Psalm 119 is a beautiful psalm displaying the majesty and power of Gods word. Why should it strike us as majestic? There are many reasons- As believers in Jesus Christ, once we surrender our lives to Him, we then begin to crave and desire to know more of Gods word. It is not until the Holy Spirit transforms us, that we begin to delight in His ways and precepts. Does this mean that that desire is easy to obtain and continually seek? Of course not. As the apostle Paul says in Romans 7, our flesh is crying out to us, and the enemy has a plan for us just as Christ does. The comfort in that though is that Christ always prevails, always-which gives us victory and confidence! But does this mean that we just automatically receive victory from our sin, without applying any effort and action?
Psalm 119:6 begins with a question. A question that each one of us, if we are in Christ can relate to, especially a “young man”, as the verse states. “How can a young man keep his ways pure?” This seems to be THE question. From the beginning of mankind, sin-and so often purity has been an ongoing struggle, and will continue to be until we see Christ face to face. So what do we do with this struggle? Verse 9-16 gives us several steps of action to take, in order to remain fully and completely His. These actions require a complete abandonment to ourselves. Here are those steps of action, according to these verses:
-Guarding your way according to Gods word
-Seeking Him with your whole heart
-by not wandering from His commandments
-storing up His word in your heart
-declaring the rules of his mouth
-delighting in His riches
-meditating on His precepts
-fixing your eyes on His ways
-delighting in His statutes
-not forgetting His word
All of these components point back to Christ, demonstrating that we can only remain pure in and through Him. All of my delight and satisfaction must be found in Him alone. I cannot remain pure and resist sin and temptation without delighting in Christ. If I am delighting in Christ alone, then these other factors of worldly pleasure will not grab my attention in a consuming way. You can only be truly satisfied with one source. What is your source today?
Are we guarding, seeking, not wandering, storing, declaring, delighting, meditating, fixing, and not forgetting Jesus Christ? We must make the extreme effort to abide fully in Him, then He will give us what we need to remain pure and steadfast!
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.”
Lord teach us to continue to turn to you!
Matthew Weaver 