“Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy truth: unite my heart to fear Thy name” (Psa. 86:11).
For the believer to “live godly in Christ Jesus,” “to walk in the Spirit, and ... not fulfill the lust of the flesh,” and to “put ... on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh,” there must be godly determination to know and do the will of God, well expressed in the above prayer of David: “Teach me Thy way. ... I will walk in Thy truth.” “Show me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day.” And even when we desire to know and do His will, how fitting is the prayer to “unite my heart to fear Thy name,” for we must remember that in the saved person there is not only “the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness,” but there is also “the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.” We must be able to say that “I have chosen the way of truth: Thy judgments [ordinances] have I laid before me. I have stuck unto Thy testimonies.” Thus will we find the heart united “to fear Thy name.” This will be our one purpose, and we can say with David that “one thing have I desired of the Lord,” and with Paul, “This one thing I do.”
“Unite my heart to fear Thy name,”
O Thou my Savior and Lord;
I would that I might walk in truth,
In obedience to Thine own Word.
2 Tim. 3:12; Gal. 5:16; Rom. 13:14; Psa. 25:4-5; Eph. 4:24; 4:22; Psa. 119:30-31; 27:4; Phil. 3:13.