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Fear in Action
[live it] |
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"Teach
me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give
me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." PSALM
86:11 (NIV) |
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David:
Focused on Fearing God
The
last line of David's prayer in Psalm 86:11 — "that
I may fear your name" — summarizes
the king's ultimate desire. He longs to give
his Lord the reverence He deserves. But in
the five words prior, he recognizes a necessary
means to this end — having an "undivided
heart".
What
does it mean to have an "undivided heart",
and how does such a heart engender the fear
of God? Let's start off by taking a look at
a couple of PC Study Bible's Bible
commentaries  :
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Matthew
Henry's Commentary |
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A
hypocrite has a double heart; let mine
be single and entire for God, not divided
between him and the world, not straggling
from him. Our hearts are apt to wander
and hang loose; their powers and faculties
wander after a thousand foreign things;
we have therefore need of God's grace to
unite them, that we may serve God with
all that is within us, and all little enough
to be employed in his service. "Let
my heart be fixed for God, and firm and
faithful to him, and fervent in serving
him; that is a united heart." |
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| How
PC Study Bible helped this portion of
my study: |
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Wherever you see this icon, click
it to view a screen shot from
PC Study Bible of the item described. |
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I
cycled through PCSB's Bible
commentaries on my key
passage, Psalm 86:11, to find out
more about what it means to have
an "undivided heart" like
King David. |
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Then,
using the program's Appendable
Clipboard, I copied
sections of each commentary and pasted
them as a group into my word processor
for printing as a Bible study handout. |
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Barnes'
Notes |
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(a)
The end which he desired to secure was that he might
truly fear God, or properly reverence and honor him; |
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(b)
the means which he saw to be necessary for this
was that his "heart" might be "united" in
this one great object; that is, that his heart
might be single in its views and purposes; that
there might be no distracting purposes; that one
great aim might be always before him.
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Why
did David see such a heart — completely sold out
to God and intently focused on His divine purposes — as
the key to giving God proper reverence and honor? Adam
Clarke's Commentary provides these summarizing thoughts: |
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Join
all the purposes, resolutions, and affections of
my heart together, to fear and to glorify thy name.
This is a most important prayer. A divided heart
is a great curse; scattered affections are a miserable
plague. When the heart is not at unity with itself,
the work of religion cannot go on. Indecision of
mind and division of affections mar any work. The
heart must be one, that the work may be one. If this
be wanting, all is wrong. This is a prayer which
becomes the mouth of every Christian. |
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In Conclusion
Although
we've only scratched the surface of such a vast
topic, I think it's clear that each of us has
room to grow in our understanding of what the
fear of the Lord is, how much the Lord deserves
our reverence, and the kind of heart we need
to give God the fear that is due Him.
Over
the coming month, let me challenge you to make
David's prayer in Psalm 86 your own. Ask the
Lord for a united heart that's continually focused
on honoring Him, and I guarantee you'll see life-changing
results!
See
you next month! |
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| Action
Step: Pray/Journal |
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| Commit
to pray once a day for the
next seven days that God
would reveal areas in your heart and life
that are "wandering" after the
things of the world (symptoms of a divided
heart). As He does so, repent and humbly
ask for the grace to unite your heart once
again with God's purposes for your life. |
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a journal to record the changes
in your life that result from choosing
to humble yourself and allowing the Holy
Spirit to work within you. |
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| • |
THE
NEW KING JAMES VERSION. Copyright © 1982,
Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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BIBLESOFT'S
NEW EXHAUSTIVE STRONG'S NUMBERS & CONCORDANCE
WITH EXPANDED GREEK-HEBREW DICTIONARY. Copyright © 1994,
2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators,
Inc. |
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THE
ONLINE BIBLE THAYER'S GREEK LEXICON & BROWN
DRIVER BRIGGS HEBREW LEXICON, Copyright © 1993,
Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed
from the Institute for Creation Research. |
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NELSON'S
ILLUSTRATED BIBLE DICTIONARY, Copyright © 1986,
Thomas Nelson Publishers. |
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HOLMAN
BIBLE DICTIONARY. Copyright © 1991 by Holman
Bible Publishers. All rights reserved. |
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EVANGELICAL
DICTIONARY OF BIBLICAL THEOLOGY. Copyright 1996
by Baker Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission. |
| • |
THE
HANDBOOK OF BIBLE APPLICATION. Copyright © 2000
by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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THIS STUDY
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| 1 |
FEAR
DEFINED.
A deeper look at what it means to fear the Lord. |
| 2 |
FEAR
IN ACTION.
Examining the "undivided heart" of
King David, and why he found it a necessity for
fearing God. |
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