Proverbs 15:8—Psalm 66:18-20
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.—If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.
THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): By observing God’s answers to your prayers, you will gain much insight into your own hearts, and ways, and prayers, and may thereby learn how to judge of them. David’s assurance that he did not regard iniquity in his heart was strengthened by God’s having heard his prayers; for thus he reasons, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me; but verily God hath heard me.”
ROBERT GORDON (1786-1853): The very supposition that “if he regarded iniquity in his heart, the Lord would not hear him,” implies the possibility that such may be the state even of believers; and there is abundant reason to fear that it is in this way their prayers are so often hindered, and so frequently remain unanswered.
ROBERT SOUTH (1633-1716): Whence is it that a man’s regarding or loving sin in his heart hinders his prayers from acceptance with God?
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): To “regard iniquity in the heart,” does not mean to be conscious of sin—for all the Lord’s people must see their sins and be grieved for them, and this is rather praiseworthy than condemnable—but to be bent upon the practice of iniquity.
THOMAS SCOTT (1747-1821): The original is, “If I looked at iniquity with my heart;”—that is, if I thought of it with affection and desire. He that “regards iniquity,” entertains the thoughts of it as a man does a welcome visitor. He provides for their entertainment, is reluctant to part with them; and, as far as he can safely, he seeks and seizes the occasion of practicing the sin, which he thinks of with satisfaction. This evidences a love and dominion of sin, and is inconsistent with true repentance; and, if connected with a profession of religion, it is a clear evidence of hypocrisy.
JOHN WITHERSPOON (1722-1749): They regard iniquity in their heart, who practice it secretly, who are under restraint from the world, but are not possessed of an habitual fear of the omniscient God, the searcher of all hearts, and from whose eyes there is no covering of thick darkness where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. They regard iniquity in the heart, who entertain and indulge the desire of sin, although in the course of providence they may be restrained from the actual commission of it. I am persuaded the instances are not rare, of men feeding upon sinful desires, even when through want of opportunity, through the fear of man, or through some partial restraint of conscience, they dare not carry them into execution. They regard iniquity in their heart who reflect upon past sins with delight, or without sincere humiliation of mind…they can remember their sins without sorrow, they can speak of them without shame, and sometimes even with a mixture of boasting and vain glory. Did you never hear them recall their past follies, and speak of them with such relish, that it seems to be more to renew the pleasure than to regret the sin? Even supposing such persons to have forsaken the practice of some sins, if they can thus look back upon them with inward complacency, their seeming reformation must be owing to a very different cause from renovation of heart.
JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): This is the wickedness of man’s heart, that it will even love, and hold fast, that which with the mouth it prays against: and of this sort are they that honour God with their mouth, but their heart is far from Him, Isaiah 29:23; Ezekiel 33:31.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): “Iniquity in my heart.” If, having seen it to be there, I continue to gaze upon it without aversion; if I cherish it, have a side glance of love towards it, excuse it, and palliate it; “The Lord will not hear me.” How can He? Can I desire Him to connive at my sin, and accept me while I willfully cling to any evil way? For God to accept our devotions, while we are delighting in sin, would be to make Himself the God of hypocrites, which is a fitter name for Satan than for the Holy One of Israel.
JOHN CALVIN: The Psalmist mentions integrity of heart as indispensable…When the heart does not correspond to the outward conduct, and harbours any secret evil intent, the fair exterior appearance may deceive men; but it is an abomination in the sight of God.
ROBERT SOUTH: In this case, he cannot pray by the Spirit. All prayers that are acceptable with God are the breathings of his own Spirit within us, Romans 8:26. As without the intercession of Christ we cannot have our prayers accepted, so without the intercession of the Spirit we cannot pray. The second reason is, because as long as a man regards iniquity in his heart he cannot pray in faith; that is, he cannot build a rational confidence upon any promise that God will accept him. Now, faith always respects the promise, and promise of acceptance is made only to the upright: so long, therefore, as men cherish a love of sin in their heart, they either understand not the promises, and so they pray without understanding, or they understand them, and yet misapply them to themselves, and so they pray in presumption: in either case, they have little cause to hope for acceptance.
ROBERT GORDON: Another case is, I fear, but too common, and in which the believer may be still more directly chargeable with regarding iniquity in his heart. It is possible that there may be in his heart or life something which he is conscious is not altogether as it should be—some earthly attachment which he cannot easily justify—or some point of conformity to the maxims and practices of the world, which he finds it difficult to reconcile with Christian principle; yet all the struggle which these have from time to time cost him, may only have been an effort of ingenuity on his part to retain them without doing direct violence to conscience—a laborious getting up of arguments whereby to show how they may be defended, or in what way they may lawfully be gone into; while the true and simple reason—namely, the love of the world, is all the while kept out of view.
JOHN WITHERSPOON: In the last place, I suspect that they regard sin in the heart, who are backward to bring themselves to the trial, and who are not truly willing that God Himself would search and try them. If any, therefore, are unwilling to be tried, if they are backward to self-examination, it is an evidence of a strong and powerful attachment to sin. It can proceed from nothing but from a secret dread of some disagreeable discovery, or the detection of some lust which they cannot consent to forsake.
JOHN BUNYAN: While prayer is making, God is searching the heart to see from what root and spirit it arises.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): God looks on the heart and sees the thoughts and intents of that.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Are you troubled because your prayers are not answered?
THOMAS GOODWIN: If God doth not grant your petitions, it will put you to study a reason for it, of His dealing; and so you will come to search into your prayers and the carriage of your hearts.
