An Enlarged Heart

“I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart” (Psalm 119:32).  The latter part of the verse implies that God will give strength or help.  On the basis of that blessing, Christians should make a firm resolution to obey God.  The entire verse teaches us that before we can have a serious, habitual inclination to obey, there must be a powerful work of God on our hearts.  This is necessary for every Christian who desires to keep God’s law.  This verse is one way the Old Testament expresses the great truth that genuine liberty is found only in Jesus Christ (John 8:32).  This enlargement of heart is true freedom.  Whatever our condition may be in the world, no matter what else we possess, without this freedom, we are slaves!  To be under the dominion of God’s grace is the greatest liberty a person can ever experience.  Only God’s grace can enable us to be and to do what God designed us to be and do.  The true hindrances to human freedom are not in anything external, but in the inclination to sin found in every human heart.  In Romans 7:24, Paul declares that the liberty he longs for is freedom from the indwelling sin:  “Wretched man that I am!  Who will set me free from the body of this death?”  Paul had endured an immense amount of physical pain and suffering in his life.  He had been imprisoned, which entails the complete loss of personal autonomy.  Yet, he considers that bondage to sin is the most wretched slavery imaginable.  To not have a heart enlarged by God to obey Him is a wretched condition!  Sin constricts the human heart to an endless repetition of thoughts and activities that cannot possibly give the heart what it desires.