God's preventions.
This prayer, "Incline not my heart to any evil thing," should be compared with the clause in the Lord's Prayer, "Lead us not into temptation." In neither case can God be thought of as the direct cause of evil or temptation; but in both cases he may be thought of as the indirect occasion. God does place men in circumstances in connection with which temptation may come to them; and the circumstances may even induce an evil inclination to yield to the temptation. It belonged to the intense Hebrew conception of God, and of God's relations with men, that the distinction between God as cause and God as occasion was hopelessly confused. "Incline not my heart" can only mean, "Do not put me into such circumstances as must incline my heart to evil." Here is—
I. A DEEP SENSE OF THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CIRCUMSTANCES AND FEELINGS. "Oh that nothing may arise in thy providence which would excite our desires in a wrong direction!" We are creatures of circumstance. Inward moods answer responsively to outward conditions.
1. There are circumstances which excite evil feeling in us always.
2. There are circumstances which excite evil in us when we are in particular states of body or of mind. These, being the more subtle mischief, send us the more earnestly seeking the Divine defending and help.
II. A DEEP SENSE OF THE CONTROL WHICH GOD CAN HAVE OF OUR FEELING THROUGH THE MASTERY OF OUR CIRCUMSTANCES. "Our times are in his hand," and through our times he can effectually control us. It is often left as an impression on religious minds that something called "natural law" is ruling in the sphere of things; and that God's operations are confined to the sphere of hearts. That impression needs to be removed. God does work in hearts in a spiritual way, but it is also true that he is ever active in the sphere of events and circumstances, in order to use them for his higher work in feeling and in souls. So the good man asks God to be in the circumstances in order that he may have control in the feelings.—R.T.