Psalm 119: 9-11
- Nathan Davies
- Nov 27, 2022
- 4 min read
“How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I may not sin against you.
Psalm 119: 9-11
In these few verses sections, we see question, answer, commitment, request and action. This leads me to some questions. Who wrote this Psalm and what challenge was he facing regarding purity?
We don’t know the answer to that, we do know that the way or purity can refer to the way of wisdom. So when we face our own challenges, temptations or big decisions how do we ensure we follow God’s path? “By living according to his word”.
We must ask the obvious question; how do we live according to God’s word? We see the Psalmist has already made a commitment to seek God, seeking Him in His commands and asking for help. This is how we live according to God’s word; by seeking Him in the word.
“How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I may not sin against you.
Psalm 119: 9-11
The word of God is foundational. It is the only way we can live and remain pure; it is the only way to live. The Psalmist is eager to follow God and not slip. He asks for God’s help in that - “do not let me stray from your commands”. He also takes ownership and responsibility for living right - “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
It is as we make God’s word foundational to our lives that we build towards a life of purity and wisdom. But we always need to acknowledge that we need God’s help with that, “do not let me stray” should be our prayer too.
“How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I may not sin against you.
Psalm 119: 9-11
We are to seek God with all our heart. Jesus teaches that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind (Matthew 22:37, Luke 10: 27). Here the Psalmist is committing to seek God with all that he is.
We are also to hide, or store like treasure, the word of God in our heart. This means we will carry it wherever we go. John tells us that Jesus is the living word. So we are to carry Jesus in our very being wherever we go; He is our foundation. The heart is the seat of emotions, it is our conscience. We are to make seeking God our prime motivation and action. We are also to fill our emotional store and our thoughts with God, keeping Him as our prime focus and concern. When we do this our reactions and responses in any situation are more likely to be Godly, as the seat of our emotions has been filled with God.
“How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I may not sin against you.
Psalm 119: 9-11
To live according to God’s word we have to know it, we have to read it, study it, commit it to memory. Then, when temptation comes, when challenges to purity come, or when we consider acting foolishly we can draw on this well of truth, wisdom, and strength to continue to live in a way that is pure and wise.
“How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I may not sin against you.
Psalm 119: 9-11
Seeking God is active. The Psalmist is committing to action. He is also telling us that we can seek and find God in His word. Remember that at this time the Psalmist is likely to have had only the Torah. We now have the full Bible. We have more written truth in which to seek and find God.
“How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I may not sin against you.
Psalm 119: 9-11
When the Psalmist writes “living according to” it has a sense of guarding his life, his thoughts, and his actions with the word of God. We are to use the word to guard our hearts, keeping ourselves for God first and foremost.
The word “heart” is used twice in these verses, this repetition conveys to us the importance and significance the writer is placing on the heart. The heart is the foundation, it is considered core to who we are and we are to fill it up with God’s word.
“How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I may not sin against you.
Psalm 119: 9-11
We should ask this opening question everyday; “how can I stay pure today?” The answer is in daily seeking God. The Psalmist sees seeking God as vital, and sees this as something we do in the word of God. Let’s daily seek God in prayer and reading.
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