A Verse To Live By

When I was growing up, it was popular to, among Christians at least, to select a particular verse of Scripture and to kind of claim it as a life verse.

Perhaps you have one or you at least are familiar with the practice of that.

I don't know that it's as common today. I don't really ever hear people talk about this anymore.

But typically, if you're unfamiliar, it involved selecting a particular passage of Scripture that were especially comforting or encouraging or insightful,

not really in specific moments of life, but through various circumstances of life is typically how it would work.

You'd pick one that you could just kind of memorize and recite to yourself across different seasons of life, and this would bring you encouragement.

Some people would use these verses as a way of sharing their testimonies.

Perhaps you have been in a mission service, and a missionary has gone up.

They've quoted, and they've said, I want to begin with my life verse, and they quote the verse,

and then they use that verse to kind of tell their story of conversion or how the Lord has worked in their life to go to the mission field or whatever it may be.

Now, I will caution you and say that in describing that, I'm not necessarily advocating for that.

In fact, I'm not advocating for it.

We never want to read our own lives into the Scriptures.

There's huge problems that come with that, isn't there?

If we kind of take a passage that kind of sounds like what we want to say anyways,

and then we use it to tell a testimony, even though everything we say is good,

we end up saying something of the Scriptures that the Scriptures aren't saying of themselves,

then we kind of get ourselves in a mess, and we don't want to do that.

So I'm not necessarily advocating for that.

Still, it is wonderfully helpful and beneficial to have a practice of memorizing Scriptures,

Scriptures like that, that the Lord will use to call to your mind and bring comfort to your heart,

verses that you can pray again and again.

And I've never had a life verse, but I can say that Psalm 8611 is as close as I've ever come

to having a verse that is just uniquely present at various times of my life.

I return to it.

I find myself praying these words over and over again throughout various circumstances,

constantly coming back and repeating this to the Lord.

Teach me your way, O Lord.

Teach me.

I want to walk in your truth.

Unite my heart to fear your name.

And you'll find that if you pray those words, there's no limit to the situations that you can pray it in.

Every circumstance of life, ultimately, we want to come back to this particular spirit and thought,

Lord, I want to know your way.

I want to walk in your truth.

I want to fear your name and glorify you and who you are.

So in that sense, it's truly a verse that we can live by.

And it's one that I want to take a few minutes to examine and meditate upon this morning.

Now, the uniqueness of it in Psalm 86 is that it's out of place.

At least it seems out of place.

We read through this Psalm, we recognize this is a prayer of lament of David's.

And David is spending most of this Psalm asking God to do a life-altering work for him.

Ruthless, godless, insolent men have risen up against him over and over.

He's asking for God to intervene in that.

In the circumstance that he's found himself in, he's saying, God, please deliver me.

He's asking for God to do this life-altering work.

Please do this thing for me and help me, deliver me, save me.

But when we get to verse 11, it doesn't fit with that dynamic.

He's not asking for God to do a life-altering work for him.

What he's asking God to do in verse 11 is to perform a life-transforming work in him.

Do you see the difference?

Lord, do something about these men.

Do something about this circumstance.

Verse 11, though, is do something about me.

Do something in me.

So it sticks out to us, doesn't it?

It doesn't really make a lot of sense.

Why is he saying this here?

Why does he fit it in to this lament?

And we see this just deep desire come to the surface in David's life where he just really wants to know God.

He wants to know God.

He wants to please the Lord with his life.

Even in the midst of his heartache, his desire at the heart of it is,

Lord, I just want to know you.

I want to please you even in this.

It seems out of place until you step back and you realize that it comes in the midst of David's prayer of praise.

There's three stanzas to the psalm.

The middle one, beginning at verse 8, is really a moment of private worship with David.

It's a prayer of praise, and it's flanked on either side by this lament.

And what we find as we consider that is that it is his worshipful reflection on God's character

and on the work of God's hand that prompts David's prayer for this instruction in righteousness.

It is as he looks at God that he begins to develop a more deep desire to know that God that he's considering,

that he's meditating upon.

Notice the place that it has in David's worship.

Look here just in verse 8.

There is none like you among the gods.

Again in verse 8, there are no works like your works.

