Psalms 119:35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
The thought expressed in this verse follows logically upon the thought expressed in the first two verses of this octave. In the first two verses the psalmist begged the Lord to teach him and give him understanding of His law. In asking the Lord to give him this knowledge of His word, he resolved before God to conform his life to that knowledge. Now he is asking the Lord to give him the strength to keep that resolution. It is one thing to know what to do and another thing to be able to do it.
To go in the path of God’s commandments is to follow the direction of those commandments, to let them lead you wherever they will take you, just as when you follow the direction of a path in the woods. Knowing that God is perfectly good, you may be sure that the path of His commandments will always lead you to very best places you can be in your life.
When he says to the Lord make me to go in the path of thy commandments, he is asking God to enable him to obey His commandments. When God makes us to go in His way, He does not lead us like a puppet on a string. We have to do the going. We are responsible to obey. We obey the Lord actively, not passively. God makes us to go in the path of His commandments by enabling us, by giving us the strength to keep His commandments.
Psalms 68:35 …the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.
The following passage clearly shows how this mechanism works.
Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Observe that we work out our own salvation. But before we can work it out, God must first work it in. He does this by enabling us to will and to do of His good pleasure. But once He enables us to will and to do, we must ourselves will and do the good pleasure. And we can only do this if God gives us the ability to do it. This prayer for the Lord to make me to go in the path of obedience is a prayer for the Lord to strengthen us. Strength by definition is the power or ability to do something. How many times do we ask the Lord for strength and rightly so? For without His strength, we are powerless to go in the path of His commandments.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
But with His strength, we can pursue that path all the way, wherever it takes us.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Now the psalmist advances this reason for the Lord to make him to go in the path of His commandments: for therein do I delight. The person who finds his greatest pleasure in obeying the Lord is the person who will most earnestly pray for the Lord to strengthen him to obey. Our delights determine what we most seek after. So examine those things that you most enjoy, those things that turn your crank, as we say. And upon finding those things, you will also find what shapes your desires and prayers. Is health your greatest delight? Then that will be the foremost thing you ask God for. Is being able to come and go as you please your greatest delight? Then you will always be praying for relief from whatever is keeping you from doing that. Is money your greatest delight? Then your prayers will in some way or another mostly revolve around that. “Give me a job, Lord.” “Let this deal go through, Lord.” And on and on we could go. I am not saying these prayers are necessarily wrong. But should they be the foremost desire of your heart? If the greatest delight of your life is pleasing the Lord, then asking God to enable you to do that will be your foremost request. And, interestingly enough, a lot of other good things will come with the answer to that prayer.
Matthew 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
No comments:
Post a Comment