Psalm 119:59

As I take up the next verse of Psalm 119, I direct your thoughts to what you think.  Think about what you think about. 

Psalms 119:59  I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.

The psalmist turned his thoughts onto his ways and well ought we to do the same.  Stop and take account of your ways, the way you think, the way you feel, the way you act, the way you worship, the way you pray, the way your spend your time, the way you spend your money, the way you relate to others, to name some of your ways.  Only by thinking on our ways will we discover if we need to redirect any of them.  Of course, the adversary would like nothing more than for us to be so caught up in the rush of living and doing that we take no time to reflect on how we are living or on what we are doing. 

Now when the psalmist turned his thoughts onto his ways, it prompted him to turn his feet unto God’s testimonies.  What began with thought ended in action.  Charles Spurgeon wrote:  “Consideration is the commencement of conversion:   first we think and then we turn.”  That this is so may be seen from the following passages:

1 Kings 8:46  If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;

47  Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;

48  And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:

49  Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause,

50  And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:

Lamentations 3:40  Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.

Ezekiel 18:27  Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

28  Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

God has forgiveness and healing for those who think on their ways and so turn away from their sins and unto His testimonies.  And when we turn our feet to God’s testimonies we are turning to the Lord since the Lord reveals Himself to us in those testimonies and relates to us through them.    

But it bears emphasizing that the psalmist turned his feet unto God’s testimonies.  It is not enough just to hear about God’s testimonies or to think about them or to talk of them, one must put them into practice.  As is sometimes said, we must walk the walk. 

Psalms 119:1  Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

1 John 2:6  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

The prodigal son is a perfect example of one who thought on his ways and then turned his feet in the right direction.

Luke 15:17  And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

18  I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

19  And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

When the prodigal son “came to himself,” he was thinking on his ways.  He considered the direction his life had taken and what it was costing him.  It was then he resolved to return to his father.  As the story goes, in returning to his father he was met with ready forgiveness and restoration.  Of course, this is an example for the sons of God to think on their ways, to come to themselves, and return to their Father when they have gone astray.  It is interesting that in order to come to the Lord, we need to first come to ourselves. Think of when you first turned to the Lord.  Didn't that happen as a result of taking stock of something in yourself and your life?  You thought on your ways and turned to the Lord.

So let me urge all of you to step aside from the rush of life and think on your ways.  Come to yourself, reflect on your life and its direction, and then turn unto the Lord and His testimonies, which are there to guide you in the right way. 

Haggai 1:5  Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.