Ap[ril 24, 2025 -- Psalm 119:103 -- Training our Desires
/People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalm 119:103 ESV
It is 11:30am local time and I am tasting my very first sip of coffee for today. Those of you who know me know that is very odd indeed. My usual routine is coffee, first thing, along with my morning devotions. Today is a travel day. Between travel arrangements and deadlines and packing well, the first coffee had to wait. Let me tell you, it was so sweet to take that first sip.
There are many things in life that can be described as sweeter than honey. A perfect sunset after a perfect day. Hearing your child say, “I’m okay” (and that after hearing loud clashes and bang in the other room). The end of a busy day when you are home and unexpectedly in the background your favorite music begins to play. It is quiet in the house, and you can just sink back into your chair and delight in it. Or, you have been on a wilderness trek. After many hours you find you are still a long way from being back at your car, and you’re without food or water. A kind stranger seeing your distress, hands you a sealed water bottle. There is that satisfying crack of the seal and you quench your thirst.
The point the Psalmist is making is that God’s word is sweeter than honey. Better than that first sip of morning coffee. More refreshing than water on a parched tongue. You might be skeptical at this description, thinking it must be hyperbole. Consider the fact that this devotee of God
has been keeping his way pure by the Word of God since his youth (v. 9).
hides the Word of God in his heart so that he will not sin against God (v. 11).
ran to the word when he felt his soul melting away for sorrow (v. 28).
cried out to God according to the Word when others taunted him (v. 41-42).
declares the Word when his heart is full of joy (v. 64).
What is the point I’m trying to make? What do you run to when you need to be soothed? Is it video games? Is it spending money? Is it booze? It is comfort in the arms of your latest fling? Is it living as a workaholic? Do you understand that the word is not sweet to you precisely because you have not trained yourself up in it?!
The word of God is a treasury, a storehouse of blessing to complement your days and adorn your nights. The word of God, wielded by the Holy Spirit, will draw you close to Jesus when your soul is parched. Recalling the word will bring you to tears of joy when all else seems arrayed against you. It is a matter of practice, discipline and persistence.
Gamers didn’t begin spending many hours a day gaming. They began through trial and error with persistence until games that once seemed unbeatable, slowly, through exhausting persistence, became winnable. Then the gamer moves on to the next mountain. But the word lays unattended at their elbow. Basically, I’m telling you you’ve either been diligently training your tastes towards the word of God or doing hard work to avoid the word, keeping it from filling your mind and heart with the true comforts your soul craves.
The problem is, if you have been engaged in a program of Bible-lite reading (you know what I mean, that is a little lite reading here, a verse of two there), you’re starving, Therefore, when life hits you full on in the face, your faith will be weak, cramped and unprepared. It will be hard to find passages that comfort. It is will hard to call out to God when you have only a nodding acquaintance with Him. The word can not be sweet to you because you have not trained your desires toward Him.
Even the most diligent student of the word needs to constantly preach the word to his soul. He repeats that the word is wonderful to him (v. 129). He has basked in the shining presence of God through his dedication to the word (v. 135). Even so, at the end of his praises and devotion, he confesses “I have strayed like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget y our commandments” (final verse 176). Ultimately it is Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the word. Jesus Christ is the word incarnate—God in the flesh. The study of the word leads the believer into delightful relationship with Jesus. For our part it is a hard-won relationship. Like good friends who require you to truly invest yourself in the relationship for it to grow, so we, lost sheep, constantly needing our Savior’s rescue, must turn to Him. Seek Him. Make time for Him. Long for Him. Train our desires for Him. Know Him as sweeter than honey.
Lord Jesus, let me know myself and know You, and desire nothing save only You.
Let me hate myself and love You.
Let me do everything for the sake of You.
Let me humble myself and exalt You.
Let me think of nothing except You.
Let me die to myself and live in You.
Let me accept whatever happens as from You.
Let me banish self and follow You, and ever desire to follow You.
Let me fly from myself and take refuge in You,
That I may deserve to be defended by You.
Let me fear for myself.
Let me fear You, and let me be among those who are chosen by You.
Let me distrust myself and put my trust in You.
Let me be willing to obey for the sake of You.
Let me cling to nothing save only to You,
And let me be poor because of You.
Look upon me, that I may love You.
Call me that I may see You, and for ever enjoy You. Amen.
Prayer of St. Augustine, “Prayer for Self-Knowledge”
https://youtu.be/8wfhhFHMgxY?si=S68Zcn3sbLa39UtJ Jesus is Mine
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