and that in the end thou mayest run, not satisfied with anything attained. Yet by that dissatisfaction we must not be so dejected as to sit down, or to stand still, but rather we must be excited to go on. Robert Leighton.
Ver. 32. Enlarged my heart, or dilated it, namely, with joy. It is obvious to remark the philosophical propriety with which this expression is applied: since the heart is dilated, and the pulse by consequence becomes strong and full, from the exultation of joy as well as of pride. (See Parkhurst on bxr.) Richard Mant.
Ver. 32. Thou wilt enlarge my heart. God would enlarge the very seat of life, and thus give his weak servant more strength; such strength that he need no longer lie prone on the dust struggling to arise; but strength to enable him to run in the way of truth. Thus, he who prays, "O Lord, put me not to shame, "finds for himself the truth of an earlier song: "They looked unto him, and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed." Frederick G. Marchant.
Ver. 32. Enlarge my heart. It is said of Solomon, that he had "a large heart, (the same word that is used here,)as the sand of the sea shore:" that is a vast, comprehensive spirit, that could fathom much of nature, both its greater and lesser things. Thus, I conceive, the enlargement of the heart comprises the enlightening of the understanding. There arises a clearer light there to discern spiritual things in a more spiritual manner; to see the vast difference betwixt the vain things the world goes after, and the true solid delight that is in the way of God's commandments; to know the false blush of the pleasures of sin, and what deformity is under that painted mask, and not be allured by it; to have enlarged apprehensions of God, his excellency, and greatness and goodness; how worthy he is to be obeyed and served; this is the great dignity and happiness of the soul; all other pretensions are low and poor in respect of this. Here then is enlargement to see the purity and beauty of his law, how just and reasonable, yea, how pleasant and amiable it is; that his commandments are not grievous, that they are beds of spices; the more we walk in them, still the more of their fragrant smell and sweetness we find. Robert Leighton.
Ver. 32. Narrow is the way unto life, but no man can run in it save with widened heart. Prosper, of Aquitaine, (403-463), quoted by Neale and Littledale.
Ver. 32. Enlarged. Surely a temple for the great God (such as our hearts should be) should be fair and ample. If we would have God dwell in our hearts, and shed abroad his influences, we should make room for God in our souls, by a greater largeness of faith and expectation. The rich man thought of enlarging his barns, when his store was increased upon him (Lu 12:16-21), so should we stretch out the curtains of Christ's tent and habitation, have larger expectations of God, if we would receive more from him. The vessels failed before the oil failed. We are not straitened in God, but in ourselves; by the scantiness of our thoughts, we do lot make room for him, nor greaten God: "My soul doth magnify the Lord" (Lu 1:46). Faith doth greaten God. How can we make God greater than he is? As to the declarative being, we can have greater and larger apprehensions of his greatness, goodness, and truth.
1. There needs a large heart, because the command is exceedingly broad: "I have seen an end of all perfection; but thy commandment is exceeding broad" (Ps 119:96). A broad law and a narrow heart will never suit: we need love, faith, knowledge, and all to carry us through this work, which is of such a vast extent and latitude.
2. We need enlarged heart, because of the lets and hindrances within ourselves. There is lust drawing off from God to sensual objects: "Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed" (Jas 1:14). Therefore there needs something to draw us on, to carry us out with strength and life another way, to urge us in the service of God. Lust sits as a clog upon us, it is a weight of corruption (Heb 12:1), retarding us in all our flights and motions, thwarting, opposing, breaking the force of spiritual impulsions, if not hindering them altogether (Ga 5:17). Well then, lust drawing so strongly one way, God needs to draw us more strongly the other way. When there is a weight to poise us to worldly and sensual objects, we need a strength to carry us on with vigorous and lively motions of soul towards God, an earnest bent upon our souls, which is this enlargement of heart. Thomas Manton.
Ver. 32 My heart. The great Physician knows at once where to look for the cause, when he sees anything amiss in the outward life of his people. He well knows that all spiritual disease is heart disease, and it is the heart remedies that he must apply. At one time, our Physician sees symptoms which are violent in their nature; at another, he sees symptoms of languor and debility; but he knows that both come from the heart; and so, it is upon the heart that he operates, when he is about to perform a cure.
The strong action of the heart in all holy things comes from the blessed operation of the Spirit upon it; then only can we "run" the way of God's commandments, when he has enlarged our heart.