Verse 9, all the nations shall worship and glorify your name.

Verse 10, you are great.

You do wondrous things.

Again in verse 10, you alone are God.

Verse 12, I give thanks to you with my whole heart.

Again, I will glorify your name forever.

Verse 13, great is your steadfast love toward me.

You have delivered my soul.

It's right in the middle of worship.

There's no other request here.

His eyes and his thoughts and his heart is fixed on the person and the work of God who he knows him to be.

And it is out of this that comes this unique request.

So we might discern from the structure here that a genuine desire to know and love and obey and worship God flows out of a heart that is already actively engaged in authentic worship.

In other words, worship precedes the desire to more deeply know and glorify God.

Therefore, a lack of sincere longing for God in your life will be directly linked to an absence of the true worship of God in your life.

And you say, I just have this struggle.

Like I see these words that David pray.

I don't think I've ever had a thought quite as emotionally attached and longing for God quite like this.

Or at least it's been a while.

And we would say, well, as we look at David's prayer here, it must be that at the heart of what you're doing in your Christian life is not authentic worship.

It may be religious forms.

There may be other things happening in your life, but it's not authentic worship.

Our worship is directly linked to our desire for God and for his ways.

And our problem at this point may be that we misunderstand what it means to truly worship.

Worship is not merely recognizing a set of facts about God, as David has done in the psalm, but it's not about that.

It's not about recognizing this set of facts about God and then churning them out in kind of perfunctory prayers and songs and hymns that we just kind of select and we just kind of work our way through it.

You know, you've been there.

I know you have.

Worship is a heart level, faith driven, life consuming devotion to God.

That's what worship is.

It's not something that we can box up in a moment or in an hour and a half or in a song.

It is a faith driven, life consuming, heart level devotion to God.

But unfortunately, this is not the natural disposition of our hearts.

We do not inherently long for God.

We don't long for his pleasure.

We long for self pleasure.

That's how our minds think.

That's how our hearts operate.

And sometimes we're tempted to pursue David's request here.

This request for knowledge or this request for righteousness.

But we pursue that without the worship that David has here, which ultimately just amounts to vain religion.

It's cold.

It's burdensome.

It's ultimately ineffective.

Because our desire to know the word, perhaps, or even our desire to live according to the word is detached from authentic worship of God.

We really become no different than the Israelites and some of the prophets when God was so angry with them.

They're doing the forms.

They're doing the things.

But their heart is far from him.

And we can very easily fall into that.

What we need is new hearts.

We need new hearts.

If we're going to grasp David's prayers, our own for sure.

Which means that we need the atoning work of Jesus.

We need the regenerative and renewing work of the Holy Spirit before we can ever experience this genuine desire for God that David exhibits here.

There's three simple phrases to the verse.

I want to group them in two categories.

First, we'll see the ultimate aim of David's prayer.

That's in the middle phrase.

That I may walk in your truth.

Then we want to look at the means that David sees as achieving this desired end.

That's in the first and third phrase.

Teach me your way, O Lord.

And then he says at the end, unite my heart that I may fear your name.

So if we were to just kind of rework the structure of the verse a little bit, it may help us see exactly what David's getting at here.

We could read it this way.

Teach me your ways, O Lord.

And unite my heart to fear your name so that I may walk in your truth.

Do you see that?

The ultimate goal of the prayer is walk in truth.

Teaching him his ways.

Fearing God's name is the way that he knows.

The path that he knows to be to get him there.

So let's think about the aim for just a moment.

That I may walk in your truth, David says.

His desire is to walk in God's truth.

This word walk is important here.

It's significant in the Bible.

It's used over and over in the Bible as an analogy referring to one's manner of life.

So it points to something that motivates our attitudes and our actions.

That's really what the word means.

Let me give you a few examples of this in the scripture.

How about Psalm 1-1?

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

but his desire is in the law of the Lord.

What's the psalmist getting at there?

That if you live your life being motivated by,

your attitudes and actions being motivated by,

the counsel of the world,

you will not be the blessed man.

But if you live your life in such a way

that it is motivated by the law of God,

you will be the blessed man.

Walking there is significant.

It is simply what is the thing that's controlling our attitudes and actions.

