“Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” Psalm 86:11
This passage comes up a lot in my readings. So after meditating on it and considering it…I have recognized a few things.
First, as I age…like King David…or maybe especially as I age…I continue to recognize that I still DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW…this is particularly humbling…because I tell myself and society “kind of” expects that I should know more stuff simply because I am older. I do ‘know” more stuff…but as I age I realize that much of the stuff I know is fairly useless in the grand scheme of things.
Second, if recognizing how little I know is humbling…like David… I realize that I cannot teach myself God’s way by myself…in fact, without God teaching me through His means…(His Word, privately and corporately, prayer, privately and corporately, receiving and participating in His sacraments…all of which requires me to be with His people in worship)..without God teaching me…I will not learn properly or at all. So learning is lifelong…there will NEVER be a time that I can say I have arrived. (I think Paul said a similar thing in Philippians 3. LOL!)
David quite rightly prays, emphatically, to God, Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth…” because He knows he must appeal to the character and promises of God or he will NOT know the way of truth. That is humbling…because we have convinced ourselves (especially the older we get) that like our children…we can do it ourselves! Well, David is admitting his limitations…in fact, he is admitting publically his inability to learn, to walk and follow God unless God fulfills His promise to teach him. How many of us would be willing …as Leaders…of the home or in the church or at work or simply with our friends…to admit weakness …limitations…or inabilities. To simply be a servant doesn’t seem good enough to us we are better than that. Right…am I right!? On one level we are but only because of someone else…namely Jesus…because of His death and resurrection. God has been favorable to us simply because He is merciful, faithful and trustworthy to keep His promise in love for His own. A love based solely on His decision to love and chose us…nothing in ourselves. So yeah, David calls out Him to “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth…” because if God doesn’t do what He promised to do…all is lost for David and for us!
Thirdly, (and this is just 3 of the many things that I keep getting from this verse) he says, “…unite my heart to fear your name.” The Hebrew could more easily read, “…give me an undivided heart that I might fear your name.” We all know we suffer from divided loyalties. We like ourselves way too much. Then we like others way too much. Then we like our rights and freedoms way too much. Then we like our money and our privileges way too much. THEN… there is NOT enough for God…because there just isn’t enough of us to go around. So yes we have divided loyalties.
David wore many hats as king, husband, father, child of God as a priest, prophet and king in the line of and as a type of Christ before the people. If anyone had a right to divided “loyalties” it would be him… right? NOPE! You see all those things we do fall under God’s authority. All the things we are called to do fall under God’s oversight and direction as we do His expressed will. “For we are God’s workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10) So they are God’s for us to steward/manage for Him. David is saying he knows this but he loses sight of it sometimes…thinking that everything depends upon him, when in fact, all God calls him to be is to be faithful by God’s grace to do that which God has for him to do and God will see to the outcome.
David showed me that all too often I am not as concerned with being taught God’s way or to be helped to serve Him with an undivided heart. In other words, all too often, I want the blessings without the duties/ sufferings and affliction that David speaks of in the rest of this Psalm. I want God to do for me as I go on doing for myself. Knowing his heart revealed his weakness and need… David goes to God seeking to be taught His way of truth and seeking an undivided heart…this should be an example to us.
With all of this being true I find myself praying this prayer often and I recommend it and this whole Psalm to you today that you might see how God teaches us for without Him we are lost. “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” Why??? “For nothing will be impossible with God!” Luke 1:37) NOTHING! Hold fast to that truth today and pray to Him this simple prayer!
God bless y’all today.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
