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THE UNDIVIDED HEART

Date: 
Friday, March 25, 2022
Bible Meditation: 
Psalm 86: 1-12

TEACH me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; UNITE my HEART to fear Your name” – Psalm 86:11

God is able to transform the Trusting Heart into the Instructed and UNDIVIDED HEART: TEACH me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; UNITE my HEART to fear Your name, I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore” (Psa.86:11-12). When the heart is well-instructed, it would be undivided, and able to offer praises to the Lord, without inhibition. Various translations of Psalm 86:11b depict the Undivided Heart. The New King James says, UNITE my heart to fear your name.” The New International Version says, “Give me an UNIVIDED heart.” The Common English Bible (CEB) gives a more general sense, “Make my heart FOCUSED only on honoring your name.” The Message Bible gives this colourful rendering: “Put me together, one heart and mind; then, UNDIVIDED, I’ll worship in joyful fear.” God cherishes such a heart: United, Focused, Undivided!              

Psalm 86 is a Prayer for God’s Continued Mercy, in which the psalmist pleaded his earnest dependence and trust in God’s Mercy, as reasons why his prayers should be heard (vv.1-7). David prayed that God would: provide for him in his poverty (v.1); preserve his life which God Himself created (v.2a); save him as he trusted (v.2b); restore joy to his soul (v.4); and forgive him; all in the abundance of His Mercy. He described the Lord as being “good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon” Him (v.5). David called on the Lord to listen to the voice of his supplications and hear his prayer for help from trouble (vv.6-7).

The second part of the psalm began with David worshipping the Lord God as the incomparable, uniquely Exalted One, matchless in personality, in His works, wonders, Greatness, and Glory (vv.8-10).Though fully aware of his troubled situation, he knew that no one else could help him like God and therefore renewed his requests for help and comfort. In order to receive divine help however, there was the need for an instructed and UNDIVIDED HEART, hence the sudden shift in prayer: Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; UNITE MY HEART to fear Your name” (v.11). The heart is always the heart of the matter: a trusting heart, a heart aligned to fear God’s name, and a praising heart: “I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart…” (v.12a).

Spurgeon commenting on Psalm 86:11 said “Having taught me ONE WAY, give me ONE HEART to walk therein, for too often I feel ‘a heart and a heart.” The word “undivided” means not broken into parts, not mixed with other feelings or intentions. It relates with the word "integer" – a whole number as opposed to a fraction – and speaks of the quality of being undivided. This is the root of the word, IMTEGRITY. God wants His redeemed people to be men and women of integrity, lights shining in the midst of the darkness in such a way that the world might see our undivided hearts and bring glory to our Father Who is in heaven.

Many times our hearts are perpetually ambivalent and fragmented as we are pulled in many directions at once. We are often double-hearted, distracted or enticed by worldly treasures that turn out to be trash from an eternal viewpoint. We need the Lord to unite our hearts in order to focus on living treasures, and worship Him whole-heartedly, with nothing left back. A divided heart has scattered priorities, unclear identity, and leads to ruin. Fragmented loyalties weaken resolve. Daniel had an undivided heart: But Daniel PURPOSED in HIS HEART that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself” (Dan.1:8). If we’ll believe, trust and obey, God will take the scattered fragments of our hearts and unite them so that we may serve and worship Him perpetually.

Adetokunbo O. Ilesanmi (Meditations)

Prayer: 
Lord, transform our scattered fragments into the UNDIVIDED HEART, equipped to serve and praise You perpetually, in Jesus name.
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