Psalm 119 Themes (part 4)

 Themes from the Psalm of Psalms

(Loving the God of Psalm 119)

Daleth: Revival and Strengthening to Run in the Path of God’s Truth

25. My soul clings to the dust; / Revive me according to Your word.

26. I have declared my ways, and You answered me; / Teach me Your statutes.

27. Make me understand the way of Your precepts; / So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.

28. My soul melts from heaviness; / Strengthen me according to Your word.

29. Remove from me the way of lying, / And grant me Your law graciously.

30. I have chosen the way of truth; / Your judgments I have laid before me.

31. I cling to your testimonies; / O LORD, do not put me to shame!

32. I will run the course of Your commandments, / For You shall enlarge my heart.

Under the Holy Spirit’s divine inspiration, King David has already taught us much in the first three stanzas of Psalm 119. This Psalm of Psalms reveals David’s longing to be like the blessed ones he saw around him who faithfully walk in the ways God has mapped out for the righteous. He has shown us that he regards himself humbly, as a “young man” who needs to have his ways cleansed so he can truly delight in God’s word. And in stanza three he seeks enlightenment, special wisdom from the Lord when he is under the threat of the great ones of this evil world.

In this fourth stanza, we see some signs that David is in a more contemplative mood. His soul, he confesses, “clings to the dust.” Another translation says he is “laid low in the dust.” Another verse says, “My soul melts from heaviness,” or “drops because of grief” or “melts away for sorrow.” In this stanza he is concerned about “false ways,” “lying ways,” “deceitful ways” threatening to divert him from “the way of truth.” He even expresses fear that God Himself might put him to shame in verse 31.

Whatever situation brought the Psalmist to this low period of contemplation, we are so richly taught in this stanza, each verse starting with the D of the Hebrew alphabet: “Daleth.” It is full of David’s love for God, and the delight he longs to take in all the words God has spoken, both to him personally, and to us, and all His chosen ones. Twice King David uses the repeated phrase: “according to Your word,” which appears about twenty times in Psalm 119. This section of the Psalm shows that David turns to God as a beloved Friend for love and understanding when he is brokenhearted and feels lifeless.

When we ask a friend to act “according to their word,” what are we saying? We’re asking him or her to be GOOD to their word, to KEEP their word, to FOLLOW THROUGH with what they have promised. David was reminding His heavenly Father that He had pledged to be there for David no matter what. So often, when we are down emotionally, it can make us feel alone and friendless. David held on to the words, especially the promises of God, like a security blanket. A treasured possession that assured him he was NEVER alone. What the Lord had promised David was basically two things: LIFE and STRENGTH. 

“My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to Your word.” Another translation says, “Preserve my life.” When God gives life to a lifeless body, like He did when He breathed into Adam the breath of life, and man became a living soul–a living being–He doesn’t simply abandon that man or woman to just go on living on their own. He continually enlivens the person. He preserves the person’s life, prolongs it, keeps it going. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus had been dead for four days by the time Christ arrived at his grave, Jesus had the stone rolled away from his tomb and then REVIVED the dead body of his friend. God is the source and the Sustainer of all life.

In the previous stanza, David felt blind and asked God to “Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in Your law!” In this stanza, he feels like a dead thing, in the dust. He’s asking God for revival. New life and liveliness. We sometimes joke about being “down in the dumps.” Or “in a slump.” Apparently, David was very depressed and felt lifeless. Perhaps he had no person he could share his feelings with that really understood. Maybe David’s pain was too deep or too personal to share with anyone else. But He shared it with his God, his best, highest Friend. And you know what? God answered him.

David shared with God how it was with him: “I have declared my ways,” I “told” or “recounted” my ways… “and You answered me.” When we are honest with the Lord as His beloved child, we’re not speaking into a vacuum. The very God of the universe is listening to our every word, hearing what is on our hearts–things we don’t even dare put into words. And how did God give an answer to the sweet singer of Israel? He taught Him. God is the best, most understanding, most insightful Teacher of them all. “Teach me Your statutes,” David begs. “Lord, accept me back into Your classroom again. That’s where I really feel cared for.”

