Beth-Psalm 119:9-16

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.

This section of Psalm 119 builds directly off of the opening section (not surprisingly). In the opening section the psalmist writes that we are to be blameless and seek the Lord with our whole heart. That seems like an impossible task when taken at face value. But the psalmist anticipated questions because he opens this section with a nice anaphora (a rhetorical question that is immediately answered–I just learned this term in a rhetoric class and I’m trying to sound smarter than I actually am).

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according it to your word. How are we to stay blameless and have our whole heart devoted to the Lord? By guarding our hearts with God’s Word. This verse is often applied to sexual purity–which is certainly not wrong–but I think the application is much broader. It speaks to the whole life of the Christian. We stay on the right path by saturating ourselves in Scripture. This is reemphasized later in this section:

“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

“I will meditate on your precepts…I will not forget your word.”

As Christians we must be committed to the Scriptures if we are to remain faithfully committed to our Lord.

Aleph- Psalm 119:1-8

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek after him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes, do not utterly forsake me!

These opening eight verses are absolutely packed. I have highlighted two particular phrases that struck me the most. The first comes in verse 2 when the psalmist says, “Blessed are those…who seek after him with their whole heart.”  The second is in verse 6,”…having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.” This idea of having our whole heart devoted to the Lord and remaining focused on him at all times was the main point of a lesson that I taught every week this summer to high school students at the Cannon Beach Conference Center.

We live in a culture where numerous things demand our attention. On any given day I have to fulfill roles as son, brother, student, friend, host, employee, etc. Amidst all of these things I must maintain my relationship with the Lord. How can I juggle these things? I think these verses give a great answer: by reorienting all of my priorities so that my pursuit of the Lord is the preeminent thing in my life.

I believe that life is the most rich and fulfilling when I simply focus on pursuing Christ and fix my eyes on his commands. It is when I get distracted from these things and start closing off areas of my life from the Lord that I get discouraged or sin creeps in.

I am convinced that Christ wants more from us than just part of our hearts and some of our attention. He wants all of us–all of the time. Verse 4 tells us this much, “You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.” Diligence means “constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind.” What we have “undertaken” is the pursuit of Christ and obedience to his Word. Diligence is a high calling, but it is one which will ultimately bring the greatest satisfaction and fulfillment.

My Current Task

About midway through the summer I began to read through the Psalms. As far as I know, it is the first time in my life that I have tried to read through the book from start to finish–I have been more of a “hunt-and-peck” Psalm reader in the past. This morning I arrived at the “psalm of psalms”–Psalm 119. It’s 176 verses make it easily the longest psalm in the book.

Instead of just plowing through Psalm 119 I have decided to study it section by section. You may know that the psalm contains 22 sections, each corresponding to a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So for (roughly) the next three weeks I will tackle a different section each day, highlighting key points and themes from each section–and, as I get further, from across sections. My point in doing this is mainly to remain focused in my personal study of the psalm, but hopefully what I write on here will be beneficial for a wider audience (though not super-wide, since not that many people read this).

I plan to start tomorrow before I head down to Wrigley Field to watch my Giants play the Cubs.

Don’t Waste Your Life

I love this video. If you are like me and don’t want to waste your life, Piper’s words are very powerful.

I’ve watched this many times, but when I watched it most recently I immediately thought of Romans 12:1-2.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The world wants us to pursue the American Dream of comfort, wealth, and ease. That is what the world says will produce a successful and fulfilling life. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. The times in life in which I have felt the most empty have been the times that I have pursued this dream.

The definition of a dream is “a visionary creation of the imagination;a state of mind marked by abstraction or release from reality.” This perfectly fits into the concept of the American Dream. It will never fulfill us because we will always want more.

But if we allow our minds to be transformed by the power of the Gospel, and we live like the two women Piper mentions, then our lives will be full of meaning and purpose.

London

On Friday I am flying to London for a spring break missions trip. Instead of sitting around at home for break, I decided to invest my break in something worthwhile. While in London, my team and I will be working with a church doing various service projects, youth ministries, and volunteering at a homeless shelter. You can check here during the week as I will try to give updates on what is happening.

The Gospel in 6 Minutes

I love the way John Piper is able to sum up the Gospel, without cheapening it or diluting it. Click here for the full article.

The Value of Wisdom: Proverbs 2:1-8

My son, if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you,

making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding;

yes, if you call out for insight

and raise your voice for understanding,

if you seek it like silver

and search for it as for hidden treasures,

then you will understand the fear of the LORD

and find the knowledge of God.

For the LORD gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

guarding the paths of justice

and watching over the way of his saints.