Heartiness in action is the subject to which the reader's attention is here directed, and it is one of considerable importance.
There are many believers, who for want of enlargement of heart are occupying a poor position in the church of God. They are trusting to Jesus for life eternal, and he will doubtless not disappoint them; he will be true to his word, that "he that believeth shall be saved; "but they are still, alas! to a deplorable degree, shut up in self; they have contracted hearts; still do they take narrow views of God's claim, and their own privileges, and the position in which they are set in the world and however much they might be said to stand, or sit, or walk in the way of God's commandments, they cannot be said to "run" in it. Running is a strong and healthy action of the body; it requires energy, it is an exercise that needs a sound heart; none can run in the way of God's commandments, except in strength and vigour imparted by him. The running Christians are comparatively few; walking and sitting Christians are comparatively common; but the running Christian is so uncommon as often to be thought almost mad.
Let us, for the sake of order, classify our observations on this subject under the following heads:
1. What heartiness is. The heartiness spoken of here under the term, "enlargement of the heart, "is cheerfulness in doing God's will love for that will a drawing out of the affections towards it an interest in it; all this it is, and a great deal more, which it is not easy to describe or define.
2. What heartiness does. Where there is enlargement of the heart by God, there is an outgoing beyond all the limits which fallen selfishness assigns. The heart contracted at the fall; it shrank when sin entered into it; it became unequal to containing great and generous thoughts; it became a bondaged heart. True! the responsibilities of duty could not be escaped, nor could the directions of conscience; but the affections are voluntary, and the fallen heart drew in its affections from God; it felt that it had the power of withholding them from him and his commandments, and it rejoiced to shew its enmity in withholding its sympathy, where it could not withhold its obedience...
3. Whence heartiness comes. Now, as we have already said, where the heart is operated on by the Spirit, and all its natural evil overruled, it has outgoings which are entirely beyond the limits that fallen selfishness assigns. Love is inwrought with it: the union of sentiment, the identity of interest which love inspires, pervade it, in all belonging to God, for it has received these from God; the heart becomes unbondaged from mere rules, or perhaps to speak more correctly, it rises above them, and it feels not merely it knows, but it feels so much of the beauty of God's commandments, that it delights to "run" in them; it loves to be hearty in them; its interests, its affections are in them. Philip Bennet Power, in "The I Wills' of the Psalms, "1862.
Ver. 32. Disquiets of heart unfit us for duty, by hindering our activity in the prosecution of duty. The whole heart, soul, and strength should be engaged in all religious services; but these troubles are as clogs and weights to hinder motion. Joy is the dilatation of the soul, and widens it for anything which it undertakes; but grief contracts the heart, and narrows all the faculties. Hence doth David beg an "enlarged heart, "as the principle of activity: I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart; for what else can be expected when the mind is so distracted with fear and sorrow, but that it should be uneven, tottering, weak, and confused? so that if it do set itself to anything, it acts troublesomely, drives on heavily, and doth a very little with a great deal ado; and yet, the unfitness were less, if that little which it can do were well done; but the mind is so interrupted in its endeavours that sometimes in prayer the man begins, and then is presently at a stand, and dares not proceed, his words are swallowed up, "he is so troubled that he cannot speak" Ps 77:4. Richard Gilpin, (1625-1699), in "Daemonologia Sacra."
Ver. 32. The Fettered Racer set free.
1. The course that invited him.
2. The shackles that bound him.
3. The impatience that prompted him.
4. The Lord that freed him.
5. Now let him go. C.A.D.
Ver. 32.
1. Liberty desired.
2. Liberty rightly used. Or, the effect of the heart upon the feet.
Ver. 32. The text will give us occasion to speak,
1. Of the benefit of an enlarged heart. The necessary precedence of this work on God's part, before there can be any serious bent or motion of heart towards God on our part.
2. The subsequent resolution of the saints to engage their hearts to live to God.
3. With what earnestness, alacrity and rigour of spirit this work is to be carried on: "I will run." T. Manton.
Ver. 32.
1. The way of obedience: "Thy commandments."
2. The duty of obedience: "I will run" not stand still not loiter not creep not walk, but run.
3. The life of obedience.
(a) Where it lies in the heart.
(b) Whence it comes: "When thou shalt, "etc.
(c) What it does enlarges the heart. G.R.
Psalms 119:33*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I will run the way of Thy commandments, when…
Psa_119:32
I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart.