Does it ever occur to us that God wasn’t obligated to teach us ANYTHING? He could have just left us in the dark, to cope with the miseries and mysteries of life as best we could. To flounder around in the void and lose our way like mice in a hopeless maze. But no, our Creator is too loving to do that. When he created us, He took our welfare upon Himself. He chose to give us the instruction book for life in our own language, and send His Spirit to enlighten us to understand it.

When we open up our ways before the Lord, He is pleased to open our understanding to His ways. The ways of His statutes and His precepts. The ground rules and keys to making sense of the world as He’s created it to be. All outlined and enumerated in the pages of His holy word. This is one of the main things the Bible has to tell us: that its words and its wisdom are vitally necessary to make sense of life and all true learning. 

This is where many of the most intelligent people on earth and throughout history lose their way. They convince themselves that they can find the meaning of life in this world without God’s word. They become highly educated fools. They reject the way of God’s precepts, and they miss the wonderful works God has performed, including the salvation of sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. 

“Lord, I feel lifeless: Revive me!” “Lord, I feel powerless: Strengthen me!” David felt the grief and sorrow and heaviness closing in on him and sapping his sense of well-being. He told God that his very soul was “melting away.” He wasn’t content to go on languishing with a heart that was drowning in sadness. As a redeemed child of the living God, he realized that he was meant to be lively and strong, vital and useful, enthusiastic and joyful. God had work for David to do and David was too thankful for all God’s blessings to let Him down!

Our Creator was and is the Source of all life. He is also the Source of all strength! I imagine that David might have come to his senses at some point during this stanza and thought, “Part of my trouble is that I’ve been on a false path; I’ve been lying to myself. It’s high time to get back on the path of TRUTH. The path of FAITHFULNESS. The path of FREEDOM! I imagine this because the last part of this stanza seems to build up from the “way of lying” to the way of “running” in the course of God’s commandments!

God’s “law,” God’s “judgments,” God’s “commandments” paved the way back to vitality and strength for this shepherd king who led Yahweh’s ancient people into their Golden Age. And they also strengthened David’s greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who told Satan in the wilderness that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus truly did “run in the course of [God’s] commandments” and win for His people the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of God that comes by faith in His sacrifice.

In Isaiah 53, it was prophesied that Christ would be “despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” Our Lord Jesus knew well what it was like to be sapped of strength and to despair of life. And He, even more than David, knew where to turn for revival and for renewed strength. Because you and I needed a Savior, Jesus was forsaken by God the Father when He died on the Cross. Yet, even there on Calvary’s cross, He never forsook the path of truth. He continued to trust in the promise of the Father to raise Him up on the third day… “according to His word.”

Thank you, Gracious Father, for sending Your Son to rescue sinners like us. And thank you for showing us the path of life, and truth, and power. The path mapped out in your holy word.

Amen

More than Incredible

“No matter how many times we save the world, it always manages to get back into jeopardy again. I say to myself, ‘I just cleaned up this mess!’ Sometimes I wish that the world would just STAY SAVED!”

Those “immortal” lines I paraphrase above, came from one of my favorite cartoon characters, the Pixar/Disney creation, Mister Incredible. In the movie, Mr. Incredible is wearing a microphone, being interviewed by a TV person about his heroic exploits. He apparently was born with super-powers, including unbelievable strength and stamina, as well as a physical body virtually impervious to harm. Incredible indeed!

My affection for super-heroes goes w-a-a-a-y back. I forget whether it was George Reeves’ old TV portrayals of the Man of Steel, or the comic book version of Superman that got me hooked, often running around the house with a bath towel around my neck, pretending I was flying, and, at least vaguely, wondering if I could launch myself into the sky literally from the top of my back porch steps…

Supported in my childish daydreams by an equally fascinated older brother, we began collecting comic books about such improbable characters as Flash (“The Fastest Man Alive!”), Green Lantern (His power ring could project any imaginable object, composed of green energy!), The Fantastic Four (Their powers involved stretching, turning invisible, bursting into flame, and clobbering people as a Thing made up of rocks!), and of course, “Your friendly neighborhood” Spider-Man (Wall-crawling, web-shooting, etc.).

Anyway, it took Disney far too many years to catch on to the appeal of super-heroes to moviegoers. The Incredibles (both 1 and 2) explored a “what if” world in which “supers” abound and, due to a battery of lawsuits, are driven underground by an act of Congress. Mr. Incredible (and his super family) come out of hiding to face a threat called Syndrome, who creates an attack robot that only he can neutralize. The robot runs amok and the Incredibles save the day as they work together, combining the powers they have hidden for so long.

