Ps 86:11 "Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." NIV

Are you teachable? Can the Lord guide you with His voice instead of His rod? The Lord is a gifted teacher and He would rather teach us than correct us. The nature of the Lord is that of a father who desires to prepare His sons and daughters to succeed in life. This truth is clearly stated in Ps 32:8 where the Lord declares His willingness to be our teacher and guide, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” However He also presents the greatest challenge to His success in teaching us His ways, a stubborn spirit in the heart of many men. In verse 9 the Lord states, “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.”
This passage in psalms 86 is powerful for its directness. The simple commitment of the heart is one that should be shared by all who know the Lord, “teach me… and I will walk in it!” This commitment to learning the ways of the Lord and obeying them is the foundation to growing from grace to grace in the fruitfulness of the Lord. Man’s heart is wayward and yet God in His mercy continues to reach out with cries of wisdom and truth seeking to direct us into the path of blessing. Most mistakes, most painful errors of judgment are those that grow out of self-will that is not surrendered to the direction of God that He offers to our lives. When God has to apply pressure to get us to go in the right direction it is often with great cost to ourselves and others. When Jonah had to be compelled to follow it came at the expense of great fear and stress coming upon the lives of those who were drawn into his world as he ran from the Lord. Each time king David yielded to the voice of his self-will it produced great loss for both himself and many others around him as the judgments of God resulted in death and damaged relationships on all sides of him. In each case David was restored to the right path by God’s mercy but at great cost.
David writes psalm 86 from a life of having experienced both the power of obedience and the pain of rebellion in his walk with God. It is from this seasoned place that he cries out for the greatest necessity of all: “give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” David has lived with a divided heart. When his passion pulled him into adultery and his pride caused him to number the troops of Israel these actions were the reflection of a heart that was divided between the Lord and other things. Psalm 86 is a cry of self-awareness and need. “Help my heart Lord!” David is supremely aware of what flows out of his life when his heart is filled with mixture and he lifts up a cry to be restored to a right fear of the Lord. It is certain that his son Solomon who wrote the timeless passage in Prov 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline,” learned this vital principle from his father’s struggle to maintain a heart that was pleasing to the Lord. Let it be our cry today that the Lord would work in us this undivided heart that is directed by a reverent fear of a holy God.