Psalm 119:33-40

He.

Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall observe it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law and keep it with all my heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to dishonest gain. Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Your ways. Establish Your word to Your servant, as that which produces reverence for You. Turn away my reproach which I dread, for Your ordinances are good. Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me through Your righteousness.^[1]

The law, commandments, and statutes of God represent a manner of life but in order to receive the benefit from them we must first know them and observe them. The first part is the simplest of the two in that we can learn them by hearing, reading, studying, memorizing them, and meditating upon them. It is the latter part, the observance of them that complicates things. We have to have a will to observe them and that runs contrary to our nature. The Apostle Paul captured it well in his letter to the Church in Rome: “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). The writer’s remedy was to ask God to turn his eyes away from vanity, literally, “make my eyes to pass not noticing evil, falsehood, other items of trust not God, idols, human power and the like.”

Now, of course, I know that because of Jesus we are no longer bound by the law, but that does not invalidate the law. The law could not save us, nor could it sustain us, and yet we still need to have our wills bowed to perform His good and perfect will. This is a lifelong process of becoming. The longer we walk along with Him, the more like Him we become. The longer we study and serve Him, the more of His Word we know and practice. But it all starts, as with the writer, with a sincere desire to be revived through His righteousness. Do you have that desire?

Our God and Father, humbly we seek Your presence and power. We are not satisfied with the little we know of You. We desire a deeper and closer walk with You. We want to know You like never before. We want to come into Your presence where Your Word tells us there is the fullness of joy and at Your right hand pleasures for evermore. So today we pray with the psalmist, “make our eyes to pass not noticing evil, falsehood, idols, human power, and anything that requires our trust but is not You.” Establish Your Word in us today and we will walk in Your righteousness. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ps 119:33–40.