This fanciful journey into my love of super-heroes was brought on this morning as I heard part of Robert Godfrey’s series about Samson, Israel’s final judge in the latter part of the Old Testament book of Judges. I’ve found his series on Samson fascinating for a number of reasons, chief of which is Samson’s ordination by God Himself, and the repeated mistakes and rebellious acts that nearly made Samson a walking disaster.

I relate to Samson in so many ways. And, in many ways, Samson’s weaknesses represent those of the entire Israelite nation throughout its history. Surrounded by enemies who worshiped a variety of false gods, they were continually within ear-shot and eye-shot of temptation to idolatry. 

During the days of the Judges, Israel drifted away from the teachings of their great leaders, Moses and Joshua. Indications are that they rarely, if ever, visited Shiloh, the site ordained for the erection of the Tabernacle once they’d conquered the Promised Land of Canaan. The dismal watch-word in this Old Testament book: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” 

Very apropos for the judge named Samson, for it was always “his own eyes” that got him into trouble. Seduced and deceived by Delilah (whose name means “flirty” by the way! No, really!), Samson strung her along when she, in the employ of the Philistines, asked him to reveal the secret of his super-strength. After teasing her with some false explanations, he finally “revealed to her his whole heart” and betrayed his secret to her.

Samson’s love for Delilah was a one-way street. “If you loved me,” she whined, you’d tell me everything! You’d tell me the truth!” Never in the text are we told that this woman loved Samson in return. To her, he was just a riddle to be solved for money. This makes me think of all the lovely ladies who plaster their wares over the internet. They and their filmmakers and producers are laughing at all the guys tuning in to have a peek. Laughing all the way to the bank!

Samson’s fall into idolatry wasn’t caused by some devotion to a god of wood or stone. It was by giving his love to a lying female devil named “Flirty.” The love he gave away was one he was called to reserve for God alone. He’d been set apart for divine service even before his birth. Much like Samuel…much like John the Baptist…much like Jesus of Nazareth. 

Judges teaches me that, without our eyes in the right focus, we will always “manage to get into jeopardy again,” in Mr. Incredible’s semi-immortal words. Over and over again, the disunited tribes of Jacob failed to be satisfied with their one, true, exclusive Deity. They saw other worshipers around them having a ball with their gods and the illicit practices they enjoyed, and they tiptoed into those strange, forbidden temples of pleasure. They forsook the lessons of the past, the holy requirements of their loving, holy Savior and Lord. They had no human king to remind them of their heavenly One.

Like Samson, like Israel, you and I are no good on our own. We need the body of Christ to encourage us, to instruct us, to remind us, to challenge and warn us. We need the Word and the Holy Spirit to keep the Lord “always before my eyes” (Psalm 16:8). Otherwise, we are “flirting” with disaster just like Samson. Perhaps it was his own super-powered giftedness that made him so vulnerable. Like Simon Peter among Jesus’ twelve apostles, he might have thought, “I can handle it. I won’t fall. I’m capable of passing this test on my own.” Then, BOOM, denial…denial…denial…cock crowing.

Throughout Samson’s ministry as Israel’s final judge (not counting Samuel in the following book), he seemed to be denying his commission again and again and again. By what he looked at, by what he said, by what he did. But there were redeeming moments that made it clear that Yahweh was still at his right hand, ready to strengthen the poor sap when he came to his senses. Faltering, willful, foolish Samson was, for all his faults, GOD’S MAN. Sadly, it was by his death that he gained the ultimate victory over his enemies. Just as, by HIS death, our perfect, virtuous Savior gained HIS.

The word “judge,” as used in the Old Testament book, doesn’t really mean a person in a black robe who rules in a courtroom. It rather has the connotation of a chosen savior and leader who rallies the faithful for battle and eventually achieves victory. Praise the Lord that His choice of such leaders doesn’t always depend on their sterling character or flawless track records. Bone-headed “Samsons” like me are often the very people our gracious God might choose to rally the troops and gain the victory.

To me, that is truly the INCREDIBLE message of Samson’s life.

Blessings!

