 MAY/SUMMER 2002 (XXXX 3) |
In my devotional time recently I was reading Psalm 86. There the 11th verse says, “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.” For months I have found myself returning to this verse, especially the last part.
The first part of this verse is straightforward. The Psalmist offers a request and a promise. He asks God to teach him how to live, to show him the path of life; and he promises he will then learn and follow that path. He will then walk in “the Truth,” as early Friends used that phrase.
Surely many of us wish we knew more clearly the ways of the Divine, and the aspirations of the Spirit for us, that we might follow them better. We know in a general sense these are the ways of love and compassion. We know the “truth of God” and the ways of the Spirit we seek to walk in require commitments on our part to listen, to search, to be open to change, and to serve and care for others. We sense they lead to wholeness within ourselves, and to harmony with our neighbors and all the creation.
But while these ideals are inspiring as generalities, most of us struggle to discern what this means in more specific circumstances. How do we learn to see the Spirit’s movement, feel the Divine’s aspirations for us, or hear God’s call upon us in the daily business of our lives, in particular situations? How do we do this in cherished relationships, in the conduct of our business or professions, or in our work and worship as a people of faith?
This is where the second half of this verse is so important. Seeing, feeling, and hearing these things – that is, knowing God’s presence as a sustaining and direction-giving reality in our lives – happens most clearly, I think, when we have “an undivided heart.” The first and greatest commandment (Mark 12:29) begins, “Love God with your whole heart …”. Other great religions, like Buddhism, exhort persons to give their undivided attention to the reality of the Divine, if they want to enter into that reality.
Now, we may be put off by what follows in this verse – “that I may fear your name” – but we do not need to be. The term translated as “fear” here is used as it is in so many other places in the Psalms, and might be better translated as “awe.” So this part of the verse might be better understood in our modern language as, “that I might be in awe of your Presence.” (Or, “in awe of your reality.”)
The Psalmist’s request is to be given the gift of being able to be totally attentive to the here and now, to the seen and the unseen. Why? Because he knows that when he can do that he will experience the real Presence of the Divine in ways that are amazing, truly awesome, and full of wonder.
The truth for most of us is that most of the time, when we are looking for Divine direction, in any given moment, and in various circumstances, we are also distracted by many other pressures, demands and factors in our lives. There are lots of other voices, many louder than the “still, small voice of God,” trying to tell us what to do. There are lots of other ways, other than the way of the Spirit, that are being offered to us as the right way, as the way that will lead to fulfillment, as “the way to go.”
To be able to cut through all that, to “fully attend to the voice of the True Shepherd” (as Woolman put it), requires our having, at least for a moment, an undivided heart.
This is why worship is so important. Worship is where we Quakers are supposed to practice this, where we are supposed to be fully present to the moment and to one another in the expectation God will be present to us in a way we can feel and know and learn from. And if we can carry the sense of how that works away from worship with us, we stand a far better chance of seeing what God hopes for us and wants from us in the moments and decisions of our day-to-day lives.
So perhaps we can all join in the Psalmist’s prayer. “Give us an undivided heart, O Lord; that we may be in awe of your Presence, know your truth for us, and walk in the ways that give life to us and to all.”
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM