An Undivided Heart
“Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And I will walk in your truth;
Give me an undivided heart,
That I may fear Your name.”
Psalm 86:11
One of the ways we spend our leisure time away is to attend plays and performances. Some years ago, my wife and I took in the play based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella titled "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." A refrain runs throughout the play that is sung by various cast members that sets the theme for the rest of the play. The words are written by Frank Wildhorn, and the first few verses are,
There's a face that we wear
In the cold light of day -
It's society's mask,
It's society's way,
And the truth is
That it's all a facade!
My guess is that most of us can probably identify with the lyrics. You know the larger story. Stevenson portrays a man in search of a serum that might enable humanity to squelch the bad in favor of the good – the internal pendulum swing with which we all live.
Our faith teaches that a life lived for God is inspired and invoked to live without that split-personality, but it also acknowledges that we will always, always, on some level, this side of heaven, struggle with a kind of trifecta of challenges between who we are called to be, when we live into that, and when we do not. That does not mean, however, we give in to the struggle.
The prayer of David that is Psalm 86 offers one avenue toward bringing peace to that struggle. It is a plea for God’s intervention into our own facades – a desire to have both the outward and the inward person not just be one, but also be one who, in submitting to God’s teachings and way, may find a great gift – an “undivided heart” and an authentic fear of the Lord.[1]
For some, an undivided heart may seem to come easy; for others, the struggle is hard. Even the Apostle Paul, it seems, wrestled with this. Writing to the Romans, he offered, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”[2]
The late John Stott mirrored some of these words,
“...Who am I? What is my ‘self’? The answer is that I am a Jekyll and Hyde, a mixed-up kid, having both dignity, because I was created and have been re-created in the image of God, and depravity, because I still have a fallen and rebellious nature. I am both noble and ignoble, beautiful and ugly, good and bad, upright and twisted, image and child of God, and yet sometimes, yielding obsequious homage to the devil from whose clutches Christ has rescued me. My true self is what I am by creation, which Christ came to redeem, and by calling. My false self is what I am by the fall, which Christ came to destroy...”[3]
Here, Stott guides us to the same conclusion Paul makes at the end of his mediation on his own divided nature. “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!”[4]
Rescue rarely comes from within; so, David’s prayer, Stott’s reality check and Paul’s reminder point the way toward stamping out the embers of competing personalities – a plea to the One – the only One – Who can really grant us that undivided heart. As Stott acknowledges, it will not come overnight; and as Paul reminds us, the struggle will likely continue, but calling out to Him is the best hope we have.
Take just a moment or two and honestly consider where, in your daily living, you divide your personality – when do you find yourself speaking or acting as one person, but knowing you are really another? Do you really want an undivided heart? If you know the rescue can come only from outside you, not within, can you call out to the One Who can take the divided heart and make it one?
A Prayer
Ah Lord, to whom all hearts are open, You can pilot the ship of our souls far better than we can. Stand up, Lord, and command the stormy wind and the troubled sea of our hearts to be still, and at peace in You, so that we may look up to you undisturbed, and rest in union with you, our Lord. Do not let us be carried hither and thither by wandering thoughts, but, forgetting all else, let us see and hear You alone. Renew our spirits; kindle in us Your light, that it may shine within us, and our hearts may burn in love and adoration for You. Let your Holy Spirit dwell in us continually, and make us your temples and sanctuary. Fill us with the divine love and light and life, and with devout and heavenly thoughts, with comfort and strength, with joy and peace. Amen.
John Arndt (d. 1621)
[1] “Fear,” in this case is to be understood as respect – placing before God the honor due His name.
[2] Romans 7:15.
[3] John Stott, The Cross of Christ, 2021 IVP Books
[4] Romans 7:24-25.