MNA

11/10/2022

Psalm 119 Themes (Part 3)

 Themes from the Psalm of Psalms

(Loving the God of Psalm 119)

Gimel: Seeking enlightenment and trusting God’s truth before the great ones.

17. Deal bountifully with Your servant, / That I may live and keep Your word.

18. Open my eyes, that I may see / Wondrous things from Your law.

19. I am a stranger in the earth; / Do not hide Your commandments from me.

20. My soul breaks with longing / For Your judgments at all times.

21. You rebuke the proud–the cursed, / Who stray from Your commandments.

22. Remove from me reproach and contempt, / For I have kept Your testimonies.

23. Princes also sit and speak against me, / But Your servant meditates on Your statutes.

24. Your testimonies also are my delight / and my counselors.

I am assuming that King David probably wrote Psalm 119 late in his life, or else worked on it on and off as an ongoing project during his kingly reign. There is a unique flavor or theme to each stanza of eight verses, each verse beginning with the next Hebrew letter of the alphabet. This time we are looking at the third stanza, beginning with the Hebrew letter Gimel. Gimel sounds like the letter G in the word “giving” or “getting,” and in this stanza God is giving some great truths about His word, and I hope you and I will be getting those truths as we consider David’s wonderful Psalm of psalms. The theme of this stanza we’re looking at is:

Seeking enlightenment and trusting God’s truth before the great ones.

David begins this stanza with a strange request, that God would “deal bountifully” with him, so that David “may live and keep [God’s] word” (v. 17). Throughout the stanza David seems to be blinded, a stranger, brokenhearted, under reproach and contempt---even by the Princes of the earth. This may well have been a time of great distress in the psalmist’s life, when he was having trouble finding wisdom and comfort, even from God’s word. He needed ENLIGHTENMENT. 

There are certainly times in my own life when I’ve felt lost and in distress. Times when I needed a fresh word from God, a reassuring word. I knew that ALL of the Bible was a precious gift from the Lord. I knew that every PART of God’s word was there for a purpose in my life. But at those distressing, difficult times of trial, I needed God to “deal bountifully” with me. I was feeling blind and in need of having my eyes OPENED and behold something WONDROUS and new!

David might even have been despairing of life itself when he wrote this verse: “Deal bountifully with me that I may LIVE,” he wrote. Apparently he was being confronted by “the proud–the cursed” ones who “stray from [God’s] commandments” (v. 21). Perhaps these proud lawbreakers were seeking to take David’s life and he was desperate for a special word from the Lord to quiet his doubts and reassure him. 

Have you ever felt this way? Like everyone around you was out to get you and had no intention of “playing fair” or being reasonable? History tells us that King David experienced many episodes like that in his life, like when King Saul seemed to have him cornered like a rat in a trap, or even times when his own sons turned against him and tried to take his throne! When we face such crises, we cry out to God in our distress, looking for some extra-special answer. This might be one reason God gave us such a LARGE book, such a LONG history of His own dealings with us, His people. When we encounter characters like Abraham and Sarah, like Jacob and Joseph, like Job and Naomi, like Ruth and King David, we see people like ourselves who faced doubts and struggles. People who often needed a special, fresh revelation from their God.

At this point in his life, David is feeling like a “stranger in the earth” (v. 19). He may have been actually away from his home, fleeing from some threat that drove him out into the wilderness. Away from all the familiar comforts of home. David did, in fact, dwell for a time in the land of the hated Philistines. People who had no regard for David’s God or God’s commandments. In a sense, when we are among ungodly people, we might think that God’s law is off someplace else, seemingly HIDING from us and from people generally. One of the ways Paul describes the fallen human race is: “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18). Even David’s own people, Israelites who HAD God’s commandments in writing, were often guilty of breaking them, acting as if those laws were hidden from their eyes.

In this desperate situation, David confesses that his heart is indeed BREAKING with his feelings of “longing for [God’s] judgments at all times” (v. 20). Here, he uses the word “judgments” as a synonym for God’s word. A judgment is a decisive pronouncement. When a judge brings down his gavel in the courtroom and declares the defendant guilty or innocent of the crime. What David is certainly longing for is relief from his distressing enemies. He yearns to be vindicated as an innocent man, and to have his enemies pronounced guilty and liable to God’s punishment for what they’ve put David through. They have wrongly accused King David and shown contempt for his kingship and his claims of innocence. There seems to be no one in David’s corner to defend him, counsel him, even care about what happens to him.

