The phrase “unite my heart to fear Your name” comes from Psalm 86:11, where the psalmist prays to God saying “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” This is a profound petition that contains great spiritual truth.
To understand what it means to “unite my heart to fear Your name,” we must first understand the meaning of key terms and the context of the verse. Let’s break it down:
Key Terms
Unite
The Hebrew word translated “unite” here is “yachad” which means to join together, make one, unite. It evokes the idea of bringing fragmented parts into a whole.
My heart
“Heart” in Hebrew thought refers to the center of one’s being – the seat of emotions, intellect, and will. It is the control center of a person’s character and motives. So asking God to unite his heart is asking Him to unify the core of his identity.
Fear Your name
“Name” in Scripture represents the revealed character of God. To “fear God’s name” means to have reverential awe and respect for who He is in His essence. It entails both love and holy fear.
Context
Psalm 86 is one of the “psalms of David.” In it, David cries out to God from a position of deep need and dependence. He asks for God’s mercy, strength, joy, and guidance. The request to unite his heart comes in the midst of asking God to teach and lead him into truth and righteousness.
David recognizes that his heart is prone to be conflicted between competing desires and purposes. He feels pulled in multiple directions morally and spiritually. As John Calvin said, “The heart of man is full of endless labyrinths and lurking places.” David admits that he struggles to walk steadily in God’s truth, so he asks the Lord to unify his heart.
In its context, then, this petition acknowledges man’s natural spiritual schizophrenia while seeking divine grace and power to overcome it. David knows he cannot unify his own heart, so he wisely implores God to do it for him by His Spirit.
Uniting a Divided Heart
Putting this all together, to ask God to “unite my heart to fear Your name” is:
- An admission of the fragmented, conflicted nature of man’s natural heart and desires.
- A request for God to bring cohesion, singleness of purpose, and focus to the core of one’s character.
- An invitation for the Holy Spirit to transform the heart to polarize around the fear of God.
In short, it expresses the believer’s deep need for inward, supernatural unification of purpose, desire, thought, and motivation around the person of God and His glory.
1. Admission of a Divided Heart
Every honest believer can relate to the inward division David describes. Our affections and thoughts are split between love of self and love of God, between spiritual goals and fleshly impulses, between heavenly priorities and earthly attractions. Paul describes this tension memorably in Romans 7.
To seek unification of heart, the first step is acknowledging that our hearts are fragmented. We must own the reality that in our natural state, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9). Unity around the fear of God does not come naturally – it requires divine intervention.
2. Request for Supernatural Unification
After admitting his heart’s condition, David pleas for God to unify his heart supernaturally. He recognizes that only the work of the Holy Spirit can produce the single-minded, laser-focused devotion to God he desires. As the Spirit fills and controls us, He harmonizes the discordant notes in our hearts into a beautiful, resonant chord of praise.
This does not mean perfection or the total absence of conflict. But it does enable us to “WALK not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:4). His power and presence minimize the influence of competing motives and align our affections with the fear of the Lord.
3. Invitation to Fear God Alone
The goal and result of an inwardly unified heart is that it fears and honors God above all else. When our thoughts, emotions, desires, and purposes coalesce around magnifying the greatness of God and obeying His Word, we experience the blessing of a unified heart.
The Holy Spirit works this in us by illuminating the surpassing worth of knowing Christ (Phil. 3:8), reminding us of God’s presence (Ps. 16:8), filling us with godly motives (Gal. 5:22-23), and breaking sin’s power over us (Rom. 6:14). As He controls us, love for God and alignment with His will displace competing allegiances.
Benefits of a Unified Heart
There are many benefits that come from having our hearts unified around the fear of God by the Spirit’s work.
1. Spiritual Stability
The Apostle James says that someone with a divided heart is “unstable in all his ways” (Jam. 1:8). When God unifies our hearts, it stabilizes us spiritually and emotionally. This anchors us in times of storm and confusion.
2. Clarity of Purpose
A unified heart creates clarity of purpose as priorities align around God’s will. This simplifies decision-making and brings wisdom as we filter choices through the lens of fearing God.
3. Strength to Obey God
Having undivided devotion to God gives us strength to obey Him consistently. Competing allegiances no longer seduce us or rationalize disobedience. We walk steadily in His paths.
4. Freedom from Anxiety
Singleness of heart liberates us from much anxiety. As our hopes and fears orbit around God, we gain eternal perspective and release burdens to Him in trust.
5. Desire for Holiness
Aligning our hearts around fear of the Lord increases our desire for holiness. The Spirit cultivates hunger for righteousness when He is our unrivaled focus.
These blessings and more are the fruit of unifying our hearts around the fear of God. While only fully realized in heaven, we get glimpses of them when God answers prayers like David’s.
How Do We Receive a Unified Heart?
How then do believers gain this precious spiritual treasure of a heart unified around the fear of the Lord? Here are some key ways Scripture instructs us:
1. Recognize Our Need
The starting point is agreeing with David – “my heart is in distress” (Ps. 25:17). We must see how far short we fall of God’s standards of undivided loyalty. This motivates us to cry out to Him for help.
2. Request God’s Power Daily
Since only God can unify our hearts, we must constantly invite Him to do His work within us. Every day we must request that He polarize our hearts around Christ through the Spirit’s filling and purifying power.
3. Renew Our Minds with Scripture
As we immerse our minds in God’s Word, the Spirit renews and aligns our thinking around God’s truth. This transforms desires and priorities. Immersing our hearts in Scripture helps unify them around biblical values.
4. Reject Known Disloyalties
Genuinely turning from anything we allow to rival God in our affections aids unification. This requires honest reflection and a willingness to make hard choices.
5. Obey as Worship
Each act of obedience out of reverence for God helps intensify our unified focus on Him. Obeying becomes an act of worship that trains our hearts to revere Him above all.
These are some biblical keys for receiving and sustaining a heart unified around the fear of God. While the work is lifelong, these habits will aid progress as we learn to pray more earnestly, “Unite my heart to fear Your name.”
The Blessing of Undivided Devotion
David models for us a cry that every follower of Christ must take up – “Unite my heart to fear Your name.” This is an admission of need coupled with a request for empowerment. God delights in answering prayers that seek greater loyalty to Him.
When our hearts are unified around fearing the Lord Jesus, we experience stability, clarity, strength, freedom from anxiety, and ever-increasing holiness. These blessings make our lives fruitful and flavorful rather than bland and aimless.
So as those united to Christ by faith, let us continually ask our Father to produce undivided hearts in us by the power and love of Christ and the Spirit. For from oneness of heart flows bountiful life.