A Fixed Heart is a Work in Progress

“My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.” (Ps 57:7 AV)

To have a fixed heart is the greatest discipline of all!  That word is interesting.  To have a fixed heart means more than mere discipline.  To have a fixed heart means the desires and emotions David feels are set like cement.  They cannot be stirred.  They are not fluid.  His heart is set on convictions and purposes that do not waver.  This does not mean David was perfect in all his ways.  He wrote this prior to Bathsheba and the numbering of the people.  There were cracks in the cement.  Cracks that allowed some weeds to pop up.  But as a life-discipline, David was not a man of wild passion.  Reading the psalms, we see a man who expressed much emotion.  He went from the depths of depression to the heights of elation.  He was definitely an emotional man.  We wouldn’t have the psalms if David were dispassionate.  What David could do was focus his intense emotions on pleasing God.  His passion, anger, frustration, fear, etc were mostly governed by the virtues of God.  Having a fixed heart does not mean David was a Mr. Spock.  It meant his heart was exercised within the confines of God’s desires and purpose.

Discipline is a hard skill to learn.  Few can master it.  Even those who are highly disciplined is some areas may fail in others.  This takes me back to my days of military ministry.  One would think military personnel are the most successful in all areas of life.  That is not usually true.  I remember observing this for the first time.  I had the illusion that if they learned to march, slop through mud on their stomachs, get yelled at by a profanity-laced rebuke, and lose sleep days in a row; surely the rest of their lives would be equally in order.  I imagined the home life of the sailors, marines, airmen, soldiers, and coastguardsmen to be perfect.  I had this idea that when I went to visit a military family in their home that the inside would be as pristine as the outside.  I thought their children would be the best behaved in the world.  Their marriage would be perfect.  I had this idea that if the serviceman or servicewoman were highly trained, decorated, and faithful in the discharge of their military duties, their home life would be the same.  More times than not, at home they were just like the rest of us.  A work in progress.

A fixed heart is a work in progress.  But a work in progress can be an overall trait.  Don’t let those who worship their self-discipline make you feel like a total failure.  The outward appearance is not always indicative of in inward condition.  If observation of our service personnel were limited to their public service, we might feel as total failures.  After all, they can stand at attention for hours on end.  We would have to sit down.  But having a fixed heart is the process by which we learn and apply emotional discipline.  It is the process by which we learn to exercise or control our emotions in a godly way.  As stated before, David wasn’t perfect.  He made serious mistakes.  His heart was not fixed one-hundred percent of the time.  He had lapses.  But like the service member who does PT, reports for drills, practices his or her disciplines, etc., being under control is learned.  It is honed.  It is taking one thing at a time and learning to control it.  Having a fixed heart is a work of yielding to the control of the Spirit rather than the impulses of the heart.  This takes time.  This takes a lifetime.  So, keep plugging away.  If your desires and purpose of life are controlled more by the Spirit than the old man, you can testify with David that your heart is fixed.