11Teach me Your way, LORD. I will walk in Your truth. Unite my heart to fear Your name. 12I will praise You, Adonai my God, in the all of my heart. I will honor Your name to ages, 13because Your lovingkindness [is] great toward me and You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.
As I study these verses, so many thoughts flood my mind. This section will take more than one post, I’m sure. Here are some thoughts to start with:
In verse 11, David says, “Teach me Your way, LORD. I will walk in Your truth”. Remember that the context here is that David is in trouble of some kind. He could simply pray, “Lord, get me out of this!” Instead, he prays, “Teach me Your way.” As much as I may want to “get out” of my troubles, it is actually far more important that I let God teach me through them. Although He may have other purposes, it is generally true that He allows trouble in my life specifically because He is trying to teach me something. So am I a willing student? Or am I too busy whining to see the value in what is happening? The greatest regret from any trouble will not be that it happened but that I failed to learn what the Lord could have taught me. Lord help me be a willing student in Your school of life.
Then David adds, “I will walk in Your truth.” Shifting gears a little, when it comes to God’s teaching, the appropriate response is that we should walk in the truth He teaches us. Herein is a great deficiency in our sin-sick souls. Like the “Sower and the Seed,” so much teaching falls on bad ground. Apparently, one of the deepest traps is, having heard teaching, we therefore think we’ve “got it” and go merrily along. It is beyond shocking to me how people can spend years and years in church, hear sermon after sermon, sometimes three or four (or more) a week, and be utterly unchanged. Perhaps they attend church simply as a religious checklist. Just being there makes them “okay.” Perhaps they’re so mired in the politics and relationships and programs of the church, they simply don’t hear what’s being taught. There are no doubt as many explanations as there are sin-cursed hearts. But here is one sure remedy – that we would sincerely pray, “Lord, teach me Your way and I will walk in Your truth.” Always our hearts should be intent on application as we sit under Bible teaching, and as we read and study our own Bibles. We should have a holy discontent until the “lights come on,” until we see clearly how this teaching affects my daily life. We should say, “I want God to teach me His way, but that job isn’t done until I can actually walk in that truth.” God deliver us from our sin-sick heart and the ignorant stupor it breeds. May our hearts truly remain restless till they find rest in Thee.
David goes on to say, “Unite my heart to fear Your name”. Ah, here we have another affliction of our fallen souls. Double-mindedness. Hebrews 12 urges us to have our “gaze fixed on Jesus.” The only rightful place to fix our gaze is on Jesus. He alone deserves our undivided allegiance. Looking at Jesus, Peter could walk on the water. It was when he looked instead at the wind and the waves that he began to sink. In Isaiah 41:10, we are instructed to “Fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God.” The phrase, “Be not dismayed,” could actually be translated, “Don’t be furtively glancing around.” “I am thy God.” “Look at Me.” “Look to Me.” “Whatever it is you’re fearing, quit focusing on it. Quit glancing around hoping for some other deliverance. Look at Me.”
This is what our hearts need. Singlemindedness. “Unite my heart to fear Your name,” David prays. Our sinfulness can be described as pride or as selfishness or a lot of other things. But “fearfulness” is another way of seeing it. When we don’t fear God aright, then our poor hearts get slain by a million other lesser fears. And sinful fear drives us to make very bad decisions, which only get us into deeper trouble, which only leads us to fear more, which only leads to more bad decisions … What I need is a heart that single-mindedly gives fear only to Him who deserves it. And fearing Him liberates me from all those other fears. It gives me a clear mind to make good decisions, even when seemingly drowning in troubles and threats. Fear makes us sniveling, pathetic creatures. A right fear of God will raise us up into courageous, resolute people who can face trouble head on and standing up straight. None of us wants to be like the double-minded man in James who is “unstable in all his ways.” But unfortunately, our very existence as believers is a war between our flesh and the Spirit. We must be resolved to let the Spirit win, but first, we must realize our utter helplessness and cry out to our Deliverer, “Unite my heart to fear Your name!” Give me an undivided heart. Help me to be single-minded. Left to myself, I am a hopeless mire of pride, selfishness, and fear. Raise me up. In those moments of decision, give me a heart to walk in Your truth. When I fail, forgive my foolishness and raise me up stronger. Unite my heart, O God.
May You find us willing students. May you find us practicing students. And may You find us single-minded students. You certainly deserve it.
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