Beth


Psalm 119:9-16

9How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
10With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
11I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 
12Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!
13With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
14In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
15I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
16I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

One of the markers of the Christian faith is that it is always a call to action. As soon as I type those words I bump into my own understanding of God as the primary “actor” in the faith. He is the One who tells us to be still and watch Him work. But as I read these 8 verses this morning I am made aware of His call upon me to act as well.

At the beginning of this stanza the rhetorical question is asked: How can a person keep their way pure? And of course, the answer is to live according to the Word. But then that advice is followed up by precise ways to accomplish that command. An examination of the verbs helps us see all the ways we can live according to the Word for first you must know the Word.

There are no less than eight verbs used to illuminate our side of the equation.
  • Guard (my ways which are prone to sin)
  • Seek God (which will be a recurring theme throughout this long psalm)
  • Stored up the Word (memorize!)
  • Declare the Word (You can only declare what you know – think about it.)
  • Meditate (focus, focus, focus)
  • Fix my eyes (Look away from the sin, seek God instead)
  • Not forget (As we are so prone to do)
  • Delight (And there is delight – DELIGHT. Think about how huge that word is. What brings you delight? My immediate answer is my grandchildren. Apply those feelings to reading, learning, applying God’s Word – Delightful!
Two requests are made of God in the work of living as He commands; teach me and let me not wander. The power to accomplish any of our own actions begins and ends in God. First His Spirit must teach me what He wants me to know and then He must keep my feet, so prone to wander, on His path. These eight verse contain hope and strength. They make me want to carry God’s Word in my pocket and dwell on it all day long!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The...
Read more

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv...
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl...
Read more