Unite your heart
Oh! Look—squirrel!
There’s something about the human heart that refuses to be still. It wanders. It wrestles. It wants one thing today, another tomorrow.
It reaches for God with one hand and holds onto the world with the other. King David, a man who had seen real victory and crushing, intentional moral failure, a man who had tasted both the presence of God and the emptiness of sin, prays these words:
"Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name." (Psalm 86:11, ESV)
That's not the prayer of someone looking for quick fixes or empty religion; it's the cry of one who has come to understand something profound—something we often take far too long to realise: a heart that is divided can never truly know peace; it can never fully rest. It is constantly pulled, stretched, torn between love and fear, between faith and doubt, between worship and distraction. It's a battle, and we get distracted from intention so easily. Oh! Look—squirrel!
David knew that. He had lived it, and he knew that unless God did something deep within him, unless his heart was gathered up, brought together, made whole, he would never truly walk in God’s truth. He might know it, he might even teach it, but he would not live it. I have the t-shirt.
The fact is that to truly live in the way of God, your heart has to belong to Him—fully and unconditionally.
The Ache of a Divided Heart
You might feel the tension in your own soul—the pull of two different loves. One part of you longs for God, for His presence, for the kind of life that is rooted in something real, something eternal, but another part—another part reaches for the temporary, for the distractions, for the things and 'stuff' of life that promise joy but, like a rogue Amazon delivery, never quite deliver.
And so you can find yourself living between two worlds—singing the songs, praying the prayers, and yet, somewhere deep inside, you know that your heart is not whole. David's observation is an odd one: "unite my heart"—but he's talking about congruency, where words match actions. Notice something else - it’s not, “I will unite my heart, I’ll have an undivided heart!” No, it’s a request for God to work that in him, for God to unite his heart.
Divided living is exhausting. It drains the soul. It keeps you restless, always chasing, never arriving—wanting to be one thing, and yet... A heart that is split between God and something else will always feel stretched thin, dissatisfied.
David understood that. He knew what it was like to be a man after God’s own heart and yet still feel the pull of sin, the weight of distraction, the ache of a soul that is not fully settled. So he prays: "Unite my heart." Bring it together, make it one; let me no longer live a fragmented life. Let me be wholly Yours.
The Beauty of a Whole Heart
There’s something about a person whose heart is undivided. Something real. Something authentic. When a man or woman has given their whole heart to God, you can see it in their eyes, in the way they carry themselves, in the way they move through the world. There is no pretence, no performance, no fear of being found out.
They are who they are—no masks, no contradictions, no hidden compartments. Such undivided hearts don't happen by themselves; they intentionally work on it. I know a few people who look like that—at least from my side of the table!
That kind of life is magnetic. It’s the kind of faith that draws people in, because the world is full of half-hearted commitments, full of people who say one thing and live another. But when you meet someone whose heart is fully alive to God, someone whose love is undivided, you know it—the Heidi Bakers of this world.
One great highlight for us here is Jesus’ message in the Beatitudes, where He encourages us, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8, ESV) We'll see God!
Not just ‘know about Him’, or just hear stories of what He’s done, but to see Him—to know Him in a way that changes everything. That is the promise of the undivided heart.
The last thing we need to consider with David’s prayer is that it is one we all must pray. Not once, not twice, but every day.
The world is loud and will always offer you reasons to divide your heart, to love God with most of yourself while keeping something back. It will tempt you with comfort, with control, with security. Sometimes it will tell you that you can serve two masters, have as much data and fibre-optic speed as you want and that you can have God and something else, more ‘stuff’ on the throne of your life, but deep down, you already know the truth. You were made to be whole, made to love with your whole heart, to worship with your whole soul, to walk in truth without hesitation or compromise.
Every day, as your eyelids open the battle for your heart continues. The world tugs at you, distractions call your name, your pet name, and the temptation to live divided feels almost natural… deep down however, you know—you were not made for a fragmented life. You were made for something greater.
God is not after part of your heart; He wants all of it. He is calling you to a life of wholeness, of integrity, of deep, unwavering love. A heart fully given to Him is not just a heart that knows peace—it is a heart that truly sees God.
So, pray David’s prayer. Every day. Not out of duty, but out of desire. "Unite my heart, Lord." Bring it together. Make it whole. And as you do, step forward into the life you were always meant to live—fully His, fully alive, fully free.