Psalm 119:33-40 | He
Psalm 119:33-40 | He
Milt Reynolds | Last updated: June 5, 2022
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 ESV
Longing for Life
Teach us, O LORD, to order our way according to your Word. Form our daily desires, framing them inwardly and outwardly by what you have said and done, from today on until the end!
Cause our hearts to delight in your Word and Way. Reveal our selfish attitudes and actions. Turn our hearts away from worthless things and give us the life that you promise in your Word. Teach us how to fear you rightly, dreading any reproach from your Holy Spirit of Truth. Teach us to long for the life-giving goodness of your Word.
Amen!
What Way?
This week, more than any other recent weeks, has seen us asking "What way, Lord? We're faced with myriad choices and conflicting desires. What way, Lord, ought we go?"
We're in a motel room, early morning. It's our third night in a row spent in a motel room, away from home, away from "normal". It's been two nights away from home that we didn't expect.
What way, Lord?
We exercise our minds, considering future outcomes of each different conflicting desire, weighing probable effects of feeling, finances, time, integrity, enjoyment...it's exhausting.
It feels useless.
Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes...
WAY: DEH-rek, a road (as trodden), a course of life or mode of action, a habit or customary experience or a condition, a course of life or action or work, or moral action and character. From daw-RAK, to tread, to walk, to string a bow (by treading on it in bending).
When I pray, "What way, Lord?", I'm desiring to know what decision I should make now, in order to maximize what I regard as "good" and to minimize what I regard as "bad". A way that is affordable is "good", but the probable outcome of anything of lesser cost is "bad". A way that involves loss of what I currently possess is "bad", but the probable outcome of that loss may be "good". Back and forth, around and around, for every decision!
But, what if my understanding of "good" and "bad" are skewed, uncalibrated, distorted or even perverse?
Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes...
STATUTES: khoke, an enactment, an appointment of time or space or quantity or labor or usage, a prescribed portion or action, a boundary, a decree or ordinance. From khaw-KAK, to hack or engrave, to be a scribe, to enact (laws being cut in stone or metal tablets in primitive times), to prescribe.
Psalm 119 points to God's Word as the foundation for "good" and "bad". God's Word is the only way for God's creation to calibrate their understanding of "good" and "bad".
What in this eight-verse passage helps calibrate my understanding of what way is good and what way is bad?
Teach me, O LORD! You are alone God, the only Creator and Sustainer. It is good that you teach me through circumstance and experience, through my mistakes and my mis-steps, through people around me, through your Word, and through your Holy Spirit. Every experience, whether poorly filtered my my mind and heart as "good" or "bad" is a learning experience of your way.
“GOD, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course. Give me insight so I can do what you tell me— my whole life one long, obedient response. Guide me down the road of your commandments; I love traveling this freeway! Give me a bent for your words of wisdom, and not for piling up loot. Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets, invigorate me on the pilgrim way. Affirm your promises to me— promises made to all who fear you. Deflect the harsh words of my critics— but what you say is always so good. See how hungry I am for your counsel; preserve my life through your righteous ways!” (Psalm 119:33–40, The Message)
Praying For Life
He prays for life. Life is defined as delighting in God's Word. Keeping, understanding, observing, following, delighting in, inclining to, turning to, looking at, fearing, depending upon, longing for...this is true spiritual life.
God's Word is life.
Selfish gain, worthless things bring reproach and dread.
God, give me life!
The Way
God's Word, the holy Scriptures of the Bible, is the foundation of "the way"...a single, cohesive, narrow way of thinkg and desiring and living. "The Way" requires understanding and obedience and delight. It stands in contrast with selfish gain and worthless things. It includes fear: fear of reproach from the Lord, fear of scorning God's word as bad or useless. Without such godly fear, a person will never desire to follow "the way".
God, plant in me the desire-seed to follow the way of your Word!
Sources
- ABDB | Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon, 1906
- ESV | The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 2001
- MSG | The Message, Eugene H. Peterson, 2005
- STGHD | Strong's Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary
Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
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