“Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, And I shall observe it to the end.
Psalm 19:33-40
34 Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law
And keep it with all my heart.
35 Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
36 Incline my heart to Your testimonies
And not to dishonest gain.
37 Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity,
And revive me in Your ways.
38 Establish Your word to Your servant,
As that which produces reverence for You.
39 Turn away my reproach which I dread,
For Your ordinances are good.
40 Behold, I long for Your precepts;
Revive me through Your righteousness”
Dan M. is filling in for Pastor Dan this week.
All of this doctrine regarding Scripture that we have been looking at has an effect on the people of God. The author of Psalm 119 recognizes the authorship of Scripture and therefore its Divine nature and authority, the function of Scripture, and the result of Scripture. But more than recognizing these things, the psalmist is utterly dependent upon the Word of God. This is because the psalmist understands his own heart and the only thing that will effect a change in it, namely God’s Word. If the psalmist in verse 35, delights in the path of God’s commandments then why does he ask God to “make me walk in” it? It is because our hearts need inclination to God’s Law, vs 36. We do not need to be taught “dishonest gain” for it is already present. We don’et merely trust God’s Word as true, we can’t operate without it. Just like we would die without food, the believer cannot live without God’s Word, Mt 4:4. He is asking God to “teach me,” and to “give me understanding,” for endurance to “keep it to the end.” When God establishes His Word to us, it produces “reverence” or fear, turns away “vanity,” “reproach,” and brings “revival.” These are the same things that we looked at in 2Timothy 3:15-16. Just like Paul telling Timothy that the Scriptures are able to make one wise to salivation, the psalmist here recognizes in verse 40 that his revival depends on the righteousness God. This is why he “longs for Thy precepts.” The same righteousness revealed in the Law is the same righteousness we long for and is the same righteousness that has been imputed to us by faith alone in Christ alone. It is in the same Word where we find the Law that we find Christ. Is the Word of God your heart’s longing today?