The Undivided Heart Text: Psalm 86:11-13
Introduction: The Civil War in Every Man
We live in an age of disintegration. Everything is flying apart. Our culture is schizophrenic, demanding mercy without justice, rights without responsibilities, and peace without a Prince of Peace. This external chaos is nothing more than a projection of the internal chaos that rages within every fallen man. The natural man is a walking civil war. He wants to be his own god, but he is terrified of the consequences. He loves his sin, but he hates the hangover. His heart is a frantic marketplace of competing loyalties, a thousand petty tyrants all screaming for allegiance. He is, in a word, divided.
This is the fundamental problem that David addresses in this psalm. He is a man in distress, surrounded by enemies, but he recognizes that his greatest battle is not with the insolent men who seek his life, but with the potential for fragmentation within his own soul. He knows that a divided heart cannot stand against a united foe. And so, in the midst of his troubles, he does not pray first for the destruction of his enemies, but for the unification of his own heart.
This prayer is a profound piece of spiritual wisdom. It teaches us that the central business of the Christian life is not behavior modification, but heart integration. It is the process by which God, through His Spirit, takes the scattered fragments of our affections, our desires, and our fears, and welds them together into a single, unified whole, oriented entirely toward Him. A man whose heart is united to fear God has nothing else to fear. A man who walks in God's truth is not bewildered by the lies of the age. This is not a prayer for a quiet life, but for a fortified heart, ready for war.
The Text
Teach me Your way, O Yahweh; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever. For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, And You have delivered my soul from Sheol below.
(Psalm 86:11-13 LSB)
A Teachable Spirit (v. 11a)
We begin with the first petition, which is the foundation for everything that follows.
"Teach me Your way, O Yahweh; I will walk in Your truth..." (Psalm 86:11a)
David begins with a plea for divine instruction. "Teach me Your way." This is the cry of a man who knows he does not know. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and the beginning of that fear is the recognition that our own way leads to death. The world tells you to "find your own truth," to "follow your heart." The Bible tells you that your heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, and that the way that seems right to a man is the end thereof, but the ways of death. David is not interested in his own path; he wants God's path. He wants the map, not the menu of options.
Notice the resolve that immediately follows: "I will walk in Your truth." This is not a request for abstract knowledge or theological trivia. This is practical. To be taught God's way is to be equipped to walk in it. God's truth is not something we merely assent to; it is the very ground we walk on. It is the objective reality of the universe. To walk in God's truth is to live in accordance with how the world actually is, as defined by its Creator. To walk in any other "truth" is to stumble around in the dark, bumping into the furniture of reality that God has already arranged.
This is a covenantal commitment. "Teach me, and I will walk." It is the response of a loyal servant to a good master. This sets up the central request of the psalm, because David knows that in order to walk a straight path, he needs more than just a map. He needs a heart that wants to follow it.
The Central Petition: A Unified Heart (v. 11b)
Here we come to the crux of the matter, the prayer for internal cohesion.
"...Unite my heart to fear Your name." (Psalm 86:11b)
This is one of the most astute prayers in all of Scripture. "Unite my heart." The Hebrew word for unite means to join together, to make one. David understands that his heart is prone to wander. It is pulled in multiple directions by fear of man, desire for comfort, pride, and a host of other idols. A divided heart is a compromised heart. It is the double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. It is Israel trying to worship both Yahweh and Baal. It is the Christian who wants to serve both God and mammon. Jesus tells us this is impossible; you will love the one and hate the other.
David asks God to perform spiritual surgery, to gather up all the scattered affections and competing desires and fuse them into one. And what is the single, unifying principle? What is the central organizing reality around which this new, unified heart is to be built? It is "to fear Your name."
The fear of God is not the cowering dread of a slave before a tyrant. It is the awe, reverence, and trembling delight of a creature before his infinitely glorious Creator. It is the beginning of wisdom because it is the only emotion that correctly corresponds to reality. When you fear God, you are seeing things as they are. This fear is the great liberator. The man who fears God is emancipated from the fear of everything else. He doesn't fear failure, because his success is in God. He doesn't fear man, because what can man do to him? He doesn't fear death, because his Lord holds the keys of death and Hades. A heart united in the fear of God is a fortress. All the internal traitors have been executed, and the gates are barred against all external threats.
The Result: Wholehearted Worship (v. 12)
Verse 12 shows us the necessary and joyful consequence of a united heart. The result of integration is doxology.
"I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever." (Psalm 86:12)
Notice the progression. In verse 11, David prays, "Unite my heart." Here in verse 12, he vows to give thanks "with all my heart." The unified heart becomes a whole heart. Worship that is not wholehearted is not worship at all; it is hypocrisy. It is singing praise to God while keeping one eye on your stock portfolio and the other on the approval of your peers. But when God unites the heart, the result is an explosion of undivided praise.
This praise has two components: thanks and glorification. "I will give thanks to You." This is the grateful recognition of God's specific benefits. But it doesn't stop there. "And will glorify Your name forever." To glorify God's name is to declare His weight, His substance, His character, His reputation. It is to make much of Him. And this is not a temporary emotional high; it is an eternal vocation. "Forever." The worship that begins in a unified heart on earth is simply the rehearsal for the uninterrupted worship of heaven.
This is the chief end of man. We were created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. David understands that his personal integration and his ultimate purpose are one and the same. A united heart is a glorifying heart.
The Foundation: Covenant Love and Deliverance (v. 13)
Finally, in verse 13, David gives the ground and reason for his confidence and his praise. Why can he pray for such a radical intervention? Why can he vow such eternal praise? Because of who God is and what God has done.
"For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, And You have delivered my soul from Sheol below." (Psalm 86:13)
The foundation is God's "lovingkindness." This is the great Hebrew word hesed. It is not a sentimental, Hallmark card kind of love. It is covenant loyalty. It is rugged, tenacious, stubborn, and unbreakable faithfulness. It is God's promise to be our God and to never let us go, not because we are so lovable, but because He is so faithful. David's confidence is not in the strength of his own resolve, but in the strength of God's hesed.
And this hesed is not an abstract attribute; it is an active, rescuing power. "You have delivered my soul from Sheol below." In the Old Testament, Sheol was the realm of the dead, the shadowy place where all souls went. To be delivered from the depths of Sheol is to be rescued from ultimate death and despair. For David, this was a present reality in God's preservation of his life from his enemies. But it points forward to something far greater.
This verse finds its ultimate fulfillment in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who truly descended into the depths, into the heart of the earth, and was delivered from Sheol. His soul was not abandoned there, nor did His flesh see corruption (Psalm 16:10). And because He was delivered, all who are in Him are delivered with Him. God's great hesed toward us was demonstrated at the cross, where He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all. He rescued us from the ultimate Sheol, from the second death, from eternal separation from Him.
Conclusion: The Integrated Christian
So what is the takeaway for us? This prayer must become our prayer. We live in a world that is designed to fragment our souls. The constant barrage of notifications, advertisements, and political outrage is a sustained assault on our ability to have a united heart. The world wants you to be a bundle of disconnected appetites and anxieties, because a person like that is easy to control and easy to sell things to.
The call of Christ is a call to integration. It is a call to be made whole. And the pattern is right here. We begin by acknowledging our ignorance and asking God to teach us His reality. We commit ourselves to walking in that truth, no matter the cost. And we plead with Him, as the central project of our lives, to unite our hearts for one single purpose: to fear His name.
When He answers that prayer, and He will, the result will be a life of wholehearted gratitude and unending praise. We will be able to thank Him in the storm, not just after it passes. We will be able to glorify His name, not just with our lips on Sunday, but with our lives on Monday. And all of this rests on the bedrock of His covenant faithfulness, His hesed, demonstrated in the great deliverance He accomplished for us in Jesus. He has rescued us from the pit, in order to unite our hearts for His praise.