John Calvin Commentary Psalms 86:11

"Teach me thy way, O Jehovah; I will walk in thy truth: Unite my heart to fear thy name." — Psalms 86:11 (ASV)

Show me your ways, O Jehovah! David now rises higher, praying that he may be governed by the spirit of sound understanding, in order to live a holy life, and that he may be strengthened in his endeavors for this purpose by the spirit of fortitude. He tacitly contrasts the ways of God with all the counsels which he could derive from carnal reason.

In submitting himself to God, and in imploring Him to be his guide, he confesses that the only possible way by which we can be enabled to live a holy and an upright life is when God goes before us, while we follow after Him. Accordingly, those who deviate, however little, from the law through a proud conceit of their own wisdom, wander from the right path.

This he more fully confirms by adding immediately after, I will walk in your truth. He pronounces all to be guilty of vanity and lying who do not observe this rule of truth. Further, his prayer to be taught in the ways of the Lord does not imply that he had been previously altogether ignorant of divine truth; but well aware of the much darkness — of the many clouds of ignorance in which he was still enveloped, he aspires to greater improvement.

Let it also be observed that he is not to be understood as speaking only of external teaching: but having the law in his hands, he prays for the inward light of the Holy Spirit, that he may not labor in the unprofitable task of learning only the letter; as he prays in another place,

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. (Psalms 119:18)

If a prophet so distinguished, and so richly endowed with the graces of the Holy Spirit, makes such a frank and cordial confession of his own ignorance, how great is our folly if we do not feel our own deficiency and are not stirred up to greater diligence in self-improvement from the knowledge of our slender attainments! And assuredly, the more progress a man has made in the knowledge of the true religion, the more aware he will be that he is far from the mark. Secondly, it is necessary to add that reading or hearing is not enough, unless God imparts to us inward light by His Spirit.

In addition to this, the Psalmist desires that his heart may be disposed to yield obedience to God, and that it may be firmly established in it; for as our understanding needs light, so our will needs uprightness. The original words which I have translated, unite my heart, are translated by some, rejoice my heart, as if the verb were from the root, חדה, chadah, to rejoice; but it rather comes from יחד, yachad, to unite — a sense which is very suitable to the passage before us.

This word contains a tacit contrast, which has not been sufficiently attended to, between the unwavering purpose with which the heart of man cleaves to God when it is under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the disquietude with which it is distracted and tossed so long as it fluctuates amid its own affections.

It is therefore absolutely essential that the faithful, after having learned what is right, should firmly and cordially embrace it, so that the heart may not break forth in impetuous desire after unhallowed lusts.

Thus, in the word unite, there is a very beautiful metaphor. It conveys the idea that the heart of man is full of tumult, drawn asunder, and, as it were, scattered about in fragments, until God has gathered it to Himself and holds it together in a state of steadfast and persevering obedience.

From this also, it is manifest what free will is able to do by itself. Two powers are ascribed to it; but David confesses that he is destitute of both, setting the light of the Holy Spirit in opposition to the blindness of his own mind, and affirming that uprightness of heart is entirely the gift of God.