Amazing things are opened to you, if you are willing to study and dig deep in God’s Word. I heard a guy say one time that during the gold rush in California, people were just picking up pieces of gold off the ground, but the people that “struck it rich” were the ones that dug deep in the ground… they mined it. One of the best things you can do before you study the Bible is to ask the Holy Spirit to teach and reveal truth to you, and to then give you strength and courage to be a doer of that truth. (there’s a little nugget for you 
)
I’m currently studying “the fear of the Lord” in preparation for a Get The Word Out Intensive that Tara and I are attending this weekend in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. One of the verses that we were asked to memorize ahead of time was Psalm 86:11; “Teach me Your ways, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth. Unite my heart to fear Your name.” This is a prayer of David… a very interesting prayer when you begin to dig.
Here’s what I found tonight:
- The word teach,in the Hebrew, is the word “yarah”. It literally means to shoot straight or to point out the truth. A derivative of this word is “yoreh” which means “rain”. I never thought about rain being like teaching before. It comes straight at you from above and nails you right on the head! How awesome is our God? Even the rain describes how he teaches… straight on, pointing out the truth. “Teach me Your ways, O Lord”… Rain your ways upon me, Teacher.
- “I will walk in Your truth”: The word “walk” is the word “halak” which means to behave or exercise. David is telling the Lord, “I will behave or exercise in Your truth.” So, first he says, “Lord, I’m willing to learn.” and then he says, “I will be a doer of whatever you teach me, not just a hearer.” WOW, will you ask God the same thing?
- “Unite my heart to fear Your name.” This phrase right here blows me away BIG TIME! The word ”unite” literally means, “give me singleness of heart”. The word ”fear” is the word “yare” in Hebrew, which means to revere, awe, respect, terror, or to make afraid of. And the word “name” literally means authority or character. Put it all together and you get: give me singleness of heart to make me afraid of Your authority. WHAT?? David was asking God to put, in the center of who he was, a fear of God’s authority. Why? That is one of the gutsiest (sp?) things I’ve ever heard of. I think he asked God that because he often found himself living and making decisions that gave little thought to God’s authority or character. He saw that that was a major problem, and the only way that was going to be changed was if he received a vividly clear picture of God’s authority. Do I see that as a major problem in me that needs to be fixed by a revelation of God’s authority? Do you?
I’ve caught myself saying, “I don’t want to be afraid of God” and I think that’s because, in my flesh, I want a manageable, friendly God, who gives me the “hook up” when I need it, and let’s me do pretty much everything that I want. I think David heard himself saying and thinking some similar things and so He asked God to bring it on and scare the crap out him, to the core of who he was, so that the only thing his heart could think on was a respectful terror toward his God. That is smart thinking… that is kingdom thinking. I want to think like this.
If I were going to put this verse in “Dave-ish”, this is what it would be:
“Teacher, shoot me straight. Rain down on me the truth of Your ways. I will, from the inside out, to be a doer of the truth You reveal to me. Give me singleness of heart to be afraid of your authority so I don’t continue believing that it’s all about me.”
Mine? No, the other kind of mine…
Nuggets?
