October 17, 2019 -- Psalm 119:34 -- Understanding God and Ourselves

Give me understanding that I may keep your law

and observe it with my whole heart.

Psalm 119:34 English Standard Version

What does the psalmist pray to understand?

He prays to understand the waywardness of his own heart.

He prays to understand how he is prone to wander.

He prays to understand what he is serving—is it an idol or is he giving his heart fully and completely in service to the Lord God?

Let me remind you of the opening two verses of this Psalm 119:

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD;

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart… (119:1-2 ESV)

Unless we understand our own sinful hearts, unless we keep tabs on how many ways we find to get out from under the law, we will never truly understand how much we need the LORD. True blessedness is found in keeping His law and observing it with our whole heart. The laws of God allow us to live in harmony with our Creator—He has made this open to us through the blood of Jesus. While we were yet sinners, Jesus took the punishment of God against our sin on His Person. He paid the debt we never could. In Jesus we are set free from condemnation. More than this, Jesus gives to all believers His Spirit—so that the beauty of Jesus and the desire to keep His commands forms in us. So observing the laws of God our King allows us to live in society—even when the whole world may stand against us, we recognize the goodness of Jesus our Savior and the blessings of keeping His commands.

Recently I have been introduced to a Christian 12-step program called “Overcomers”. The fourth step reads: “Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” That has really impacted me. I see how easily we consider ourselves “good enough”. Or we are aware of lingering sins but we figure “they’re not so bad”. It can also happen that we see ourselves clearly, but don’t want to address a sin that might cause us to expose our wrongs to others as we have to confess the sins we have been harbouring. These are the kinds of issues I see in our verse this morning—the Psalmist is longing for understanding—insight into his own life so that he may be fully exposed before the LORD and his own conscience, confess what needs to be cleansed by the blood and begin once again to walk with integrity and joy before God the King, Who is Holy.

Give me understanding, O LORD, my Savior and my King,

that I may keep Your law, realizing its perfections for life with You and for living in society,

and my observance of the Law will spring from a heart fully yielded to You

and aware of the blessings which You give to those who keep Your ways.

Blessed are You, O God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.