Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet
א ALEPH.
“Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD. Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, and seek Him with all their heart. They do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently.
Oh, that my ways were committed to keeping Your statutes! Then I would not be ashamed when I consider all Your commandments. I will praise You with an upright heart when I learn Your righteous judgments. I will keep Your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.”
ב BETH.
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments. I have hidden 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 proclaim all the judgments of Your mouth. I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.”
We are beginning the study of the longest psalm, Psalm 119. This psalm is packed with wisdom and encouragement; however, it’s best to take it in smaller bits. Many authorities divide this psalm into sections using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet as the headings.
“Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD. Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, and seek Him with all their heart. They do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently.” Many of us long for super-heroes, men and women who are stronger, more powerful, and more virtuous than those of us who are normal people. Here the psalmist is describing those who walk in the Law of the Lord, keeping His testimonies and seeking Him with all their heart. The great thing is that any one of us can become a superhero or heroine of faith if we are willing to follow God’s ways.
We take on the appearance of whatever we worship. When we worship the One True Living God who is all-holy and all-righteous, we will take on God’s character. God has given us His precepts so that we will be able to keep them and serve Him.
“Oh, that my ways were committed to keeping Your statutes! Then I would not be ashamed when I consider all Your commandments. I will praise You with an upright heart when I learn Your righteous judgments. I will keep Your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.” How many of us have repeatedly made New Year’s resolutions, only to abandon them within a few weeks? Here the psalmist is longing for a righteous heart and begging God not to forsake him.
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments. I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes.” These days, purity is not generally admired. Many people feel there’s nothing wrong with wearing T-shirts or getting tattoos bearing images of skeletons, skulls, or other symbols of death and destruction. But what kind of spirits are these people invoking by their choice of these symbols? It’s a sad mistake to assume that anything is spiritually neutral; there is no such thing as neutrality in the spirit world. We are either serving God or Satan, no matter how much we might choose to believe otherwise.
“With my lips I proclaim all the judgments of Your mouth. I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.” There is a saying in the information technology business: “Garbage in, garbage out.” A computer can only give out the information someone puts into it. Bad information will lead to bad results. When we meditate on God’s word and memorize those verses that are most meaningful to us, we are re-programming our minds and hearts.
APPLICATION: Expose yourself to too much social media and too many news broadcasts, and you can become seriously and permanently depressed. The longer you consider war, refugee crises, racial upheaval, and counter-culture tensions, the lower your spirits are going to be. God’s word is the antidote to all that negativity.
God’s word heals and purifies. God’s word can transform and encourage. There is no limit to the power of God’s word apart from our willingness to study it.
Each moment we are investing in our futures. Either we are growing closer to God or we are moving further away from Him. This psalm tells us, “I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” Conversely, if we refuse to hide God’s word in our hearts, then we WILL sin against God because we are following our own way. Choose carefully, for you are choosing for eternity. There’s a lovely Anglican children’s hymn that speaks to these verses:
“I Sing A Song Of The Saints Of God, Patient And Brave And True,
Who Toiled And Fought And Lived And Died For The Lord They Loved And Knew.
And One Was A Doctor, And One Was A Queen, And One Was A Shepherdess On The Green:
They Were All Of Them Saints Of God, And I Mean, God Helping, To Be One Too.
They Loved Their Lord So Dear, So Dear, And God’s Love Made Them Strong;
And They Followed The Right, For Jesus’ Sake, The Whole Of Their Good Lives Long.
And One Was A Soldier, And One Was A Priest, And One Was Slain By A Fierce Wild Beast:
And There’s Not Any Reason, No, Not The Least, Why I Shouldn’t Be One Too.
They Lived Not Only In Ages Past; There Are Hundreds Of Thousands Still;
The World Is Bright With The Joyous Saints Who Love To Do Jesus’ Will.
You Can Meet Them In School, Or In Lanes, Or At Sea, In Church, Or In Trains, Or In Shops, Or At Tea;
For The Saints Of God Are Just Folk Like Me, And I Mean To Be One Too. (Lesbia Scott, 1929)
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to hide Your word in our hearts and help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives. In the mighty and precious name of King Jesus. Amen.
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