The following is an excerpt from my devotional on Psalm 119 entitled "The Way of Abundant Living". It came from my own personal devotions and reflecting on these verses. May it be a blessing to you. I encourage you to read it slowly, not all in one sitting.
Ø Opening:
Take a few moments to just sit and be. In the quiet stillness seek the presence of the Lord. Ask Him to lead you and cause you to cling to His Word. In what ways do you need to be clinging to God through His Word in your life right now? Pray about these and then begin.
Ø Encounter:
Psalm 119 The Hebrew Letter – Daleth
25 I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word.
26 I recounted my ways and you answered me; teach me your decrees.
27 Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.
28 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.\
29 Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through your law.
30 I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws.
31 I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame.
32 I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.
Transformation Through Clinging to the Word
The Hebrew verb meaning “to cling” is present both in verses 25 and 31.1 The Psalmist is clinging both to the dust (v.25) and to the Word (v.31). The dust here could either be the dust of mourning or an image of poor health. Whichever it is, the Psalmist perceives that the Word of God has restorative power. When we, in our mortal bodies, cling with our souls to that which is eternal – God’s Word – we can know the saving, reviving, life-giving force of the Word of God. Like a life-preserver in a sea of mortality and sin, God’s word lifts us up to eternal life and blameless living. Cling to that which lasts forever and as we are transformed, we too become buoyant to last forever! It is not just that we cling to the Word which is buoyant with the holiness of eternity. As we cling through diligent attention to the Word, we are inherently changed to become increasingly the substance of eternity: holy and eternal – like God! The Holy Spirit through the Word changes us to become buoyant on the sea of mortality and sin.
There is also comfort to be found even when one is “in the dust of mourning.” In time of grief there is a solace and comfort to be found in God’s Word. Knowing the inner thoughts of God (v.26), the mind of Christ2, where love exceeds our ability to imagine, whose power and wisdom are infinite – to begin to realize the vast scope of eternity, where this loving sovereign God who has spoken is taking us, can give us hope in grief, comfort in sorrow, and even joy in affliction. His Word assures us that He will make everything right in the end and wipe away every tear from our eyes (see Revelation 7:17). Even the longest grief in this lifetime is but a drop in the bucket of eternity which will be spent in the joy of His Presence. This provides solace and hope not just for tomorrow but also now, knowing that He is even now (although in sometimes hidden and mysterious ways) working His purposes to a glorious end. Eternity, then, is unfolding within us and enfolding our lives with what Dallas Willard has called ‘the eternal kind of life now’. Through clinging to the Word of God in the Scriptures we discover the eternal kind of life now and even begin living it!
It is Not a One Time Choice
We need to be continually choosing the way as the Psalmist does (in this octave of verses see v.26, 27, and 30). To stay on this path requires constant cooperative vigilance. Temptations lure and beckon to us at every turn. Our self-centered inner passions and old habits don’t give up easily -- without a fight.
We cannot assume that because once, some time ago, we chose the path that we are still on it. To stay on this path of abundant obedience requires a constant choice to reject the world’s ways and embrace His ways.
C.S. Lewis observed this point well as it relates to our day-in-day-out living:
“The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day.”
So, too, we must not assume that we understand. The Psalmist is constantly seeking to be taught – asking the Master Teacher for instruction. As our Teacher and Lord instructs, the mind is freshly filled with images of heavenly and spiritual delights that enliven all that we see and know in the world with the reality of God’s kingdom which is all around. So, with fresh understanding, we come to know the deeper realities of God and His hand upon us and at work in our lives and in the world around us. Our whole being is drawn to God’s reality in deep and profound meditation. The meditation draws us not further from reality into our secluded prayer closet, but it draws us to all of God’s reality through the entryway of our prayer closet. Our time of solitude leads us to see the world afresh from God’s perspective. The prayer closet then becomes the door through which we enter the world to behold it as it really is. It is not that in meditation we withdraw from the world to not see it; it is that we are drawn through meditation into the world to see things as they truly are – we see the deep, real, inner substance of things as God sees them.
The Way of Transformation
The way of transformation is exemplified in verse 29. The Psalmist allows his mind to be aware of sin. Times of quiet, prayerful meditation will bring self-awareness. We may become distracted with thoughts in the silence but through turning those over to God, we can ask Him to show us ourselves. I constantly need to ask Him to show me what this distraction that has come to my mind reveals about my true self.
When we lay the sin that is within us before Him with petition and prayer and we see in this area of our life the new way of living that God’s Word affords, we can know His transformation. Here God’s Word is truth (v.29-30). God speaks only truth. Satan is the Father of Lies. We know God in His Word to be loving and powerful – caring for us and always speaking truth. He wants us to be like Him. Being in this state of knowing leaves no room for opaque living, for deception, or for outright lies.
God’s word illumines the path to be one of honest integrity. This is how to live. This Godly kind of truthful living is only possible through God. It is a God-given gift. Such honest living is possible for us, because with God all things are possible. He wants to change us and wants us to be like Him.
So, the Psalmist is aware of his sin, acknowledges/confesses it, sees how it can cause him to stray from the path of a life directed in God’s way and he humbly prays for God’s transforming power to remove the sinful way from Him.
The
eagerness to follow grows as we are on the road of God’s commandments
(v.32). Eagerness can lead us to run
forward. The seasons of running in God
will require increased strength – an enlarged heart. It is a strengthening that God gives – this
is training in godliness that keeps us in His word – a place where we put
ourselves to allow Him to transform us.
This training yields fruit not as earthly training but in a supernatural
way as God meets us in our inner person and changes the very nature of who we
are. Who we are, then grows to be
increasingly into the one who He intends for us to be: a person made of the substance of eternity
who is joyfully, cooperatively vigilant, who is vitally more alive than ever
with an increased awareness of all of creation.
Our awareness is heightened in seeing the persons around us as God sees
them, also by seeing His hand at work and even by seeing God Himself. This is the destiny of everyone on this path,
and it is something that even angels cannot share (I Peter 1:12).
Ø Interface:
Understand –
(1) What is meant by the “buoyancy” of God’s Word? What effect does clinging to the Word have on us?
(2) How is the Word of God a comfort in grief?
(3) Why can’t we assume that we are still on the abundant-obedient path if we were once sometime in the past?
(4) How does meditation relate to the world?
(5) Why is truthfulness necessarily a part of being on God’s path for living?
(6) What is described about how to approach sin here?
Embrace –
(7) What might be involved in “clinging” to God’s Word? What might it look like in your life?
(8) How would your life be different today if you were more “cooperatively vigilant”?
(9) Why is humility necessary for meditation? What pride in your life right now might be keeping you from meditation on God’s Word and His Truths?
Choose –
q What sins has the Lord been making you aware of in your life as a result of this study? How might you apply this week’s reflection and study to this area of your life? Consider taking the awareness of the sin and laying it before the Lord in prayer. Then as you pray, remember the Lord is with you, as if seated next to you. Ask Him to give you a vision of what your life would be like if you were freed from those sins. Consider how “truthful living” by clinging to God’s Word in that area of your life puts you in a place to experience Him transforming you.
Know –
q Re-read the quote from C.S. Lewis. What “wild animals” rush at you each morning? Consider committing yourself to begin each day as Lewis describes. Try beginning each new day this week by memorizing and reciting verse 27 of Psalm 119 to yourself as a way to focus your attention on listening to that other voice. Pray to find God’s point of view for your life each day from the start. At the end of the week evaluate. Was this helpful? If so, in what ways might you continue this practice?
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