“Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!” –Psalm 119:33-40
As our world seems to be revolving around politics right now, we instinctively want to trust those we put over us to represent us but most days we are cynical about that decision, since they often seem to put their best interests before ours. Our basic assumptions on life are daily being put under a microscope and found wanting…because our basic assumption are often based on what we want… rather than what God says.
David was a king…the King of God’s own choosing…a man after God’s own heart, but he was not a perfect man, and he realized that his assumptions about ruling, about life, and about himself were all too often wrong or at best based within himself, so what does he do continuously? He turns to God, “Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.” He turns to God, to be taught who has promised and has always keeps His promise.
King David’s statutes are the law of the land… BUT he knows without God and His Word he is weak… so he turns to God knowing there is nowhere else to go, and in assurance of faith he boldly tells His covenant God to teach him. We run after our own opinion and own desires …until we fail…then we run to God. David did that too…but here he is turning to the One who can teach him, to show us how.
But he doesn’t stop there, he knows anyone can take in facts and figures and then regurgitate them on command but he wants more, “Give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.” It wasn’t enough just to be taught God’s ways, he also wants understanding so he can keep God’s law and observe it with his whole heart. “Understanding, keeping, observing” speaks to a whole life transformation that is true at once in Christ and also at the same time on-going to the end.
He still wants more as the leader of God’s people, “Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.”, then he says, “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” He understands his own heart and how easy, from his position, it is to slip into selfish gain. Then he realizes that he can’t and won’t, on his own, do these things so He clearly petitions, “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your way.” (This petition should be one for us as well.)
Now think about that a minute, there were no televisions, computers, iPhones, iPads, Facebook, Twitter or video games for him to be distracted with (life was really hard back then, huh?)…so what would be distracting and worthless for him to waste his time on? Well, man has always found ways to fill his mind with “worthless things”. So David, beseeches God regularly to lead him and incline his heart back to God every time he is distracted by the world…and by his own sinfulness. This tells us that David knows God loves Him and has forgiven Him and will forgive Him…so we can know this as well.
Interesting that he admits something publically that many of us would not even privately, “Turn away the reproach I dread, for your rules are good.” He acknowledges that God’s Word can make him “feel bad” about himself…it causes him to see his weaknesses…his sinful behaviors and his faults…which is one of the purposes of the Law so that we are driven to God in repentance seeking refuge in Him…seeking to be taught and given understanding that we might keep and observe His word.
With this in mind he ends this segments of this Psalm with, “Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!” He is saying to his God and King, “Look and see, that my heart longs for your Word above all else for it is my life so please send your grace, your righteousness to give me life…to keep me going until the end.” David realizes that his very life is totally dependent upon the LORD and His work in his life…too think otherwise is foolishness.
In the END all things will be achieved for God’s people that He has promised us, so we look to God to prepare us along the way till we get to the END. This means boldly following Him and His Word even in the way we come before Him in prayer and praise. Above all things we are to seek the LORD rather than worry about the world around us that is spiraling down to the end as God has told us.
God Bless y’all.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
