Support

Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name. (Psalm 86.11)

When the psalmist prays to walk in God’s truth, he uses a loaded word that extols God’s faithfulness. The term is less concerned with “truth” as we understand it today—as in true or false—than God’s reliability. In the ancient Hebrew, it suggests firmness, the sense that the ground we travel upon won’t crumble beneath our weight. So the prayer to learn God’s way brings with it a stated desire to experience God’s unyielding support during our journey. Yet in the next phrase, the psalmist seems to recognize how often trusting God creates intense inner conflict. He sees that the only way we can discover that God’s way is sure is by walking in it. Looking at the path God sets before us doesn’t always provide us with reassurance that it is the safest way to go. We must take the first step, and then the second, and then another and another, with each of them powered by an undivided heart of confidence that God will uphold us and secure our footing. God’s Word is proven by God’s faithfulness to us. That is God’s way.