Hello and welcome to this blog where we give in to the study of
the word of God which alone is God’s instrument for changing lives.
Today, we want to consider some few chapters and verses of the scripture;
as you come along with us, we pray that God’s word will be made alive in your
spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Psalm 119:9
How can young people keep their lives pure? By obeying your
commands. GNB
This scripture remains one of the Psalms that deals expressly with
the issue of how the word of God should be applied in the life of men; throughout
this chapter, emphasis were laid on the word of God and man’s attitude towards
it.
Psalm 119 has the total number of twenty-two parts of eight verses
each; these twenty-two parts bears the name of the twenty-two Hebrew letters thus
the Hebrew alphabet were represented in this Psalm. It is a Psalm that celebrates the gift of God’s law as the perfect
guide for life; its theme is echoed in Psalms 19, deriving its wisdom from
Psalms 1 and 112 which reads thus:
Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do not
follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God. Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of
the LORD, and they study it day and night; Praise the LORD! Happy is the person
who honours the LORD, who takes pleasure in obeying his commands. The good man's children will be powerful in
the land; his descendants will be blessed.
Psalms 119 voices a deep desire that one’s personal life would reflect
the loveliness and goodness of the law.
V. 9 of this Psalm asked a very important question
that demands a carefully calculated answer thus one should count his teeth with
his tongue before jumping into answering this critical question even though it
looks simple.
It will be important to note here that the question asked by the
Psalmist is a research question which implies that v. 9 is a pointer to a problem that has being in existence (the
research problem); brcause there would not have been need to ask this question if
there is not a problem noticed.
Furthermore, this question draws ones attention to the issues
regarding young people an issue which has become a problem in the society
affecting both the elderly and the minors; an issue that has grown to a state
of general acceptance as something that is right and OK for the youths but not
to the psalmist because for him, it is an issue that demands a thoughtful
questioning and critical answering.
What could this issue
be?
It was the issue of
uncleanliness among youths. The writer of this psalm must have discovered in
his generation that there is a high level of moral decrease among youths, the hunger
and taste for right living (living a pure life) seemed to be lost among them.
Similarly, in many communities today, the youths have gone back to
celebrating masquerades; reviving the ancient traditions that anchors on the
worship of idols while some resulted to making modern idols for themselves knowingly
and unknowingly by the means of disregarding anything that has to do with
church, e.g. prayer, study of the word of God, submitting themselves to
thorough disciple classes but rather see these things as distractions while
their Facebook, Whatsapp, Telegram, IMO, Twitter, Instagram, and many other social media
you can think of, fashions, unchristian
movies and music gets their full attention as these things appeals to them more than
any activity that is linked to the church.
Some other youths have delegated their lives to several kinds of
immoral acts most especially sexual acts; it is in the midst of all these that
the Psalmist asked, how can a young man “live a clean life” MSG.
This question deals with the life of uncleanliness and sin that
the youths so much cherish, it is a pointer to the need for a young man to live
a life that is different from that of the world but focused on God.
In answering this questing, the psalmist said; “by
carefully reading the map of your word” MSG while ESV renders it thus, “by
guarding it (his life) according to your word”.
This answer
suggest that the life of a youth is in the midst of a cross road and thus needs
a direction; it speaks of the fact that a youths life is at the middle of the
sea in a ship and only with the right compass will this ship find its way to
the shore.
Read carefully the second part of this verse nine and you will discover
the compass that has being provided by God, His word; a compass that must be carefully
watched so as to get an accurate direction from it. This may also mean that if
this compass is not watched with carefulness it will not offer solution or direction.
Today many girls and boys have being deceived even with the word of
God because they have failed to carefully read the map of God’s word to
discover the direction it is leading them to. Some have read this map and it
said go east but they went west, to some it said don’t move but they moved.
The psalmist here points out the attitude that every young person
that wants to live a pure life must put on while trying to read this map which
is the word of God and it is that he must obey, he must allow this compass to
guide and direct him.
Beloved, have you being reading the word of God but you have not
allowed the word of God to Guide you? Do
you not know that you are at the middle of the sea and if careful attention is
not paid to this compass which is the word of God, you will end up in the Bermuda
triangle instead of the shore?
Jesus
Christ is calling you today to look up to Him and you will surely reach home.
Let us consider the areas of our life this compass which is the
word of God is expected to be allowed by a young person to have complete
control of;
V. 11 I keep your law in my heart, so that I will
not sin against you. GNB
The English Standard Version renders it thus:
I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin
against you. ESV
CONSIDER carefully these scripture; the psalmist said here,
because I want to be clean and holy, because I want to live a pure life; I have
stored up your word in my heart, because I don’t want to sin against you, I
have placed your word in my heart. MSG puts
it this way, “I have banked your promises in the vault of my heart”.
Notice here that the psalmist did not store the word of God in his
brain, his spinal cord or his stomach; he did not even store it in his blood
but his heart, that makes me to ask, why the heart?
Also from the ESV rendition,
you will discover that the psalmist used the word “stored up” what does it mean to store up? It seems like this phrase
suggest that the word was not stored to the half, middle or part of his heart but
to the brim; by implication, this word has being stored to the fullest of his
heart.
Coming back to the first question, why the heart? In heart series, I
pointed out that the Bible makes use of the word heart figuratively to represent
the emotions, feelings, desires, thoughts, mind, will etc. in addition, I
asserted that the heart is the center of a man’s life hence in it flows the
issues of life; the Psalmist understood this very well thus he stated, I have
stored up your word in my emotions, my feelings, my desires, my thoughts, my
will, and my mind so that I might not sin against you.
One of the problems that Youths face today which is the genesis of
diverse impurities and uncleanliness among them lies in the heart of
man.
You will discover that when the
feelings of a young one is corrupted with desires for the opposite sex; his thoughts will focus on how to carry out
an immoral act of fornication; when the
thoughts of a young man is not right, his desires cannot be right and so will
his will never be right.
So the psalmist says here before my feelings and emotions gets
stored up with sexual desires I have filled it with your word so that there
will be no space for sexual desires; before my emotions, thoughts get carried
away; I have stored up every space with your word.
The psalmist says here that the reason for impurities among youths is simply because their feelings, emotions, thoughts, will, mind, and
desires has being filled with the wrong compass nevertheless he that wants to be pure must
first of all store up these spaces with the word of God so that he will not sin
against God.
Beloved, can you ask your self what it’s that has filled your
heart, Jesus is saying to someone here,
that you cannot be filled with lust and expect to be pure, NO! For lust is
a wrong compass which can only lead one to destruction; you cannot be filled
with unguided desires for fashion and be holy as well.
What does it mean to be
pure?
You will discover that
the use of this sentence how can a young man be pure is same as saying, how can
a young man be different from his mates? Thus to be pure means to be clean from
within, free from defects and wholly set aside from impurities.
Have you being living the life of the multitude which has
introduced impurities into your life? Has your life all the way being a
manifestation of the world system? The Lord is saying that you need to be pure;
you need to be different.
However, you cannot be different except you first of all unyoke
yourself from the multitude and be filled with his word, God’s Word.
Some youths are filled with the lyrics of ungodly and unchristian
songs, some are filled with the imaginations of sexual desires but God says you
cannot be holy with those things in place in your heart; therefore you need to empty your
heart (emotions, feelings, desires, thoughts, will, mind) from these things and
be filled with the word of God allowing it to guide and lead you to the shore
where you will be saved.
Empty yourself today at the feet of Jesus and you will be blessed
with eternal life. Amen.
