PSALM 119:5 – Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!
THEME OF THE DAY: PRONE TO WANDER. Psalm 119 is the greatest exposition of the Bible. It is a portion of scripture all about scripture. It is also a great place to fuel devotion to the Word of God. Read it often and sense the heart of the author toward the scriptures. He is passionate about the Word. He is deeply in love with the Word. He is wholeheartedly committed to the Word.
In today’s scripture, He is also a believer who knows how easily his heart is tempted to drift from the Word. He knows by experience he is “prone to wander” as a sheep in the Lord’s fold. But there is something else in today’s scripture worth our pondering. Read it again. Do we see the desire of his heart? He knows he is prone to wander, and he longs for it not to be so! He doesn’t like it; wants to be free from it and the implication is the yearning is for a life of steadfast obedience to the statutes, the commands, of the Lord. And this is a great time to evaluate ourselves in our attitude toward obeying the Word of God.
First, like the author of Psalm 119, the healthy Christian yearns for full and perfect obedience to the Lord’s commands. Within the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing new birth to the repenting sinner, a desire is implanted in the heart for honoring and loving the Lord by fearing and obeying Him. The prophet Jeremiah refers to what God does in this work of conversion – For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me (Jeremiah 31:33; 32:39-40). Do we recognize this “heart change” in our lives?
Another truth from the Psalmist’s reaction to the Word of God that is a model for us is his longing for a consistency of obedience to God’s Word – Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! He wants perfection in his obedience. He wants complete sincerity. Friends, even though we cannot achieve perfect obedience to the Lord in this life, we can achieve and maintain sincerity and consistency of obedience in this life. In fact, such truth is taught throughout the New Testament both by Jesus in John 15 with the command to “abide in Him, abide in His Word, and abide in His love”. It also appears numerous times through the writings of Paul, Peter and John and most revealed in the word “walk” which defines the Christian life. Is the desire for consistency of obedience to the Lord planted deep in our hearts and minds that produces such lives? It should be for such a life defines the Christian life.
As sheep in the Lord’s pasture, we are prone to wander. It is the reality of still battling remaining sin within us, but prone to wander does not mean we have to wander. We can win this battle by realizing what happened to us at new birth and how the Christian life is to be lived – a life of consistent obedience to the Word of God.
PRAYER: “Father, protect me from my fiercest enemy; myself, who always seeks to distract me from You.”
QUOTE: “The love of God in Jesus, our Good Shepherd, shows up with His rod of correction many times.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim