Psalm 57:7-8 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.… He summons his powers at once for the execution of his purpose No sooner is the resolve taken, than at once to the practice of the same. How striking and beautiful it is! Oh! it is well when the practice thus follows the principle, when the execution is contemporaneous with the purpose. "I will awake early," the psalmist says. The figure there is exceedingly beautiful. It is in the original, "I will awake the early dawn"; not "I will awake when the morning breaks," but "I will awaken up the morning." "I will be beforehand with it; I will challenge the day." Now, this purpose and determination results from a peculiar state of heart — My heart is fixed. Therefore let us consider — I. THIS STATE OF HEART. "O God, my heart is fixed" — all is suspended upon that. When that is the case, there is salvation; till then, nothing is done. When that is done, all is done. The angels rejoice in heaven, and God Almighty, the Father of our Lord, is glorified. The heart, as we all know, is the man; all else of the man is governed by the heart. The physical and intellectual powers, what are they? The whole complex machinery of our constitution, what is it? Simply the servant of the heart. "Aye," but some one will perhaps say, "the question is, upon what is the heart fixed?" Now, really, that is not the question. It is a question according to man's mode of thinking, and according to man's mode of acting, perhaps. II. I grant you, there are ten thousand things that solicit the heart, and after which the heart of man runs; but THERE IS BUT ONE THING IN THE UNIVERSE UPON WHICH THE HEART CAN BE "FIXED." Why, unless the object is fixed itself, how is it possible for the heart to be fixed? It may be directed towards, but how can it be fixed? If the thing is not fixed, what is fixed? One thing — God is fixed, and it is a simple truth that man is never fixed until he is fixed upon God. Surely a house, as to its fixedness, depends upon the foundation. Build a house on the sand, and is it fixed? You may fix it there as you think, but is it fixed? The foundation shifts, and what becomes of the house? Oh! the heart can only be fixed according to the fixedness of that on which it rests. (Capel Molyneux.) Parallel Verses KJV: My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.WEB: My heart is steadfast, God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises. |
    |