Psalm 86: 11-12

Lord, teach me your way, 

so that I can live by your truth;

Make me single-hearted,

So that I can fear your name.

I will thank you, Lord my God,

With my whole heart; 

And I will glorify your name forever.

“Lord, teach your way,”  I can’t even begin to think of how many times in my life I have prayed that. I have always wanted to know Him more.  Sometimes when we ask for that, we haven’t taken into consideration what that might take. I think we often think that He will just drop the understanding and knowledge of who He is, like a deposit into our minds, but that isn’t how it works. I can see how so many of the storms in my life are what taught me His ways. That’s where we learn to trust, and that is where we tend to dig deep to find Him and our answers.  It is so important, though, to want to know Him more every day, not just when times are rough, because the world is so full of everything but Him, we need to know and live by His truth!  We need to be the light that shines the truth to everyone around us.  We need to make an effort to instill that truth in our children and grandchildren every chance we get! We often try to relate to Him from our human perspective, which comes from how we think and the experiences we have had in life, and that will only bring despair, because there would be no hope if our God were on our level. He is so beyond what we can comprehend, and that is what gives us hope for any situation.

“Make me single-hearted”. When I read that, it just really stuck out to me because that was King David in a nutshell.  David was praying in this Psalm that God would have his entire heart above all else, so he would fear His name, and he would be able to thank God with his whole heart, regardless of what was going on around him, and glorify God’s name forever.  It was his “single heart” that allowed God to have all of David’s praise.  Yes, he had multiple wives, he made mistakes, he was poor, he was rich, he was King, he was on the run for his life, he had victories and he had losses, but at the end of the day, David could thank God for who God is and praise His name! He trusted God because he spent his life learning to trust Him in every situation.  People often talk about shepherds like it were some job for the wimps in life who had nothing else to offer, and yet there were bears and lions and multitudes of other dangers out there; it isn’t a job for the faint of heart.  It was the experiences out there protecting the sheep and spending time alone with God that gave him the confidence to face the giant.

We need to be intentional in knowing God, memorizing His Word, and spending quality time with Him.  Just like any relationship, it takes time and effort.  Getting saved is only the beginning; there’s so much more He has for us.  Getting to know Him more is seriously the best part of life!  That’s what fills you with hope, gives you joy, love, and peace. That is what grows your faith because you can see His faithfulness and love in all that He does.  He loves you beyond what you can comprehend. You are not just a number to Him, He created you with a purpose in mind.  Take some time today to just ask Him to help you to be single-hearted and to know Him more, so you can become all He created you to be!