BY PASTOR BRANDON YOUNG
While I was away on vacation last week, I kept thinking of this passage of scripture from Psalm 112:5-7, “A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” The part of this verse that I couldn’t seem to get off my mind was “my heart is fixed. David also says the same in Psalm 57:7, “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.” I thought what does it mean to have a heart that is fixed? The word fixed in the text is the Hebrew word “Kuwn” (pronounced “koon”). It has two meanings: 1. To be firm and fastened, stable and established. 2. To be to be securely determined and directed aright. While one definition speaks of a position, the other implies a direction. The believer’s faith is to be firm and fastened, stable and established, rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ while being securely determined and directed, reaching and following in the footsteps of our Lord. What does this fixed heart look like in everyday life? Well first, let’s determine what it isn’t.
The Bible tells us in James 1:8, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” A double mind person is: One that is distracted between the alternate feelings of faith and distrust. Double souled, always pulled two ways. One set of desires for heavenly things and another set of desires for worldly things — trying to secure both worlds. One with no settled principles, but controlled by feelings. One that is fickle and inconsistent in their Christian life. One that easily quits once things get too tough. One that is in for a while and out for a while. My grandmother used the term “wishy washy” to describe folks that could not decide which side of the fence they wanted to reside. These are definitely not the characteristics of a person with a fixed heart, but we know we do see these types of things among today’s church. It doesn’t seem to take a whole lot to sidetrack us and get us off course or to stop completely.
As I left the beach after a week of fun in the sun, I knew where I wanted to be: “home”! I was determined to be home that evening. I knew I had many hours of driving, and many miles to travel, but my heart was fixed on my own home, my own recliner, and my own bed. I longed to walk in the house and take a deep breath in my own place. There’s truly no place like home. Thankfully, we had an uneventful and safe trip home, but things could have been different. Let’s ponder what could have happened. I could’ve had a flat, and if so, I would have changed the flat and continued my journey home. I would have done my best to prevent a flat from stranding me at the beach permanently. I could’ve been involved in a minor accident, and I would have had to rent another car to bring me on home, but once again, at some point I would have arrived home because I would not let an accident prevent me from coming home. I could have been involved in a major accident, and had to spend time in a hospital, but hopefully at some point I would have been discharged and headed home. We could have been stuck in road construction, but little by little we would have inched closer to home. I could go on and on with scenarios, but what I want you to understand that nothing that came my way would have kept me on the South Carolina coast because me heart was fixed on home. I may have had to stop for a moment and regroup, but nothing was going to detour me from coming home. My heart was fixed.
Now let’s take this earthly example and give it a spiritual meaning. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:1-2, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” As Christians we started a journey towards home, and Satan is going to do everything he can to prevent us from making it. Things on this journey towards home gets tough and rough at times. Life is hard! It is easy to quit and give up, but we have a race to keep running. Nothing prevented Jesus from going to the cross. He continued and finished what he started and is sitting at the right hand of God. We must look to him as an example and keep on keeping on. Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
Perseverance and endurance are the qualities of a fixed heart, but it seems that it takes so little these days to prevent us from continuing for the Lord. It is so easy to continue on for Christ if things are going great, but once the wheels start falling off, and things go south quickly, we are so ready to throw in the towel. David himself, fleeing from Saul, and hiding in the cave had a fixed heart. The Psalmist David sings and praises God while in the middle of great difficulty and oppression. He sings himself into confidence and good cheer. In the dark, he believes in the light. The repetition of “My heart is fixed” in Psalm 57:7 adds emphasis to the expression of perpetual determination. The fixed heart is resolved to “sing and give praise” in spite of everything that might make sobs and tears choke the song. We must continue to sing and praise as we journey along this tough road called life because we must make it home. Quitting cannot be an option. We must remove that option from the table completely. Let’s have a fixed heart! Edgar A. Guest published a poem entitled, “Don’t Quit” on March 3, 1921, in a syndicated newspaper column and I would like to close with it.
Keep Going
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must — but don’t you quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow —
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out —
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit —
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.