How can I live a pure life before God? This is the question posed by the Psalmist here in the Beth section of Psalm 119 (v.9-16) We find ourselves asking that same question… “How can I be holy? How can I be pure before God?” and many of us fall into the lie and deception of Satan thinking that it is about living a life of perfection and trying our best to NOT sin…
Now sin is bad and we must seek to avoid it, but trying to live a perfect life is NOT what we are called to do… we are called to live an obedient life, and in that obedience we find purity through God’s promises! We find holiness at the feet of Christ through our obedience to His calling and commands…
When we look at this passage we find that the psalmist poses this question and then uses the rest of this section to answer that question… almost like a self-teaching moment for him, although it was more than likely a teaching moment for those who he was teaching!
When the psalmist presents this question of “How can I be pure before God?” he answers it by a series of action/reason statements or if/then statements…
Let’s go through our passage tonight and glean from each verse what God has for us to learn.
9How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word…
The psalmist is advocating action on his part… human effort is a large part to living the holy and pure life before God. We cannot do it alone or on our own, but God is not going to provide purity or holiness to the person who is UNWILLING to choose to seek purity or holiness… we cannot sit around and wait on God to purify us or bring holiness to us… God has called to live OUT our lives and our choices reflect the holiness and purity that only He brings into our lives when we are obedient.
However, before we get to the 1st verse I want us to see something that the psalmist implies in this passage. The implication from this set of verses is that holiness can only come from the Word of God… from the Precepts of God… and there is NO amount of human effort that will result in holiness or purity before God.
All the ‘actions’ proposed by the psalmist here in this passage are all relying upon God’s word and God’s commands to bring about purity… the psalmist knows (as should we) that we are useless on our own, and that only when we subject ourselves to God can we see the purity and holiness called for in our lives!
Here in v.9 we can read the psalmist says that the way to be holy and pure is to constantly be on guard against evil by knowing and applying the Word of God to your life. His assessment is that it is ONLY God’s word that can bring about purity and protect us from the evil one…
10With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
In this verse we see the psalmists projecting another if/then statement… or as I call it another action/reason event that is meant to keep him holy and pure.
He states that with his WHOLE heart he will seek God… he is stating that he desires to find God and keep God in his sights. He does not wish to wander from His word or commands.
His action of seeking is yet another voluntary and willful submission to God’s Lordship in his life. It reveals a need for something that he does NOT have, as he is seeking God’s instruction to be engraved on his heart!
He is focused on seeking God and God’s Word and he realizes that if he will focus on seeking God’s word that his heart will not wander from it… How often do we find ourselves wandering from God only to realize it is because we have stopped seeking diligently after Him.
11I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
This is a verse that is memorized by many believers and is quoted by many others… I again see an action on the part of the psalmist in his effort to be pure before God. That action is storing up in his heart, God’s instruction!
He is making the voluntary and willful action to not only SEEK after God’s word but to actively remember it and store it in his mind. The term ‘stored up’ that is used here by the psalmist is the Hebrew word tsah-faw’n which literally refers to hiding something away because it is so valuable… saving it up for a day when it will be needed at another time.
The psalmist treasures God’s word/God’s instruction and seeks to hold onto it forever by storing it up in his heart! This is another voluntary and willful act of memorizing Scripture that takes great effort on behalf of the believer. I hear all the time from member after member… “I can’t memorize Scripture because I just cannot remember it…”
Well like they told you in Kindergarten… “Can’t never could DO anything!” We say we can’t and we believe the lie the enemy would have us to believe. God has blessed us with a mind that can store and recall millions of bits of information… but the sad part is that we don’t have this ability because we don’t USE this ability!
The more we DON’T do it, the less we are able to do it! This means that it may be hard to start with… but as you begin to memorize… the more you do, the better you will become at it… YOU CAN memorize Scripture… YOU CAN hide it in your heart…
The psalmist knows that if he will hide God’s word in his heart… that when the time comes, he is going to make the wisest and most godly decision, because he has God’s word and instruction as a foundation and reference point for any and all of his decisions.
He hides God’s word so that when the temptation of sin comes calling (and it will) he will not fall to temptation but will be spiritually armed to live pure and holy before God.
But look what he also says here… “So I won’t…” this is a phrase that implies that with temptation he IS tempted and he may WANT to do it… but he will not because of God’s word leading his decision making process.
12Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!
Here in this passage… in the very center of this section, the psalmist takes time to offer up praise to God! Blessed are you God is what he says!
We have a similar saying today… do you know what it is? “God is good – All the time!” When we say this with a truly sincere heart, it reflects a truly righteous spirit of worship and adoration for Christ AND a right attitude about God. It is recognizing that God is sovereign, holy, and over all things and that without God life would NOT have meaning!