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Liberty of heart
I. Consciousness of actual captivity. The feeling may be illustrated by the case of a messenger in time of war charged by a great king with an important commission, who on his way is seized by the kings enemies, disarmed, stripped, bound, and led away in an opposite direction; longing to be free that he may do his masters will, and appealing to his lord very much as the psalmist cries to God in this place, Help me, and set me free, that I may do Thy will and accomplish Thine orders. There is hope in such a state, A man who wishes that he could do Gods will has taken the first step towards life. The conscience has got free and stretches out its suppliant hands for help; the affections are, however, still in bondage, and the tyrant power of long-formed habits of sin holds the soul oven while it turns its longing eyes to the sweet paths of righteousness, from which, a slave to his own iniquity, it is being borne away. The prisoner in yonder dungeon may madly tear at his chains, or furiously beat his poor flesh against the solid walls that hold him in, but he is not more powerless to snap the strong iron, or wrench open the ponderous stones, than is a poor sinner to break his own bondage. But there is One who can help, One only, One able to help so effectually, that the chained limbs in their delighted freedom shall actually run. That One is God.
II. A. Consciousness of narrowness of affection and desire after God. The psalmist craved for more freedom of faith; for warmer and stronger love towards God. There are few Christians who will not have the same feeling, and will not be conscious how small and low is their state of grace; how poor their service to their God, compared to what it should be, and what it might be with God to help them. Nor will it be difficult to trace, in some degree, the causes of this narrowness. With a man it may be a too engrossing occupation in earthly business, too predominant and absorbing a care for earthly success, limiting the times of prayer and interrupting that free and full communion with God without which no growth in holiness is possible. With a woman it may be the troubling about many things, such as kept Martha of old from the feet of Jesus: the absorption of thoughts in her children, her household, and her daily cares. Here, again, our hope is in God. He can enlarge our hearts by more perfectly revealing His own blessed self within them. He enters into the soul, and the soul grows with His presence. His glory and greatness and beauty snap the restraining bonds, and stretch the heart in which He dwells till it becomes capable of peace and joy unknown before. (G. Garbett, M. A.)
The secret of moral progress
The way of Thy commandments. To many people not an attractive road! It is suggestive of fences, and trespassing boards, of curbs and restraints. The way of Thy commandments. Through the Christian Scriptures the way becomes steeper and more uninviting to the natural man as the centuries move along. The gradient of the moral ideal becomes increasingly precipitous. You may get up the lower and earlier slopes, but when you get to Amos and Hoses and Isaiah the track becomes exceeding steep, until when you get to the Lord Himself the radiant ideal lifts itself sheer and clear as the Matterhorn. I looked then after Christian to see him go up the hill, where I perceived he fell from running to going, and from going to clambering upon his hands and his knees because of the steepness of the place. Yes, the way becomes very steep as we draw near the Lord! Take the teachings of our Lord, map out the way of His commandments, make a contour map of the road, and you will find that you are face to face with a shuddering ascent, an ascent so stiff and steep that some declare it to be the dream of a visionary, the moral prospectus of a fanatic, proclaiming imperatives which are unpractical and impracticable. The moral ideal of Jesus is just overwhelming; so much so, that many do with it as the Swiss did in the olden times with the Alps, build their houses with their backs to the towering heights, and they face the lowlands of human expediency and moral commonplace. Now, let me remind you that the word heart has a much wealthier significance than we commonly attach to it to-day. The symbolic significance of the word in our own day is confined almost exclusively to the emotions. If we say that a man has a big heart we do not refer to the range of his thought, but to the quality of his sympathies. If we say that a man has no heart we mean that the channels of feeling are as dry as a river-bed in time of drought. Nay, we even bring the brain and the heart into distinct and isolated positions. We say that a man has not very much brain, but that he has a very big heart. Now all these modern distinctions must be laid aside when we seek the interpretation of the Word of God. I am not aware that the word brain or brains ever occurs in the Bible. According to the primitive physiology of those times the heart was the mysterious seat of thought as well as of feeling. The heart was the seat of mans collective energies, the very focus of his personal life. Moral speed will come with spiritual enlargement. I will run when Thou shalt enlarge my heart. When Thou shalt enlarge my thought. Many of us go slowly because we do not see far. There is no