427. Saturday after Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity.
Psalm 86, 11-17. Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before them. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious; longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me: give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed; because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me.
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The Lord had delivered the soul of David from death, by saving him from the hand of Saul, and from danger of his life at the time of Absalom’s revolt. However, when we sing this verse, “Thy mercy is great toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell”; we think of our salvation from spiritual death, and of the blessed gift of our new life in God. He who has thus learned the Lord’s “way” has received a “heart united to fear his name”; an upright heart which is wholly on the Lord’s side, and struggles against all sin; — yet he prays that he may receive such a heart through an ever new revelation of the grace of God.
An undivided heart surrenders itself with entire confidence to the Lord. It regards only his word, and trusts only to his promise. It is as unmoved when sin and Satan rage against it, as when they hold their peace; it is of good cheer when threatened by distress and death, no less than when the outlook is most bright. It rests wholly in the mercy and truth of its almighty God. An undivided heart hates all sin with a perfect hate, and loves God with a perfect love. They whose heart is thus undivided have but one desire, which expresses itself in all that they think and say and do; one sun, which shines in the soul, and which they reflect; one life, whose beat is felt everywhere. There never is for one moment any corner of the heart in which the love of God does not live. Such a heart “united to fear his name” praises the Lord alway. It returns thanks not only for its joys, but for its sorrows as well; and nothing is able to silence it. “I will praise thee, O Lord my God; and I will glorify thy name for evermore.” To fear the Lord with a whole heart is above all to praise and thank him. The divided heart complains; the undivided, praises.
If you have an upright heart, and walk in the light, you now feel, and will continue to feel while you live, how sadly deficient your heart is in singleness of purpose. You feel it to be divided, but it is “united”; you feel it to be sick, but it has been made whole. Everything in you is new; you believe in the Lord, love him, and praise him for all things. Yet you still suffer from the old things, and must accuse yourself of unbelief, of the lusts of the flesh, and of ingratitude. Pray with all the saints for a perfect heart; and in a blessed hour you shall receive it.
Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me; for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy; O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Teach me thy way, O Lord, I will walk in thy truth; unite my heart to fear thy name. Amen.*
Teach me, O teach me, Lord, thy way;
That, to my life’s remotest day,
By thine unerring precepts led,
My feet thy heavenly paths may tread.
Informed by thee, with sacred awe
My heart shall meditate thy law;
And, with celestial wisdom filled,
To thee its full obedience yield.
[Church Book 468; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.