The psalmist not only praises God but he also acknowledges that ONLY God can truly reveal God’s word to us… we are incapable of knowing the true Word of God, and we have to rely upon God’s revelation of His word to our hearts so that we can understand what Scripture is saying.
We must be in constant praise of God as Paul instructs us in 1 Thess 5:16.. to rejoice in Him. We must rejoice in God our Savior, ALWAYS!
13With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
Here the psalmist says that with his very own mouth… out of his heart he will DECLARE the rules of God… This is yet another submissive act of obedience that recognizes the authority of God’s word over his life!
The Hebrew word for declare here represents an accurate and truthful representation of God’s word. The word used for ‘rules’ is the Hebrew word mishpat which means judgments or ‘rules’… that represent the judicial pronouncements of God for the living of our lives. In other words, they are God’s template for living a pure life…
14In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
Here the psalmist DELIGHTS in God’s testimonies… this action by him in delighting in God’s Word is once again another voluntary deed that reveals his love for God. He delights in God’s word because he believes it to be valuable to him… as valuable as ALL riches is what he says…
Have u ever seen the face of someone who has just won something of great value? Have U ever watched Let’s make a deal or the Price is Right? These people have a priceless look on their face when they win… a picture of pure joy… a face no one could mistake for anything BUT joy
What about those people who have just experienced a great moment in their lives… those who have just been saved… those who have just been baptized… what about the 1st time you led someone to the Lord… the look on their faces is pure joy!
Here in this verse the psalmist wants his face to reveal his joy in God’s Word… when he thinks about it… when it is mentioned… he wants others to see how he delights in it!
Can you honestly say that your heart leaps for joy when God’s Word is read or spoken? Does your face reveal true joy, like it would if you had won some great prize?
He is telling us here to delight in God’s Word and this is one step toward living the pure and holy life God desires of us…
15I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
The psalmist then goes on in v.15 to actually offer 2 separate actions that reveal his love for God and his desire to live a pure life before God.
He will MEDITATE on God’s precepts… this is the Hebrew word see-ach~ which means to ponder upon, to study indepth, to dwell upon and it paints the picture of the psalmists extremely positive focus on the principles and precepts of God to live a pure life!
Now how often do we meditate on the WRONG things in this life… we have the tendency to focus on the negative things within this life and NOT the positives that God has given to us or provided us with…
He also states that he will ‘fix his eyes’ on God’s Word… this is a statement of extreme focus and vision on his part. He is FOCUSING intently on God’s way… focusing in on how God conducts Himself and focuses in on God’s standards.
Focus is the key ingredient here… keep focused… fix your eyes… don’t allow yourself to be turned to the right or to the left… but stay focused on what God has provided in His word.
16I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
Finally in this last verse we find the Psalmist going back to the action of delighting in God’s word. I will delight… meaning to revel, enjoy, to bear up proudly…
How many grandparents do you know that have pictures of their grandbabies in their wallet or on their phones? They are willing and ready to share those pictures to anyone, anywhere, anytime! They DELIGHT in their grandchildren and bear them up proudly to the world around them!
This is what the psalmist says we must do to live a pure life… delight in the Lord and His statutes… statutes are commandments… Hebrew word = peek-ood which basically means instructions from God for human conduct.
He offers delight in God’s word and in the statutes of God… those precepts and principles by which he is to live his life… he delights in them and desires to share them with anyone, anyplace, anytime…
His action is willful, but how often do we see sharing God’s precepts as a drudgery or compulsion? Did you know that God offers a promise to those who delight in His word… to those who delight in Him?
Psalm 37:4 (have someone read) The psalmist delights in God’s precepts and he makes a vow here to NEVER forget them! We often find ourselves on the mountaintop and its easy to delight in God’s precepts on the mountaintop!
But we quickly lose that ‘delight’ when we enter into the valley don’t we? When tough times come it is more and more difficult to ‘delight’ in God’s instruction and this is because our focus is no longer on Him but on our situation…
Now when you love your grandchildren… you love them thru thick and thin… and you delight in them always, even if there is a situation where they disappoint you or act out… or get into trouble.
We must always delight in the Lord and not FORGET His precepts and commandments. We are called to store them up in our hearts and NEVER to forget them… to do this we must meditate on God’s word and focus on delighting IN IT!
How can I live a pure life? I have to make the WILLFUL choices necessary to allow God’s Word to change my sight, clarify my vision and crystallize my direction! We must know and understand that it is ONLY from God can we have the wisdom to live a pure life… we must be the willing vessels… willing to be led by His hand… willing to put His precepts into application in our lives!
Are you willing today? Are you moldable today? Are you willing to submit and surrender yourself and your will to God’s precepts and His word? Let’s pray…