long range of purpose in our eyes, and therefore our feet are sluggish. Our imaginations are not peopled with the glories of attainment, and therefore there is no eager haste in our steps. Napoleon got his men over the Alps by richly sharing with them the promises and purposes of the campaign. Their eyes were filled with the resplendent riches of Italian cities even while they were contending with the stupendous obstacles of the trackless wastes of snow. Their thoughts included the sunny Italian plains as well as the grimness of the immediate toil, and that forward-cast of the eyes gave strength and inspiration to their labours. I will run the way of Thy commandments when Thou shalt enlarge my thought, when my mind is filled with Thy blessed purposes, when even now the eyes of my imagination rove over the celestial fields, and when even now I feel something of the warmth and liberty of the coming noon. The ultimate purpose is not obscure. All things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you. We have the mind of Christ. Our minds may be expanded to take in the glorious purpose, and eyes that are held in that vision will most assuredly communicate buoyancy and speed to the feet. Look at the Apostle Paul. The far-off goal was always flinging its kindly ray upon the immediate task. Aye, that is the enlarged mind, which in its inclusive range gives hospitality to the ultimate, and brings the glory of the far-away to relieve the burdensomeness of the present task. Thats the way to get over the hill, and to get over it at a run! What is the philosophy of it? It is this. Small and exclusive thinking is like a closed and tiny room, in which the inmates become asphyxiated, and reduced to lassitude and languor. Large thinking oxygenates the powers, it lets in the vitalizing wind from the far-stretching moors of truth, all the faculties are toned and braced into strenuousness, and they can move in difficult ways with ease. It may be, too, that further enlargements are required before the desired speed is obtained. I will run the way of Thy commandments when Thou shalt enlarge my motions. The mill will not work if the mill-race is empty! The weakness of many a life is explained by the poverty of its emotions; the emotional energy is only that of a reduced and languid stream, and there is no power to run the mill. There are lives that are seemingly destitute of any great capacity to be deeply stirred. Their storms are only storms in a tea-cup; they have nothing of the terrific movement of the disturbed sea. They cannot be moved into mighty indignation like the Apostle Paul; who is made to stumble and I burn not? They cannot be constrained into passionate love; I could wish that myself were separated from Christ for my brethren. They cannot be upheaved by sullen sorrow, nor made to dance in ecstatic joy. Now see the consequence. We must not expect much speed where there is little feeling. The insensitive are not the strenuous, rather are they the victims of sluggishness and sleep. The man who has no emotional wealth will never be found among the pioneer runners in the moral way. He requires enlargement before he can run! And this very enlargement is provided for us in the grace of God. I will take away the stony heart and I will give thee a heart of flesh. That miracle has been performed in innumerable lives. Love has been born where indifference reigned. And so it is also with the third primary element in the contents of the heart, the factor of the will. Many of us crawl and faint in the paths of the moral ideal because our wills are weak and irresolute. We can run for a while, but we fail in the long run. We are good for a hundred yards, but we are spent at the mile. We begin well, but the end is very near. Our wills are something like the batteries of those portable electric night-lights, good for so many flashes, and good for nothing more. We have volitional spasms, succeeded by a forceless lethargy. We shall run the way of His commandments when God shall enlarge our wills. And that is just one of the wonderful resources of grace. It is God that worketh in you to will, to enlarge your will, to fill it with all needful power, to make it adequate to the attainment of the far-off goal. We shall be strengthened with all might by His Spirit in the inner man, and our sufficiency shall be of God. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
Soul-enlargement
I. Its attainment.
1. It consists in--
(1) The true growth of our social sympathies.
(2) The true growth of our religious sympathies.
2. It is attainable. Thousands have experienced it. Hearts once encased in sensuality and selfishness, have by the love of Christ widened so as to grasp the world in its sympathies. The narrow-souled atheist has expanded into the greatness of a saint; the mean temporizer has become a moral hero, battling the world for the right. The churlish miser has bounded with an unconquerable love of his race.
II. Its development.
1. Man is under law, binding him to purity of thought and rectitude of feeling.
2. A willing obedience to this law is the chief end of man.
3. Where this soul-enlargement is, this obedience will be realized.
III. Its author. Thou. All the influences of nature, the events of Providence, the means of grace are for the enlargement of the soul. A growing soul is the most interesting object in the universe. (Homilist.)