And so, in this time of longing, he reminds the Lord of His own holy character. He praises God for what He is like, what He customarily does with the ungodly. “You [Lord,] rebuke the proud– the cursed, Who stray from your commandments. [So, Lord,] Remove from me reproach and contempt, For I have kept Your testimonies” (vv. 21-22). Notice the contrast between these two verses of the psalm: those who STRAY from God’s word, and those who KEEP God’s word. 

Straying has the idea of a sheep or other domestic animal who wanders away. Whether because of confusion, forgetfulness, willful disobedience, carelessness, whatever, they wander from the proper path, away from what’s expected of them, away from what’s GOOD for them as well as others. The prophet Isaiah wrote that “All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way. And the Lord God laid on [Christ] the iniquity of us all.” When a human being strays from the laws of God, it is called iniquity, another word for SIN. And it is for those iniquities that Jesus Christ went to the cross to die.

Those who “have kept [God’s] testimonies,” on the other hand, have treasured and memorized God’s truth in their hearts (v. 11) so they “might not sin against” Him. The word “testimonies” refers to God’s sworn account of how things have been, are now, and shall be in the future. His reliable word of truth. In the Ten Commandments, we are prohibited from giving “a false witness against [our] neighbor.” Every word in the Bible is a true witness from God, our Maker, Ruler, Redeemer and Friend. He will never lead us astray from the right path. Rather, He marks out that right path for us in His perfect, infallible word. And those who treasure and keep His word will one day be totally vindicated, WHATEVER the ungodly might say to accuse and reproach us.

When we read verses 23 and 24, we might think of the great Reformer Martin Luther. On the last day of October, we remember Reformation Day, the date in 1517 when the monk named Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany. He had begun to question the practices of the Medieval church in selling special indulgences that would give extra forgiveness of sins for people and their dead relatives. Eventually, Luther’s eyes were opened to the true gospel of God, the good news that promises forgiveness and eternal life through the finished work of Jesus Christ alone! He began to preach that it wasn’t the church that granted freedom from sin and its punishment, it was a free gift of God received by faith in Jesus.

History tells us that Martin Luther became an outlaw both from the church, and from the state government. The pope and the emperor both wanted him silenced or put to death! And on the day that he stood before the emperor and the emissaries of the church in the council chamber in Worms, Germany, these verses were surely among those that had been on Martin’s mind: “Princes also sit and speak against me, But Your servant meditates on Your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight And my counselors.” Luther told the princes of the state and the church that he COULD NOT recant the writings he’d made that proclaimed the true gospel. He couldn’t revoke the truth of those writings because, he said, “My conscience is held captive by the word of God.”

It was God’s will that Martin Luther would escape from his enemies and go on to lead a great Reformation for the church that would renew mankind’s knowledge of God’s saving truth. God’s will for King David would be that he, too, would be saved from all his enemies and pass on his kingship to his son Solomon. 

Then, one day about a thousand years later, the greatest descendent of King David would take the throne of the universe when the risen Christ ascended to God’s right hand. Those who place their hope and trust in Jesus Christ alone, can have their slate wiped clean of all their sins, and get all of Christ’s righteous deeds transferred to their account to make them perfect in the eyes of a holy God. These truths are not just man’s claims; they are the true and trustworthy “testimonies” of the God of truth, of Christ who is “the Way and the Truth and the Life.” 

They are the truths that should delight US as they delighted David. They should counsel us and comfort us even when we stand alone among the great and ungodly of this earth.

Amen

MNA

11/07/22

To Make One Wise

How long that couple dwelt in Paradise

Before the serpent tempted Eve to sin

Cannot be known, yet surely, in their eyes

That Tree of Knowledge sought their hearts to win.

The Good they knew so well: the will of God…

But Evil, Death nor Sin was known at all;

No Grave, no Tears, no need of chastening rod

Had yet marked out the dangers of a Fall.

There stood the cursing Tree with fruit so fair

That sparkled in the bright primordial Sun;

And Eve and Adam must have wondered where

The path might lead some disobedient one…

Oh Man! Oh Woman! Could you not have seen

The Test that faced you in that fateful Tree?

Could you not build some wall, some fence, some screen

To hide the thing from sight away from Thee?

