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Here the apostle prays for them again, as he had done a little before, 2 Thessalonians 2:17; and as this shows how much they were in his heart, so the frequent mingling of prayers with his exhortations shows they could not be effectual without God. And he prays for two things:
1. To have their hearts directed into the love of God; which is either meant passively, for God's love to them, to have their hearts, that is, their whole soul, engaged in the study, contemplation, and admiration of this love; or rather actively, for their love to God, to have their hearts set straight into the love of God, as the Greek word imports; drawn out towards him as a straight line to its centre, or as an arrow directed to the mark. Till man's love is set upon God, the motions of the heart are crooked and irregular; as the ways of sin are called crooked ways, Psalms 125:5; and John Baptist's ministry was to make crooked things straight, Isaiah 40:4. The turning man's heart and ways towards God makes them straight. David prays, Psalms 119:36: Incline my heart unto thy testimonies; ybm-jh or, bend my heart; as we bend a crooked stick to make it straight. Or as he prays God to unite his heart to his fear, Psalms 86:11; so here Paul, to direct theirs to his love, by which some understand all religion. We learn hence, that to direct man's heart to the love of God is the work of God, and beyond our power. And the hearts of the best saints stand in need of a more perfect and constant direction unto the love of God. Patient sufferings for Christ's sake; as the apostle calls his sufferings for Christ's sake, the sufferings of Christ, often, 2 Corinthians 1:5 Philippians 3:10, &c.; and patience for his sake, is called the patience of Christ, Revelation 1:9. In this sense, the apostle prays they may have hearts ready to suffer, and patiently to suffer for Christ's sake, Hebrews 10:36 James 5:10; and suited to a suffering state, which the heart is naturally averse and disinclined unto. And the word is often used in this sense for patience under the cross. And so the apostle hath his eye in his prayer upon the suffering state these believers were in for Christ's sake. If the sense be rendered as in our translation, he prays for their hearts to be fixed upon the coming of Christ, to look towards it, and patiently to wait for it; the Greek word being often taken for the patience of expectation as well as of suffering, Romans 8:25 Hebrews 10:36: and so it is the same as waiting for the Son of God from heaven, mentioned 1 Thessalonians 1:10, and looking for the Saviour, Philippians 3:20; that hereby they might not faint under his sufferings, nor be surprised by his coming. And because the hearts of the best are apt either to be remiss or secure upon the delay of Christ's coming, he therefore prays their hearts might be directed to a patient waiting for it, as the apostle Peter upon the same account exhorts believers to the girding up the loins of their mind, 1 Peter 1:13.