Heart-enlargement
The true Broad Church is that in which an enlarged obedience to Gods commandments is brought about by an enlarged experience of His love; and His commandments and His love are both of them exceeding broad. True spiritual life will widen the soul in its possessions, its perceptions, its will, and its love; it will extend our powers of having, of knowing, of willing, and of loving; and, in one or other of these four, most of our life is included.
1. How very little we possess, both in outward and inward things. Our hands are small and the world is large. Tell me how I can make my broad acres more broad, is the request of the rich man. Tell me how I can make my narrow holding less narrow, is the cry of the poor. But a life in God makes us rich, for all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, etc. Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.
2. How trifling is our knowledge. We know but little of things in this world, with all our sciences and study, and we know much less about God, and glory, and immortality, and the spirits which live outside the tent of this mortal flesh, or of any of those things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. But we believe that for those whom God enlarges, there is an unspeakable increase in the perceptive powers of the soul; they are taught things that are hidden from the wise and prudent. There is knowledge for the simple and lowly ones; for those who, in the spiritual strength they have derived from God, run in the way of His commandments. Looking into the Fathers face, and into the Saviours heart, the soul can say (Joh_17:3). And with the knowledge there comes the aspiration (Eph_3:17).
3. How little is our will-power. We often want to do right, and the force of habits or of grooves is too strong for us. We have not enough momentum to carry us out or enough moral force to deny the past and to assert the future. The only remedy is the Divine enlargement of heart which comes from the visitation of the Spirit. We carry our brokenness to God; we put our helpless will at His feet, and He energizes it, and sends us back from the altar-steps able to say, I delight to do Thy will, O my God.
4. How small is our capacity for forgiving. Only those who have the Spirit within them, energizing them, can truly love at all. Again, we fall at the Lords feet, and tell Him we have no power even to be civil to some people, much less to love them; scarcely power to put up the weapons of revenge against some; and even to those whom, like the publicans and Pharisees and sinners, we love because they love us, we have not been able to make an adequate return for the low they have lavished upon us. Then God teaches us that there lies in Him the power of enlarging the human affections, and He enlarges our hearts that we, being rooted and grounded in love,--not only in the experimental realization of His love to us, but also in the experimental living out of our love to Him, and to all that He has made and given us,--are able to run the way of His commandments. For that is His new commandment, that we love one another. (J. Rendel Harris.)
To do more, we must first of all be more
You may see a little child trying to lift a heavy weight, and you tell it that it must wait till its muscles are stronger: it must wait till it has become. This was the way at the beginning in conversion: dead works means that in us there does not dwell force or power to lift the great weight of the commandment or righteousness of God; hence they are useless or stupid works. When you find in your heart your inability to fulfil the Divine commandment, and have not the strength and power you want, though all day trying to lift the heavy weight, you come to God and say, It is plain that, as I am, I cannot live out this righteousness, and I come for a new life to live it out. I must have Thine own strength. Then we understand our Lords saying, Except a man be born again, etc. (J. Rendel Harris.)
The successful race
I. An attainable object. The city of God, the holy Jerusalem, whose walls are salvation, and whose gates are praise (Rev_21:10; Isa_60:18).
II. A way or road along which to proceed.
1. The commandments of God are universal in their application; none are exempt from their obligations.
2. They may be designated a way, because they describe a course of conduct, a line of duty, and mark the bounds of good and evil, right and wrong.
III. A swift approach towards that which we are anxious to attain. I will run.
1. Here is the expression of decision and resolution. How necessary is this for the Christian l How small must his progress be, if any, without it!
2. Here, you see, diligence and earnestness are required: running implies exertion, labour, toil.
3. Here is rectitude of principle, as well as stability of character.
4. Courage and fortitude are both required to ensure your progress towards the holy city.
5. Perseverance is absolutely necessary (Mat_10:22; Heb_10:33-38). It is not the race of a day, or a year; but through the entire course of your life. (R. Treffry.)
Heart-enlargement
In these words we see the connection between theology and morality.
I. There is a heart-relationship between man and God. God is perpetually awakening some dormant energies of our spirits, by which all past achievements live in present efforts and productivities. Glorious is that heart-relationship which there is between man and God.
II. Mans heart-enlargement is entirely of God. Men, and books, and events are means in Gods hands of waking all the germinal glories of the human heart, which is in eternal connection with the Divine. Our successive heart-enlargements have been the results of Divine visitations. Our Father works hitherto, and therefore we work.
III. On-pressing obedience proceeds from the spiritual expansiveness which God alone produces by His operations within us. (W. R. Percival.)
