Psalm 119: Beth

Verse 9 might be a trigger for some, a remnant of what was known as purity culture back in the 90s.  Let us not be distracted from this though.  The intent was good, but the execution was poor.  It actually inspired many to either be less pure or actually caused a lot of religious damage.  This does not mean, however, that purity is a “dirty word,” rather we need to understand what it is and how to actually achieve it!

In the first stanza, David talked about righteousness and how important it is.  We explored what it means to be righteous and how to do so.  Here, we see him imploring the Lord for help!  Jesus was an example of what this looks like.  Jesus was the Word!  He was the Word made flesh.  I have since converted this into my own daily prayer:

Lord, write your Word upon my heart so that it may become flesh in me.

There is a key to righteousness here that we must pay attention to.  When we “become a Christian,” (ugh, a phrase that I wish we could do away with…but that’s a whole other conversation) we think that we are magically transformed.  Yet, that leaves out the sanctification process.  As mentioned in my last post, transformation happens over time.  Paul writes in Romans 12:

Therefore I exhort you, brothers, through the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may approve what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.

Be transformed refers to a metamorphosis.  It is the becoming of an entirely new creature!  Jesus himself said we must be “reborn” to which Nicodemus was entirely confused!  Metamorphosis is a great picture, as we see in the caterpillar transforming into a butterfly or moth.  The DNA is the same…but its appearance and function is completely different!  It used to crawl, now it flies.  That is what happens to us when we acknowledge Jesus as our Savior and then commit to following Him as our Lord.  When a butterfly breaks out of its cocoon, it doesn’t immediately fly away, does it?  It’s more like, “hey, I got wings!  What the heck do I do with them?”  It starts to figure out how to move them and what to do with them and eventually it learns to fly.  It’s a new creature and needs to learn the new way to act.  God created it to be able to learn what its purpose is in its transformed version.

In our context, this is what the Scriptures are for!  Too often, we try to use behavior modification, but unfortunately it actually results in being two faced.  We see James talking about this:

4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask for it from God, who gives to all without reservation and not reproaching, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask for it in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed about. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

If we focus on just “doing what we are supposed to do,” then we actually wind up attempting to live a double life.  We have the outward facing life that we are expected to live as a “Christian,” and the inward life that really hasn’t changed at all.  Instead, by studying and understanding and digesting God’s Word, it becomes flesh in us and renews our mind from the inside out!  Mimicking something is far different from becoming something.  This is why Jesus constantly reprimanded the pharisees for being hypocrites.  A hypocrite was a stage actor, pretending to be something they really weren’t!  In this case, pretending to be holy and religious when really inside they weren’t.  How do we prevent this from happening?

David outlines it in our passage for today:

• Use God’s Word to guide your steps
• Seek Him with all your heart
• Try not to wander from His commandments
• Treasure His Word in your heart
• Be teachable
• Rejoice in the Lord’s testimonies
• Meditate on His precepts
• Delight in His statutes
• Do not forget His Word

All of this comes from the bible!  It’s all right there, preserved and prescribed for us.  We just have to commit ourselves to ingesting and digesting it as if our life depends upon it.