Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
The verse is an earnest, humble prayer asking God to teach His way and to reveal His purpose and will. It calls for continual dependence on God for instruction and full submission to His will rather than following human plans or ideas. The prayer seeks guidance so the person may walk in God's truth and follow Christ by living for God rather than for self.
Walking in that truth means whole and undivided devotion with a united heart, fully on the Lord's side, seeking Him with all the heart in the fear of His name. A sincere resolution to follow the truth in this way strengthens faith and purpose while humbling and confirming the believer. The prayer is made in meekness with a heart humbled before God and wholly directed toward Him.
God answers through His Word and sanctifying grace to guide the mind toward sound judgment and shape a safe course of thought, and lessons from past experience help avoid repeating earlier mistakes. It expresses the desire for every thought and every spoken or written word to accord with God's will, connected with preparation, purification, and obedience to all His commandments, since holiness is necessary for His people as they seek the mercy promised in the gospel. It means becoming holy through the truth and obeying the truth, no longer misrepresenting sacred truth but rising to shine, ceasing all evil speaking and putting away every trait of character that dwarfs and cripples religious life.
It requires not appealing to one's own sympathies and not dwelling on what others have done or neglected, not sitting in judgment on others until making straight paths for one's own feet, and appropriating the light and knowledge given rather than supposing it means someone else, so as to be undeceived about one's true condition. It requires that every blot on character and every sin be confessed and repented of, for one sin left unconfessed and unrepented of will close the gates of the city of God.
The verse is an earnest, humble prayer asking God to teach His way and to reveal His purpose and will. It calls for continual dependence on God for instruction and full submission to His will rather than following human plans or ideas. The prayer seeks guidance so the person may walk in God's truth and follow Christ by living for God rather than for self.
Walking in that truth means whole and undivided devotion with a united heart, fully on the Lord's side, seeking Him with all the heart in the fear of His name. A sincere resolution to follow the truth in this way strengthens faith and purpose while humbling and confirming the believer. The prayer is made in meekness with a heart humbled before God and wholly directed toward Him.
God answers through His Word and sanctifying grace to guide the mind toward sound judgment and shape a safe course of thought, and lessons from past experience help avoid repeating earlier mistakes. It expresses the desire for every thought and every spoken or written word to accord with God's will, connected with preparation, purification, and obedience to all His commandments, since holiness is necessary for His people as they seek the mercy promised in the gospel. It means becoming holy through the truth and obeying the truth, no longer misrepresenting sacred truth but rising to shine, ceasing all evil speaking and putting away every trait of character that dwarfs and cripples religious life.
It requires not appealing to one's own sympathies and not dwelling on what others have done or neglected, not sitting in judgment on others until making straight paths for one's own feet, and appropriating the light and knowledge given rather than supposing it means someone else, so as to be undeceived about one's true condition. It requires that every blot on character and every sin be confessed and repented of, for one sin left unconfessed and unrepented of will close the gates of the city of God.