May 6: SPIRITUAL STABILITY
Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. Psalm 86:11
The key to lasting spiritual stability lies in singleness of purpose: to glorify God. A problem with most of us is that we are only halfway surrendered to Him. Because of this, we are sending mixed messages to the world. Much of the religious confusion in today’s world springs out of the church!
There are Biblical examples of heroes who, step-by-step, came into full agreement with God. There are also examples of others who started well but later fell out of step with Him. A consistent lesson taught throughout His Word is the importance of continually seeking Him with wholeness of heart. We are given a “leg up” in that He wants to be found: “....you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” says the LORD (Jeremiah 29:13-14a).
The expression “sitting on the fence” is sometimes used to describe neutrality, but there is no such thing as neutrality where the LORD’s divine precepts are concerned. The person on the fence may have one leg in the world and the other on the side of God, but such a one is not seeking after God at all. He or she is self-deceived. For all practical purposes, a better description is to say that such a person has “one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.”
A divided heart often recognizes a longing for God. But the actions of that heart’s owner do not match the longing. Instead, a lifestyle is cultivated that reveals resistance to the Lord’s Holy Spirit. Some of the characteristics of a divided heart include conflicting affections, divided priorities, and double-mindedness. James points out that a double-minded person is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8), while he also encourages that person to take the problem directly to the Lord (4:8). Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up (v.10).
There is nothing more uplifting in one’s daily walk than the wisdom that accompanies increased understanding of the Lord. Through His Word, He is able to lift up the human mind as a person thoughtfully spends time with Him. Our opening verse is a prayer, and it reveals David’s teachability: Teach me Your way, O LORD; his willingness to walk in agreement with the Lord: I will walk in Your truth; and his desire to abandon all fuzziness when it comes to the utmost respect and reverence for God’s character: Unite my heart to fear Your name. A believer’s united heart enables him to walk in unity with fellow believers. Jesus asked His Father to make that happen, and His prayer is sure to be answered. You can be a part of that answered prayer!
“…that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:21
More study: Deuteronomy 4:29; Psalm 9:1; 119:10; Jeremiah 3:10; 9:24; 32:39-40; Joel 2:12; Matthew 6:21