November 4, 2024 -- Psalm 119:66-67 -- To what or whom are you submitting your life?

Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
for I believe in your commandments.
Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep your word.
Psalm 119:66-67 ESV
 
After a sinner has admitted he is powerless against sin and then acknowledged God alone is the source of all power Who restores him on his journey to freedom from addiction and life-controlling sin, the next, critical step, is submitting one’s life to the care of God. Ah, this step is a doozie.
 
Consider the way in which worldly people talk today. When you say something that expresses your belief, the response might be, “I respect you for following your truth”. What a load of hooey! There is Truth. Capital “T” Truth because Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). Prior to submitting myself to Jesus, the Truth, I was tossed this way and that way, by all the competing claims of the world. So were you. Or perhaps so are you right now. Tossed and turning like a ragdoll in the undertow of the world’s waves and endless parade of new fashions overtaking old ones.
 
Whatever the world, or your peer group, or even your own misguided, undirected mind tells you is important, you want to rush out to buy, or do, or say, or wear. If you do not submit your life to the care of God and constantly seeking His guidance, you are a ping-pong ball batted back and forth by every whim of what the world calls important today, or tells you is good (even though common sense says it is completely idiotic) or what the world is trying to parade as true for today. It is exhausting. It was what got you into the hot messes of sin that you always go back to.
 
If you think about it, really pause and go deep, notice how often you have impulses to do something. You are about to buy something; you realize it is based on a commercial you saw. You want the latest phone, which you can’t afford, because you’re still paying for last year’s latest phone, but, sigh, people around you have it. You see friends casually making out and know they are doing things you shouldn’t speak of, and they shrug it all off and say they’ve done nothing wrong. You wonder, maybe this making out thing isn’t as bad as the preacher, or the Bible, or your parents say it is…But then, your parents may have told you the importance to telling the truth, when to the added confusion of your mind, they lie about your age to get you cheap seats on the amusement ride. You begin to realize that so much of what guides your decision-making comes from flawed sources, compromised experiences, and out-right lies.
 
The Psalmist knew the intentions of his heart and the seemingly-out-of-nowhere impulses of his mind were topsy-turvy. He didn’t trust himself to know the truth. In his prayer he asks God, “teach me good judgment and knowledge”. Whatever the world offers is tainted by the Devil, who is the father of lies, who constantly teaching worldly people to speak his language. If you want to become a native speaker of all that is good and right and honourable—so breaking the pattern of self-governance and selfish addictive behavior—you must submit your mind, your core beliefs and your actions to God.
 
Why is this bit about “affliction” included in today’s passage? To be perfectly honest, most of you (and if I am perfectly honest, I have to include myself in this) will stubbornly try doing things your own way. Even if that way has been unsuccessful 100 times out of 100. Any miniscule, fleeing sign of half-success, you’ll latch onto and launch yourself headlong back into ruin. The LORD uses the consequences of your bad actions, He uses disciplines, He uses suffering to grab hold of your attention and then teach you wisdom in the secret heart. The Father in heaven is endlessly patient. Loving beyond measure. Committed to your growth in holiness in the way of Truth, because He has drawn you to Himself through Jesus Christ, Who is your Rescue-Story, Your Redeemer, and in Him you bring glory to the Father.
 
Father in heaven, there are competing messages, all kinds of conflicting versions of what is true and important, but today, teach me wisdom in the secret heart. By Your Spirit, apply the Word and plant it deep in me so that I will daily, become more fully submitted to You through its guidance. What I am praying is teach me to know Him Who is Truth, and humble me to submit myself to Him, and from that place of submission live out the Truth of Jesus in every area of my life. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/aH1Wn4fTiBs?si=askVaIJy_O1CIm7u “Speak O Lord”
 

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