The Bible Top 40
Psalm 119:11
Let’s see. Today is the 13th of January. That means that most all of us have about 5 days until we have completely reneged on all our New Year’s Resolutions, right?
You remember them, don’t you?
The list goes on and on.
But I’ll wager that none of us made a resolution like the one that we are going to look at today. It is found in Psalm 119, verse 11. The book of Psalms is the largest book of the Bible – 150 chapters, and the 119th is the longest chapter in the Bible – 176 verses. As we continue our series for this year of “The Bible Top 40,” looking at the passages of Scripture that I believe every Christian ought to know, it would be easy to simply put “all of Psalm 119”on the list. It is a song about the Word of God. And it is a remarkable piece of literature, poetry, and inspiration.
If you look at the Psalm, you will notice that unlike any other, there are divisions that have names like “aleph, beth, gimel, etc.” Those division names are the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 consonants in the Hebrew alphabet, and for each of those letters, there are eight verses, each of which begin with that letter (in the original Hebrew of course.) There are eight different words used to describe the Word of God in the Psalm, “law, testimonies, promise, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, and word.”
This Psalm has been called, “The ABC’s of the faith,” “The Alphabet of Divine Love,” “The brightest star in the Psalms.” One theologian said, “it applies an all-containing medicine to the varied spiritual diseases of man…” Matthew Henry was a great Christian leader of the 19th Century. He wrote a commentary on the Bible that is still considered the best ever 150 years after he finished it. He said that his father, Philip Henry, advised young Mathew and his brother to take one verse from this Psalm every morning and meditate on it, ponder it and memorize it, and in doing so, to go through the Psalm twice every year. It is that good – every verse here is worthy of memory. I had a friend who did his personal devotions for a solid year from this one chapter – and could have spent a lifetime.
I am not going to ask that we memorize the entire chapter, but it could hardly do any harm to do so – perhaps some one of us will be prompted to do just that. For today’s study, we are going to focus on just a couple of verses in particular.
The first verse of this Psalm is a lot like the verses we examined last week from the first Psalm. It says, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the Law of the Lord!”
“Blessed are the undefiled…”
What does that word undefiled mean? It is the same Hebrew word that is used in Psalm 18:30 and the meaning there is much more clear – let me read that verse to you:
As for God, His ways are perfect…
That word which we have describing God as perfect is the same word that we read in Psalm 119:1 as undefiled. So we could read, in verse 1, “Blessed are the perfect in the way, who walk in the Law of the Lord!”
So my question is, “How many of us made a resolution to be “blameless” or “perfect” this year? Anyone? Anyone?
I didn’t think so. That would have to be the unqualified champion of the “most difficult resolution of all” contest, wouldn’t you agree?
It’s impossible isn’t it? We can’t really be blameless, can we?
For crying out loud, I can’t even stick to a diet for more than 8 hours, how can I possibly be blameless?
I’m glad I asked that question! Look down a few verses at verses 9-11. In our examining this year of verses every Christian ought to know, here’s this weeks offering:
9) How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word.
10) With my whole heart I have sought you,
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
11) Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
How can a person be blameless? How can we be clean? How can we, as the NIV renders verse 9, “keep our way pure?”
Three times the writer of this Psalm expresses the desire of his heart – this toughest of all resolutions:
“I want to walk in purity,” he cries in verse 9. “Oh, don’t let me wander from your commandments,” he pleads in verse 10. “I don’t want to sin against You,” in verse 11.
“Lord, I want to be, and to remain practically holy!” Is the cry of this young man’s heart. The image we have is of someone who is “on the way,” going through life. The desire is to maintain a godly bearing and demeanor “on the path.” He wants to take his theology to the streets. He doesn’t want the impact of his relationship with God to end at the door to the church – he wants that path he takes through life to be one of holiness, purity and integrity.
As we look at a calendar at this time of year we are impressed with the 12 months that lie ahead. We wonder where the next 365 days will take us. We worry about jobs, about health, about finances, about world events. But how many of us look over the year to come and cry out to God, “Father, what can I do to make these next 12 months count for you? How can I make them pure, how can I live holy and obedient before You?” It will do you no good to be given the answer if you have never asked the question. Knowing the source of God’s riches will do us no good if we do not have the desire to partake of them.
Is it our desire to live for God? Do we even want to be obedient, blameless, holy? If that is not our desire, then maybe we need to really re-think our relationship with Him. Jesus said that people would know of our walk with Him by the fruit we bore. If we have no desire to live for Him, to “be holy for He is holy,” then maybe what we have experienced is not really saving faith – maybe we have just found a place where church is interesting, the music is upbeat and the people are nice – but we haven’t found God. Because within each person who has experienced the forgiveness of sins, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the Lordship of Jesus Christ should be the desire to please Him and to grow steadily in our holiness and purity.
Is there a “want to” in your life? Is the desire there? Are you tired of being a fence-walking, half-baked, hypocrite – talking it on Sunday, but not walking it on Monday? If you find yourself crying out with this writer, “How do I do keep my way pure?!” then listen on…
Because the answer comes in three waves, just like the cry of the heart came:
By taking heed to Your word.
With my whole heart I seek you.
Your word I have hid in my heart.
“Taking heed” does not mean “listening to,” it means much more. It means paying attention to, it means following the directions, it means paying careful attention. In this particular case, I really like the way the old King James Bible puts this verse, please listen closely, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his ways? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.” Do you year the way they put the last phrase? “By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.” There is a subtle difference that the King James translators caught that I think is lacking in the others that I have read this week. The newer versions say, “by paying attention to Your word.” Not necessarily a problem, but the twist the KJV puts is this, “I keep my path pure by paying attention to that path in light of Your word.” I think that gives a better translation of what the writer was saying. The Bible was written not to give us the answer to every specific nuance of life – for example, it won’t tell you which college to go to, because the college you wish to attend did not exist 2700 years ago when it was written. What it will do, however, is give us the God-designed pattern for discerning His will about which school to attend, which career to pursue, who to marry, or whether to marry at all. Those who choose to live without electricity because Jesus didn’t have electricity are missing the point. The Bible is intended to tell us how to live in the modern world without being defiled by it. “How can I walk the path that I am on, and still be blameless before you, O God?” the writer asks. The answer: “By walking that path with one eye on the path, and the other on the Word of God.” By taking this book, and making it practical. Spurgeon said, “You must take heed to your daily life as well as study your Bible, and you must study your Bible that you may take heed to your daily life.”
In addition to the means, the daily heeding of the Word of God, there must be the motivation. “With my whole heart I have sought You…” It is not enough to be consumed with the Word of God, this person wants to know the author. He wants to know God. He is not content with reading his Bible each day, or memorizing verses – both of which are admirable, and necessary, but he wants to know the One behind the words. His whole heart is caught up in a desire to commune with God, to fellowship with Him, to worship Him. We sing a song that says, “I want to know you more, I want to know You more, The greatest thing, in all my life is knowing you.” Is that really true of us? Do we want to know him with our whole heart? We need to express that to Him. Lord, I know I’m week, I know I sometimes let the world rush in, but when it all comes down to it, I want nothing more than to know you.” That’s what this writer did. See how he says, “With my whole heart I have sought you, Oh, let me not wander…” He expresses his heart felt desire, and follows it with a prayer that God would help him to not wander – to seek other things. Isn’t it great that the Bible can relate to where we are? It doesn’t say – “seek me with your whole heart, and if you don’t – you get squashed!” No it says, “Seek me with your whole heart,” and it recognizes that we need help in that quest!”
Lord, keep us from wandering! You know our hearts! We want to know you more and more, but we need Your help!
God will grant us that help, He will help us to not wander, but we must do our part – the third part to the answer is found in verse 11: “Thy word I have hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”
We will not wander, we will not sin, we will not allow our way to be impure, when we have hidden the Word of God away in our hearts. Here is the very best thing in all of creation – the Word of God, hidden in the very best place it can be hidden – in our hearts, for the very best purpose – so that we will not sin. Having a Bible on your shelf, on your desk, or on the table next to the television won’t do you any good. It is not a good luck charm, it is not an amulet that will keep away demons or evil from your home. It is ink and paper in a cardboard or leather cover. It is not until the Word of God is placed in the heart of people that it is effective. My heart will be kept where it ought to be when the Word of God is kept where it ought to be – in my heart.
There is no way to keep this toughest of all New Year’s resolutions unless we store up the Word of God in our hearts. There is not substitution for the Word of God. God’s word is the best preventive against offending God, because it tells us His mind and His will, and it slowly brings our spirit into conformity with His Spirit. No cure for sin in the life is equal to the word in the center of that life. There is no hiding from sin unless we hide the truth in our souls.
Will you exercise more this year?
Will you eat a well balanced and properly portioned diet?
Will you finally beat that tobacco addiction?
Will the finances get reigned in?
No doubt, we could all benefit from any one of those things. But there is one discipline we can and should focus on more than any of those, more than any other – to live blameless before our God.
“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word. Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.”
Father, place within us the holy desire to live holy lives. We grow weary of the defeated, sin-plagued lives that have many of us trapped. This day we have examined the way to live victorious, blameless lives. Help us to seek you with our whole hearts, keep us from wandering, help us to keep our paths pure, by taking heed to your word, by hiding your word in our hearts. Father, make this year a year of unprecedented growth, as we learn to know and love you more and more, week by week, and day by day. We pray this to you, Father, in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.