“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” Psalm 119:9-16
In your reading through the Bible don’t ever forget about the Psalms. God brings to the mind of the Psalmist whether it is (David) or others, the things that He has taught them through the years under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for our benefit…the benefit of ALL His children, like the above section of my favorite Psalm.
What powerful truths.
David is reminded by God that there are so many temptations in this life for the young…he could name a few that snared him, to be sure…and the only way to keep our ways pure against those temptations is guarding our way with God’s Word as God has laid it out before us. As parents we must teach our young people this skill which is crucial so that they grow up always knowing that it is the power of God’s Word and the work of the Spirit that will enable them to keep their way pure.
After a lifetime lived, David can say with certainty that with his whole heart he seeks God, but he knows he is still prone to wander. Now this may sound like a contradiction but it is not…because of the work of Christ in Him through the Holy Spirit he can make this claim knowing that he has not yet been glorified so while the desire is there he also knows that if he doesn’t keep his guard up with God’s Word he will wander from the only thing that can give him any satisfaction and “happiness” in this life.
So, He memorizes God’s word…he didn’t have access 24/7 to the Word of God on line, as we do… so he had to memorize it. God had established away for God’s leaders to, at least, begin this process. God commanded, “And when he(the King) sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.” (Deut. 17:18-20) As the chosen leader…God’s King…his main influencer was to be the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. This way his life of faith could be seen by his country, the surrounding countries as He, like God’s people, was called to be a blessing.
David says, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Blessed are you, O LORD”. The LORD is blessed by virtue of who He is… God overall! By acknowledging this, David is acknowledging for all of us our need to do the same. We need to grasp the strong connection between pursuing holiness…striving to walk in God’s ways, and the realization of the impossibility of actually doing so without God’s help.
So David declares God’s Word openly/publically, he rejoices in the testimonies of God found in God’s Word openly/publically, he meditates and prays privately so he can fix his eyes on God’s ways and by doing these things he delights in God’s word…(this is very practical by the way) so he can assuredly say that, “I will not forget your Word.”
Think of what David is saying and compare that to what John says in Revelation 1:3- “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”
One last thought on this passage…God’s Word demands more from us than a cursory reading…even more than memorization…since so many false prophets of those days and today can quote the Scriptures backwards and forwards. God’s Word then also demands careful reflection and prayer by us in order for us to truly be able to say “I will not forget your word” as we actually do it… because it is that important to us.
God Bless y’all.
In His Grip,
Pastor mike