Mark chapter 7 and verse 5 is another one.

Mark 7 · chapter mention

The Pharisees use it here with Jesus.

Mark says,

In other words,

what they're asking is,

why do your disciples not live according to our law?

Why is their manner of life not following and structured by what we've said in these traditions?

Galatians 5.16 for a positive look at it.

Paul tells the Galatians,

But I say,

Walk by the Spirit,

and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Well, what does Paul mean by that?

To walk by the Spirit.

To let your life,

your attitudes,

your actions be controlled by,

structured by,

the Holy Spirit's work in your life,

which is automatically going to bring you back to the Word of God in your life as well.

And if you will walk,

live according to the Spirit,

you will then not gratify the desires of your flesh.

There's many, many more we could go to.

You probably get the point.

Our walk is the thing that directs our beliefs and behaviors.

And what David wanted,

guiding every facet of his life,

as we look at this verse,

is God's truth.

What he knew to be true of God's character,

what he knew to be clear in God's commands.

I want the truth of God,

who he is,

what he wants,

being the one thing that drives my life,

that controls my thoughts,

that controls the way that I live.

He wasn't content

with only being acquainted with God's truth.

He was intent on being controlled by God's truth.

There's a distinct difference in that.

William J. was a preacher,

and probably Austin can tell you more about him,

in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

William J. said this,

to walk in anything intends a fullness of it.

And he gave an example.

For a man to walk in pride

is something more than to be proud.

It says that pride is his way,

his element,

that he is wholly under the influence of it.

So likewise,

to walk in God's truth

is something more

than knowing it to be truth.

It's more than acknowledging

that this is God's word.

It's more than acknowledging

that the things that it says are true.

It's more than simply acknowledging

that the God that is described here

is a true God

and that the things that are said about him

are true things.

It's more than that.

It is to make God's truth your way.

It is to make God's truth your element,

to be wholly under its influence in your life.

So walking in God's truth

is not recognizing that morality is right.

Walking in God's truth

is to live morally

because that's what God desires.

Walking in God's truth

is not acknowledging

that kindness,

love,

and compassion

are good and helpful traits.

But it is to be kind

and to be loving

and to be compassionate

because that's what you know

to be true of who God is.

You see,

it's entirely possible

to accept what God's truth is

but not walk in it.

And along these lines,

my concern,

and I know some of you

share this concern with me,

is that there are many people,

perhaps maybe someone even here today,

you are claiming to follow Christ

without actually being Christian.

You have no problems with Jesus.

You don't deny that He is who He is,

that He did what He did,

but there's nothing about that

that is really controlling your life.

You acknowledge it,

maybe mentally,

but you are not surrendered to it.

Or else,

some people,

their discipleship is really

just a matter of convenience.

They accept what they like,

they kind of disregard

what they don't like.

But to walk as a Christian,

to truly follow Jesus,

is to come holy

under the influence

of His truth.

And that we walk in His truth

is God's supreme desire

for all of us.

God wants us to know Him.

He wants us to love Him

and obey Him

more than He wants us

to achieve whatever

our notions of happiness are

in this life and fulfillment.

To walk in God's truth

is synonymous with His purpose

in creation.

That is,

we are here

to glorify Him.

As we reflect Deuteronomy 10,

and now Israel,

what does the Lord your God

require of you

but to fear the Lord your God,

to walk in all His ways,

to love Him,

to serve the Lord your God

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

and to keep the commandments

and statutes of the Lord,

which I am commanding you today

for your good.

What is Moses saying?

This is what God's desire

for your life is,

that you would walk in His truth.

Not that you would merely

acknowledge that it is true,

but that you would come

wholly under the influence

of who He is

and what He has said.

Which leads us to

a question of application,

which is very simple.

Are you walking

in God's truth?

Not do you recognize

what is true,

but are you walking

in God's truth?

Do you even care to?

Is the longing of your heart

ultimately at the end of the day

to please the Lord?

Even if you've done

a miserable job at doing it,

is it actually

what you want to do?

Is it there?

That's the difference

between being a Christian

and being just a Christian.

Let's look at the means.

So David recognizes

that a couple of other things

have to happen

in order to walk

in God's truth.