Enlargement of heart the preparation for obedience
I. The delightful spiritual state contemplated by the psalmist.
1. Emancipation from the thraldom of sin.
2. Deliverance from temptations and afflictions.
3. The expansion of the understanding, and the attainment of just and comprehensive views on all matters relating to our salvation and duty.
4. The love of God shed abroad in the heart.
II. This blessed state of heart will cause a corresponding course of action.
1. Deliverance from guilt and condemnation brings with it power to serve God.
2. Some of the most valuable lessons imparted by the great Teacher are learned in the school of affliction; and often, after having ourselves suffered temptation, we are the better able to strengthen our brethren.
3. Expansion of understanding in the things of God brings with it increased obligation to run the way of His commandments.
4. The manifestation of pardoning love to the believer in Jesus enables him to love God in return. Without this, our obedience may be that of a servant, but cannot he that of a child. Love is the fulfilling of the law. (L. H. Wiseman.)
A heart enlarged
The occupation of the heart is the great thing in religion, not because, the heart being mastered, other parts may be overlooked, for religion is the nourisher and not the despiser of intellect, but simply because, in the first place, until the heart is carried there can be no real conversion, for the converted man loves God, and love is from the heart, and because, in the second place, the conquest of the heart involves as a natural and necessary consequence the conquest of the remainder of the man.
I. Supposing that by the heart, the whole soul, with all its powers and affections, is intended, how comes it to be true that God by His grace enlarges the soul? We take a mans understanding. We are accustomed to think and to say, that through busying himself with scientific inquiries, through all these processes of discipline which are furnished by the study of abstruse and sublime things, through converse with history and with the writings of illustrious men, through the exercising itself on those difficult and unsolved problems which are presented by the mysteries of nature and the fortunes of nations, we are accustomed to believe that by these and similar means the human understanding may be made stronger and more comprehensive. And we are far enough from underrating these prescribed modes of enlarging the mind. But, nevertheless, we are clear upon the point, that nothing more enlarges the understanding than the grace which God pours in upon it when He is engaged in carrying on to perfection the work of sanctification. For, if it be the contemplation of noble and majestic things which causes the understanding to shoot up its stature, and to amplify itself on the right hand and on the left, so that the mind remains dwarfish through not being brought into contact with gigantic truth, where will you find us such a nourisher, such a magnifier of the understanding, as religion, seeing that through the operations of Gods grace there is a comparative abandonment of a survey of the created, and a fastening of the gaze on the Creator Himself, and the spirit is carried into a region inaccessible to an unconverted man, and is engaged in climbing truths which are never surmounted by the loftiest intelligence, and thus brought precisely into that intercourse with the mighty and the colossal, which tells most on its powers, quickening them into rapid growth, and bringing to light unsuspected resources? God is so magnificent, so wonderful, that it must be an effort to the soul to take in any discoveries which He makes of Himself; but the very effort will be an improving and invigorating thing. The soul will grow, through her strivings to embrace the infinite; the understanding will dilate as more and more of Deity presents itself to the grasp; and thus, from the beginning to the end, God is enlarging the heart. It is one great characteristic of a righteous man that he is gradually conforming his own will to the will of his Maker. It would be Christian perfection to have no will but Gods will; and though we do not say that this perfection is actually obtained by any of the righteous on the earth, yet there will be a continual advance towards the attainment, so that the identification of wills, if not in every respect complete, will daily become more and more accurate. And a mans will being thus gradually exchanged for Gods, there must be going forward an enlargement of the will.
II. You will not require much proof that the running the way of Gods commandments follows the enlargement of the heart. The enlarged heart includes, as we have shown you, an enlarged understanding and an enlarged will. The enlargement of the understanding supposes you more disposed to follow only what is good. The former, therefore, is the same thing as our discerning more and more of the demands of Gods law; the latter is the same thing as our determining to act on the discernment. But what is this, save in so many words an enlarged heart producing an ampler obedience? The understanding is enlarged, so that we see more of what is demanded; the will is enlarged, so that we resolve on conforming ourselves to those discoveries of the understanding; and if we both find out more and more of what is to be done, and move more in the course which we ascertain to be right, then we are clearly advancing in the work of obedience. And if, yet further, both these results are to be traced to the hearts enlargement as a cause, who can avoid discovering the force of the connection--I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart? (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The secret of speed
This was the language of one who did not run; and many still lag behind. We are far more in danger of standing still than of running ourselves out of breath. Most of us have reason to be ashamed of the defects of our obedience, the meanness of our sacrifices, the meagreness of our work, the formalism of our worship.