You had no axe, no saw, to cut it down,

No flame of fire to burn it to its root,

So, daily gathering food you passed it round,

Perhaps admiring its alluring fruit…

Was neither of you wise enough to guess

The beauty of that Tree might be a snare

To keep your naked feet from righteousness

Or slither near to catch you unaware?

For on that fateful day, a wily snake

Proposed to you the charming, reasoning Lie

That you from naive slumbers could awake

And gain the wisdom God would dare deny…

That Good and Evil are Yours to define

And You, God’s children, could cheat your demise

By quoting Satan: “All of His, be MINE!”

By eating fruit desired to make one WISE.

MNA

10/14/2022

A Young Man's Longing

 (Words based on Psalm 119)

Hearing Your voice, heeding Your words

cleanses the youngster’s way.

Let me not stray from Your commands!

With my whole heart I seek You!

Hiding Your words deep in my soul

guards me from sin each day.

Bless-ed are You, Father above;

teach me all of Your statutes.

I would praise You with an upright heart!

Study and follow Your wise commands!

I would be like those You blessed of old–

those who forever rest in Your hands.

Savior, my lips gladly declare

all the decrees You say.

More than in wealth do I rejoice

in Your wise testimonies.

I contemplate, ponder with awe,

Your precepts and Your ways–

statutes in which I take delight!

Your words will never leave me!

I would praise You with an upright heart!

Study and follow Your wise commands!

I would be like those You blessed of old–

those who forever rest in Your hands.

MNA

10/6/2022

Themes from the Psalm of Psalms (stanza 2)

Psalm 119:9-16 

Beth: Cleansing a wandering heart by delighting in God’s word

9 How can a young man cleanse his way?

By taking heed according to Your word.

10 With my whole heart I have sought You;

Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!

11 Your word I have hidden in my heart,

That I might not sin against You.

12 Blessed are You, O Lord!

Teach me Your statutes.

13 With my lips I have declared

All the judgments of Your mouth.

14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,

As much as in all riches.

15 I will meditate on Your precepts,

And contemplate Your ways.

16 I will delight myself in Your statutes;

I will not forget Your word.

King David became not only a great king over God’s people in the Old Testament, but also the most famous psalm writer in all of Israel’s history. We saw last time that he is credited with composing the Psalm of psalms, the longest one in the Bible’s book of Psalms: Psalm 119. Twenty-two stanzas, each with 8 verses beginning with a common letter of the Hebrew alphabet. David wrote this magnificent poem to glorify the God he so deeply loved, by telling all the excellent qualities of God’s inspired WORD.

In the first stanza of Psalm 119, we saw the psalmist’s deep longing to be just like the blessed ones he saw who were walking in God’s ways. He could see that the most blessed and joyful people around him were those who were seeking the Lord, not just out of guilt or obligation, but “with their whole heart.” David’s longing comes from a heart of humility that is well aware of the sins he’s capable of. In the middle of this first stanza, his heart cries out: “Oh that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!” He realized that without God’s help, there was no way he could properly keep all of His commands “diligently,” that is, to FULLY obey them. He wants to avoid being ashamed before men, and utterly forsaken by his God.

We mentioned last time that David’s greatest descendant, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to bear our sin and the shame that went with it, when He went to the cross to die for sinners. He felt the utter forsakenness that was reserved for you and me, when He took David’s place on that cross, and felt the wrath that we deserved for breaking the righteous laws of God.

When a person is born again—born from ABOVE—by God the Holy Spirit, that person receives a brand new heart, a new nature, that longs to become one of the blessed ones who walk in God’s ways. No longer is he or she content to wander and stray from the Father’s commands. Rather, we want to become more and more like Jesus, the Holy One of God, who never displeased His Father in heaven. Like us, Jesus was born under the law of God—the law that demands perfect obedience. But, unlike us, Jesus alone was able to fully obey that law, and He did so in our place!

Those desires are expressed in this second stanza, each verse beginning with BETH, the second Hebrew letter. Verses 9-11 each mention something that David hopes to avoid, knowing that his heart is deceitful and must be trained to walk in God’s ways of righteousness. Let’s read them once again. 