And really two things

is what he gives here.

In order to walk

in God's truth,

he knows that he must know

God's ways

and that he must fear

God's name.

It's really quite simple,

isn't it?

This isn't rocket science here.

You cannot come wholly

under the influence

of God's truth

without first knowing

what it is

and actually having

a singular desire

to do it.

That's essentially

what he's getting at here.

And there's two things,

there's two ways

that I want to address this.

David essentially says

that knowing God's ways

involves the instruction

of the mind.

So that's the first step.

Fearing God's name

involves the affections

of the heart.

Both are absolutely necessary.

Both are divinely given.

So let's look at it

a little closer.

First, I want you to see

the instruction of the mind.

Verse 11,

David prays,

teach me your way,

O Lord.

Teach me your way,

O Lord.

Now again,

this isn't rocket science here.

I don't mean to insult

your intelligence,

but let's just think

about this word teach

for a moment.

The Hebrew word behind it,

it simply means

to point out

or to mark the way.

Like lighting a path.

So poetically,

David is using this word

on purpose.

He's saying that

to walk in God's path

required that God

would clearly mark

the way.

So he asked for God

to teach him,

to point out the way

of truth,

to point out the way

of righteousness

and make it clear.

Jesus did this.

Jesus once said

that there are

two possible paths

that you can walk

in life.

one is well-traveled.

Everybody seems

to go there.

You may be on that way

simply because

it feels comfortable.

Everybody else seems

to be walking

on that way.

There's safety in it,

right?

Sometimes we get

in the midst of a crowd.

We don't really know

where we're going.

We just know that

everybody else is going there

so it must be

the right place.

Jesus is saying

there's a path

that most people

find themselves on.

They're not really

paying attention

to the signs

on the road.

They're just kind of

going along with it.

It's easy.

There's a lot of people there

but he says

at the end of this path

is destruction.

We read it

in Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Enter by the narrow gate

Jesus says

for the gate is wide

the way is easy

that leads to destruction

and those who enter

by it are many.

But then he says

the only other possible

path for your life

is this other path.

It's a bit obscure.

Not very many people

find it he says.

It's clearly marked

but it's hard.

It's the path

not of least resistance

it's the path

of most resistance

and it's going to be

very difficult for you

but at the end

of the path is life.

He goes on to say

for the gate is narrow

the way is hard

that leads to life

and those who find it

are few.

It is God's path

that leads to life.

It is his way

that leads to eternal life.

But you'll never find it

by accident.

Contrary to popular notions

that we're all

all these religions

world religions

are ultimately

kind of doing the same thing.

They're working their way

to the same place

and it doesn't really make

a difference

which route you take

you're probably

going to get there

as long as you're not

so bad as

you know

the infamous people

of history

like Hitler

or so forth

you're probably

going to be alright.

It doesn't really matter

which route you take.

That's not what God says.

He says no

this is actually

not a well-traveled path.

His way is the only way

that actually leads to life.

And his way is marked

by his spirit

through his word.

That's the key.

If you're looking for the signs

on the side of the road

to tell you where you're going

the only way to life

is to look to the word.

Is to look to the word.

The Bible.

Our instruction is the Bible.

Our instructor

is God himself.

That's why in Psalm 119

the psalmist says

your word is a lamp

to my feet.

It's a light to my path.

It shows the way.

As long as I stay

in the light of God's word

I'll stay on the way

to life.

1 Corinthians chapter 2

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

Paul dabbles

with this dynamic

of the Holy Spirit

being the one

who teaches us.

He says now

we have received

not the spirit of the world

but the spirit

who is from God

that we might understand

the things

freely given us

by God.

That's the scriptures.

What are the things given?

The scriptures.

Who is it that helps us

understand the things

freely given?

Paul says

it's the spirit of God

who does that.

And we impart this

in words

not taught by human wisdom.

It's not our idea

but it's actually

taught by the spirit

interpreting spiritual truths

to those who are spiritual.

In other words

you cannot know

the way of God

without God's word.

And you cannot know

God's word

apart from God's spirit.

To walk in God's truth

requires that we be instructed

by the scriptures.

And we must pray

that the spirit

will illuminate his word

in our hearts

and in our minds.

