The Prayer That Changed Everything

Psalm 86:11

Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

The Change

Who do you relate to in the Bible?

I'm not asking one you read about and quietly think,

"That's me."

For me, it was Leah.

Leah, Rachel's sister.

Jacob's first wife.

The wife he never wanted in the first place, but the one he married because he wanted her sister.

I would read her story and feel her pain.

Even though I knew how her story unfolded - even though I had read the moment she declared, "This time I will praise the LORD" - I was still trapped in the pattern that came before it.

Competing for a man's attention.

Competing for his approval.

Wanting desperately to be chosen instead of merely tolerated.

Feeling like I was the prerequisite for te actual prize.

Then one day, I stepped back from Leah's pain and looked at the whole story.

And I saw something beautiful.

Jacob may not have chosen Leah.

Laban may have believed deception was the only way to marry her off.

Rachel may have believed she had won.

But God chose Leah.

The line that would one day lead to Jesus came through Leah's son Judah - not through Rachel.

I had read that story many times before.

But this time...

it read me.

---

The problem was never that I lacked information.

I knew the stories.

I knew the verses.

I knew the right answers.

The problem was that I wanted God...

and.

God and approval.

God and comfort.

God and control.

God and attention.

God and my own plans.

A divided heart creates a divided life.

The more God removed the fig leaves, the more I realized my greatest need was not success, healing, marriage, money, or even clarity.

It was wholehearted devotion.

Psalm 86:11 has quietly become the prayer that is changing everything in me.

Not because I pray it prerfectly.

But because every time I do, I'm reminded of what I truly need.

Not a different life.

Not different circumstances

Not more recognition.

Just a heart that is wholly His.

Prayer

Teach me Your way, Lord.

I will walk in Your truth.

Unite my heart to fear Your name.

Remove every competing affection and every divided loyalty.

Make me wholly Yours.

In Jesus Name Amen

Reflection

What currently competes with God for your attention, affection, or obedience?