You’ll notice that David writes as a “young man.” He doesn’t pretend to have arrived at a level of wisdom that needs no more instruction. He wants to grow in maturity, to progress in the things of God. He realizes that there is impurity all around him, as well as within him. How can that badness—that defilement—be cleansed? “By taking heed, according to Your word,” he answers.

“Taking heed” goes beyond mere HEARING. “Be doers of the word,” James teaches us, “and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Taking heed of what the Bible teaches means taking possession of its truth for the purpose of living it out. So often a mother or father might tell their child, “How many times have I TOLD you this, and you don’t really LISTEN.” Millions of people may call the Bible “the good book,” but how many of them have proven how “good” it is by putting it into practice? 

Those who want to play a musical instrument well, have to take steps to put their learning into practice. They must place their fingers “just so” and move them in the right ways. They must go over their music again and again, until it is learned and becomes automatic. All of that takes time, daily practice, over months and years. It is the same with the word of God. If we wish to be like the blessed ones who imitate the character of Christ, we must practice the Bible’s teaching.

David’s heart was in the right place. He saw himself as needing to mature, to be instructed. But he confessed that his “whole heart” was in this pursuit of pleasing God. And his heart was crying out with that deep, longing word: OH! “Oh, let me not wander from your commandments” (v. 10). For the Christian, the road map to pleasing God must include “the Big Ten.” God’s moral law, the Ten Commandments. But how many people calling themselves Christians can name all ten of these important rules for life and happiness? For that’s what the 10 Commandments ARE.

Now, I’m not about to go into all ten of the Ten Commandments right now, but I want to encourage you to do so, whoever you are. Please understand: you can go to heaven without following all ten of the Ten Commandments, BUT in order to please God the Father, and in order to fully honor Jesus Christ His Son, these rules ought to be memorized and observed in all the areas of our lives.

And David, as a redeemed Israelite, looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, had a deep, deep longing to NOT WANDER from these commands. They are found in Exodus chapter 20, and in other places, and are definitely to be included in “basic training” for any believer who trusts in Christ to save them. Those who have no desire to please and obey the Lord, cannot really claim to know and love Him. For when someone is born again, a new heart is granted—a heart that is like David’s and longs to not wander from God’s commandments.

Are we making an effort to MEMORIZE God’s word? This is David’s own personal defense against sin in his life. “That I might not sin against You,” Lord, David was praying, “Your word I have hidden in my heart.” I’ve stored it away in my memory, where it is always available to bring it back to mind and go over it again and again. Again, remember that this man was aware of the sins that threatened to overtake him. So often we think of Biblical figures as moral and spiritual giants who rarely needed to repent. But David, Moses, Abraham, and the rest, all had their blind areas and their human weaknesses where Satan attacked them and gained temporary victories. They all needed to learn God’s lessons, admit their mistakes, repent of their sins.

If you’ve never taken the time to memorize the Ten Commandments, for example, what better place could you begin? The first step to avoiding the breaking of God’s law, surely, is to KNOW the laws that are in danger of being broken! People who really CARE about driving safely are the ones who read and commit to memory the RULES of safe driving. David resolved in his heart that he “might not sin against” the God he so greatly loved. So part of keeping that resolution was hiding God’s word in his heart.

A human heart is a WANDERING heart. Make no mistake about it. “All we, like sheep, have gone astray,” wrote Isaiah. “We have turned, every one, to his own way.” Wandering sheep go astray. Wandering sheep get in trouble, they get dirty, they get trapped by enemies, they make messes the Shepherd must deal with. Thank the Lord, we have a “Good Shepherd” who not only “lays down his life for the sheep,” but keeps watch over them and brings them back to the fold when they wander away. But the Christian’s heart is also a LONGING heart.

True believers, like King David, make plans so that they don’t wander as far, or as often, as they once did, or are in danger of wandering. The first step in David’s plan is in verse 12 where He calls on the Lord for His help. “Blessed are You, O LORD! Teach me your statutes.” David has expressed his longing to be among the “blessed ones” who please God by walking in His ways. Now he calls on the “Blessed One” Himself, the fountain of ALL blessing and goodness, to be his own teacher, his own tutor, his own Professor in the school of blessing. And what David asks to be taught are “Your statutes.” Statutes are customs that are PRESCRIBED. They are appointed behaviors that are to be expected by those in authority. 