Otherwise

we become like those

who simply acknowledge

that this is truth

without actually walking

in that truth.

Teach me your way

oh Lord.

Not let me take my Bible

and figure it out.

No.

You teach me Lord.

I have my Bible.

I'm going to read it.

I need you

to help me.

I need you

to work in me

and to illuminate

my heart and mind

and to enlighten

my eyes.

So there is the instruction

of the mind here.

The second means

has to do with

the affections of the heart.

The affections of the heart.

Look again at verse 11

the third phrase here.

Unite my heart

to fear your name.

So we must know

God's ways.

We must fear

God's name.

But what does that mean?

It's one of the most

confusing statements

in the Bible to me.

What does it actually mean

to fear God?

Well it doesn't mean

to be afraid of Him

at least in the

traditional sense.

And I want to show you

a passage that helps us

to understand that.

In Exodus chapter 20

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

I'm not sure if this one's

on the screen.

Is this on the screen?

So you can just lift

your eyes here.

Exodus chapter 20

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

this is at the

conclusion of God

giving Israel

the Ten Commandments.

And I want you to see

what happens.

Now when all the people

saw the thunder

and the flashes of lightning

and the sound of the trumpet

and the mountain smoking

wouldn't that be terrifying?

That would be

absolutely terrifying.

And guess what they were?

They were afraid.

They were terrified.

They trembled.

So much so

that they stood far off

and they said to Moses

you talk to us

and we'll listen.

Don't let God talk to us.

If He talks to us again

we're going to die.

He's going to kill us.

We'll hear from you.

But watch what Moses says.

He says to the people

do not fear.

That is

don't be afraid of God.

Instead he says

for God has come

to test you

that the fear of Him

may be before you

that you may not sin.

In other words

what Moses is getting at here

is that being afraid of God

is actually the opposite

of fearing God.

Those who are not in Christ

those who are still

in their sin

lost in their sin

they have no choice

but to be afraid of God.

All that they have now

is judgment and damnation

that awaits them.

But for those of us in Christ

that's not the experience

is it?

We have no need

to be afraid of God.

We do have a need

to fear Him.

Those two things

are on the opposite

ends of the spectrum.

So at least the first thing

that we know

is that it doesn't mean

to be afraid of God.

We see this again

in Isaiah.

Isaiah prophesies

that Jesus would have

the spirit of fear.

But Jesus wasn't afraid

of God the Father.

Here's what He says.

The spirit of the Lord

shall rest on Him.

The spirit of wisdom

and understanding.

The spirit of counsel

and might.

The spirit of knowledge

and of the fear

of the Lord.

He'll be characterized

by this.

And His delight

shall be in the fear

of the Lord.

But Jesus wasn't afraid

of God.

So what is this?

What does it actually mean?

Let me give you

a few thoughts here.

To fear God

is to stand

in awesome wonder

of Him.

It's to stand

in awesome wonder

of Him.

Which requires

that you know

and believe

what the Bible says

about Him.

Psalm 33.

Let all the earth

fear the Lord.

Let all the inhabitants

of the world

stand in awe

of Him.

To fear the Lord

is to be full

of adoration

for God.

Full of praise

and worship

for God.

Psalm 22.

You who fear the Lord

praise Him.

The psalmist says.

Fearing God

means loving

what He loves

and hating

what He hates.

Proverbs chapter 8.

Proverbs 8 · chapter mention

The fear of the Lord

is hatred

of evil.

It's hatred

of evil.

Well why do you hate

evil

if you

fear the Lord?

Because the Lord

hates evil.

We hate what He hates.

Deuteronomy chapter 10.

Deuteronomy 10 · chapter mention

You shall fear

the Lord your God.

You shall serve Him

and hold fast to Him

and by His name

you shall swear.

You love what He loves.

You do what He

says.

Solomon says

without the fear

of the Lord

you cannot possess

the wisdom

and understanding

that it takes

to walk in His ways.

Proverbs 9.

The fear of the Lord

is the beginning

of wisdom.

The knowledge

of the Holy One

is insight.

Psalm 25.

Who is the man

who fears the Lord?

Him will He instruct

in the way

that He should choose.