1. The enlargement of the heart is the secret of speed. It implies an increase of light, insight, love, trust, hope, gladness, God touching our spirit anew, and awakening it to a higher and fuller life in Himself.
2. Note how such an enlargement of the heart conduces to a prompter and more acceptable obedience.
(1) We may find ourselves impeded by the nature of the path on which we walk. The path of a perfect obedience is high and difficult. What, then, is to be done? Let us seek the solution of the difficulty in the strengthening of the soul; let us crave more of the cherubs illumination, more of the seraphs fire, and we shall find the path of perfection to be what the angels find it--a summer path of flowers.
(2) A traveller may be hindered by obstructions on the road. So the Christian pilgrim finds a variety of trials to be stumbling-blocks in the heavenly pathway. And we are tempted to think that the removal of these barriers is all that is required. But our text is framed on another philosophy. The psalmist had trials and difficulties, personal, domestic, and political; but he does not plead for the removal of these: he simply pleads for a larger heart. Let it please God to enlarge our soul with fresh affection and heroism, and we shall run through a troop and leap over a wall.
(3) The pilgrim is impeded by burdens he may have to carry. Riches, honours, pleasures, friend-ships--these get too much hold upon us, and spoil our speed. Are these embarrassing things of earth to be renounced, to be laid aside? It may be well from time to time to chasten earthly desire; but the loftiest teaching of Christianity does not promise spiritual progress through the reduction of material interests and relations. And this was the view of the psalmist. For the acceleration of our speed we do not need less of this worlds goods and honours, but more inward grace and force.
(4) The racer is impeded by superfluous garments. The sin which doth so easily beset is the chief entanglement and arrestment. The unmastered corruption of our hearts fetters us most; like a garment it encircles us, wraps us round. There is but one remedy for this--fresh and fuller spiritual power. A new heart, and ever new, disencumbers of the besetting sin, and gives us the secret of speed. We need not ask for a lower path, a smoother path, or a shorter path to heaven, but for a soul fuller of spiritual enthusiasm; then shall the rough places be smooth, the crooked paths straight. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The true way of going to heaven
We are to run. It is not wise, right, or safe to live coldly and loosely. Old Donne says, Let me go upon crutches, so I go to heaven. But there are two objections to going to heaven that way. First, no man chooses a pair of crutches when he is offered a pair of wings. No one, surely, ought to go to heaven slowly, painfully, when he can go triumphantly. And the second objection is, that those who go upon crutches hardly get to heaven. Lest that which is tame be turned out of the way. A halting Christian is more likely to be turned out of the way than to continue unto the end; for any trivial thing in the path sends him sprawling on all fours. Away with such tardiness and precariousness! We are to march as conquerors; we are to return with joy upon our heads; we are to mount with eagles--our spirit regal, our mood heroic, our step unfaltering. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The secret of power and progress
Our progress is not regulated by the state of things about us, but by the fact and intensity of our spiritual life. Great faith, high resolve, and glowing love go over Jordan dry-shod. All difficulties dwindle as the soul expands. Bitter mysteries are solved by a simpler trust. Barren branches blossom and bend as the roots of our life are enriched. Grace abounding, a double portion of the Spirit, the love of God shed abroad in the heart, reawakening hunger and thirst after righteousness, the second blessing leading to the third and so on to infinity--here is the consolation and hope of the saints. Strengthened with strength in our soul, we shall trip no more, crawl no more, stand still no more, but run in the path of life, and
Even in running think ourselves too stow.
If our heart has become faint and cold, we know what to do. When the fire went out on the altar of the Greeks, it was relighted by the beams of the sun. Let us bring our heart into fresh contact with the purging Fire, the quickening Flame, and difficulty and failure shall be things of the past. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Speedy obedience
Promptness is one of the brightest excellencies in faiths acting. Delay spoils all. Some one asked Alexander to what he owed his conquests, and he said, I have conquered because I never delayed. While the enemy were preparing he had begun the battle, and they were routed before they knew where they were. After that fashion faith overcomes temptation. She runs in the way of obedience, or rather she mounts on the wings of eagles, and so speeds on her way. With regard to the things of God, our first thoughts are best; considerations of difficulty entangle us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.