To receive good things in life, there are certain prescribed behaviors—like working in order to get money, or having a pleasing appearance in order to attract a mate. Likewise, in order to receive God’s greatest blessings, there are things He has prescribed in His word. David wants to be taught those statutes so his life will be free from sin, and open to all the blessings God can give him!

Being taught by God means learning and delighting in His words. Treasuring and trusting the instruction He gives us in the Bible. David takes part in this teaching process in four ways that are mentioned in this stanza: Declaring, Rejoicing, Meditating, and Delighting. Declaring and Rejoicing in the word of God are public matters. Meditating and Delighting in the word are usually private in nature.

“With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth!” Speaking God’s truth out loud in the presence of others, is a sure evidence that one is committed to that truth. We show that we are so convinced of the truth of God’s word, we are happy and excited to share it with others. Even more: “I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches.” How glad we are when we receive or inherit a large amount of money! But the psalmist can hardly contain his joy in learning and understanding the ways mapped out by the testimony of his God.

“I will meditate on Your precepts and contemplate Your ways,” he goes on to say. What we do and focus on when we’re by ourselves reveals where our hearts truly are. The time we devote to personal meditation on the word might seem to others to be mere inactivity. But to the true lover of God and His word, it leads to the deep delight David mentions next: “I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget your word.”

Committing the truths of the Bible to memory…memorizing key portions…meditating on the wisdom, beauty, goodness and eternal value of those truths…all of these take place in the inner privacy of our minds and hearts. It is when we start to forget God’s faithful words that we begin to slip and backslide into sinful habits and activities that pollute our hearts and lives. But “taking heed according to” the word of the Lord points us to the Savior’s fountain for cleansing: the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. His gospel promises not only eternal life in a perfect heaven and earth, but also daily purification from our sins as we learn to walk in His ways.

Father in Heaven, help us to make more time for meditation, so that we may delight in your truth, not forget it. Remind us day by day to confess our sins and seek the cleansing provided by your Son’s precious blood shed on the cross for us. Thank you for loving us and saving us.

Amen

MNA

10/3/2022

Barefoot on Holy Ground

Treading the dust of Palestine

or scaling the boulders of Horeb,

what did the murderous Moses feel--

likewise his general-successor--

as each bared his feet like an unshod beast

at a stranger's strong command?

What permeated those seeded sands

or radiated from those rocks

that the meekest of shepherds or

the mightiest fighter should quail?

Was the fire that failed to consume

churning through those rigid molecules?

How were those haunts such holier places

than chapels, churchyards studded with stones

or dread cathedrals carved by peasants?

Sinai and Canaan both were hosts

to the feet of One putting idols to flight.

By all rights, all grounds are His alone.

MNA

11/4/2011

Reality Now

I’m flying and crying 

and trying not to show

the feeling I’m stealing

when dealing with my soul.

I’m shaking and faking

and taking far too much

for granted, enchanted,

I wanted just one touch—

Reality now!

Ain’t ya tired of living confusion–

Reality now!

Up against a concrete illusion–

Reality now!

Pardon my unwanted intrusion–

Let’s have a transfusion of truth.

Reality now!

We’re heaving and grieving,

believing every hoax,

evolving and solving,

revolving like a spoke.

We’re playing, betraying

and praying we’re not caught,

but freedom and pardon

and love just can’t be bought—

Reality now!

Ain’t it time to make a decision–

Reality now!

Tear apart this deadly division–

Reality now!

Shutting down our nuclear fission?

Resurrect our vision of God:

Reality now!

MNA

2010

Hope in Heaven

There is hope in Heaven

Where an emerald rainbow shines

Round the throne resplendent

With the glory of the Divine;

Hope for helpless sinners

Who by gracious, transforming pow’r

Loved and trusted Jesus

And were cleansed by mercy’s show’r

There is hope in Heaven

Even though a stern God frowns

With fierce wrath and vengeance

At the debt Adam’s race yet owns…

But amidst the fallen,

Christ the Shepherd sends His call

To flocks from every nation

And in grace shall He save them all.

There is hope in Heaven

Where rejoice an unnumbered throng

Around the Lamb and Lion,

Lifting up a new, heartfelt song.

Vileness, pain and sorrow

Are erased from each heart and face

And hope is changed to gladness

In the Heaven of Christ’s embrace.

MNA

April, 2008