It's just a

surface level approach

of what it actually means

to fear the Lord

is to have a life

that's in awe of God.

You love what He loves.

You hate what He hates.

To please Him.

Walk in His ways.

Now David recognizes

that there is something

that stands in the way

of fearing God.

Look at it in the verse.

Unite my heart

He says.

Unite my heart

to fear His name.

What is it that's standing

in the way

of fearing God?

It's a divided heart.

We might say

it's competing

affections.

so that David says

unite my heart

God

help me to

want your glory

more than I want

anything else.

Help me to want

your glory

more than I want

the sin.

Help me to want

your glory

more than I want

the satisfaction

of sex and lust.

Help me want

your glory

more than I want

the satisfaction

of getting won up

on this person

that I really hate.

Help me want

your glory

more than anything

else in my life.

Unite my heart.

give it a singular focus spurgeon paraphrased it this way having taught me one way give me one

heart to walk therein for too often i feel a heart and a heart two natures contending two principles

struggling for sovereignty that's really the key isn't it what is the real struggle that we have

as believers it is this inner struggle with who will we allow to have sovereignty in our lives

will we allow the word of god to guide us and the spirit of god to inform us or will we give in to

the lust and the temptations of the flesh that wage war against it every believer can relate to david's

and spurgeon's experiences of fighting through competing affections of the heart we know what

this is like we desire to live a morally upright life but there's a competing desire on the other end

to fulfill the lust of the flesh and it's a struggle and it's a fight and our prayer must be

unite my heart lord so that you win so that i may fear your name we want to be faithful to the worship

gathering on the lord's day that wages war against this other desire for rest and family time instead

what must be our prayer unite my heart lord don't even let me make my family an idol that comes before you

we want to stand firm on the bible and share the gospel with others we also have this other competing

affection that desires to be accepted by the culture that hates god's law and anyone who's willing to

follow it they're competing affections they wage war in our hearts and to walk in god's truth requires

that we fear god's name and to fear god's name means that our affection for his glory must reign over every

other affection of the heart and here's the good news about that is that by god's grace a singular heart

for god is what's promised in the gospel of jesus it's promised in the new covenant jeremiah 32 i will give

them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for their own good and the good of their

children after them i will make with them an everlasting covenant that i will not turn away from doing good

to them i will put the fear of me in their hearts that they may not turn from me

paul talked about this struggle at the end of romans 7 recognizing this war raging within him and he says

at the end of it oh wretched man that i am who will deliver me from this body of death he says and then

he provides the answer thanks be to god through jesus christ our lord that's how we fear god's name

it comes through christ it comes through his gospel and his gospel alone

and if there is anyone here who maybe you're new to christianity or you're a little confused about

some of the things that i've been saying the clearest demonstration of what david was getting

at in this prayer is found perfectly in the person of jesus

another old preacher christopher wordsworth said this verse verse 11 of psalm 86 is the via veritas

vita of the gospel in john 14 in other words christ is our way teach me your way oh lord christ is our way

that i may walk in your truth christ is our truth

unite my heart to fear your name christ is our life

to see the way you look to jesus

to know the truth you listen to jesus to have eternal life you follow jesus he will teach you

he will transform the affections of your heart so that you might walk in god's truth not because you're

capable but because he is capable not because you have to do it to earn god's favor but because he has

done it and he has granted god's favor on your behalf

the verse is filled with all kinds of things that we're responsible for

there's no really other way to look at it we must know god's ways which means that we must study god's

word we must walk in his truth god's not going to walk it for us we must do that we must fear his name

and yet david still makes this an issue of prayer it's as if david knows that in order to do this

he needs divine aid he says teach me

he says unite my heart

because only god if you do those things in me will i be able to truly walk in your ways

the truth is none of us can actually do any of this on our own

sin is so permeated our hearts that we desperately need god's intervention to actually fulfill the

purpose for which he has created us we need the word and the spirit to teach us we need the grace of

god to transform those affections we need the enabling power of god to walk in his truth

that's why this prayer is worth repeating over and over and over day by day circumstance by circumstance

teach me your way oh lord unite my heart to fear your name so that i may walk in your truth

it's truly a prayer to live by isn't it perhaps a suitable life verse if you're so inclined