40 Days of Prayer, Day 21
Day 21, Saturday, September 10
(NLT) “9 How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word. 10I have tried hard to find you—don’t let me wander from your commands. 11I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12I praise you, O Lord; teach me your decrees. 13I have recited aloud all the regulations you have given us. 14I have rejoiced in your laws as much as in riches. 15I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways. 16I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word.”
Psalm 119:9-16
Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the entire Bible, reflects a consistent message that the Bible speaks about itself. The Bible calls its readers to read, study, memorize, delight in, and follow the words of God found in its pages. Psalm 119 presents the faithfulness and benefits of the Bible in the most positive terms. This particular section contains two of the more familiar verses from this lengthy passage. Verses 9 and 11 are verses that we quote often.
The Word of God and the Purity of Heart
Verse 9 opens with “How can a young person stay pure?” That is an excellent question. Apparently temptations were rampant for students even during the time of David. What is it about our youthful days that creates so much trouble? Is this an issue of freedom, too much time and not enough responsibility? Is the heightened battle with temptation greater because of raging hormones? Maybe it is the peer pressure which seems to come upon individuals migrating out of childhood and into adulthood. Whatever the cause, the pressure to fall into temptation while a youth is not a new phenomenon. The need for help in the fight is available. The hard work of learning and obeying God’s word is God’s protection for our purity. The psalmist goes on to say that he has “hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” The psalmist used poetic language, “hidden your word in my heart,” to refer to the process of memorizing and meditating on the Scripture. Scripture memory provides heart protection from the temptations of life. When we are tempted to sin in anger at our family member or a co-worker, then hopefully a verse like, “the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:20) comes to mind. When we are tempted to lust for our neighbor’s car or house, then hopefully this verse enters our thinking, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife…or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:17) When we are tired and decide we need a morning off from church, then the words from the book of Hebrews come into our thinking. “not forsaking our own gathering together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.” When we are prone to worry then we remember and apply the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34) In this way, the Bible helps to protect us from the temptations that so easily trap us. In order to experience such gracious protection, we must spend time in His Word every day, reading, studying, memorizing and meditating. However, we cannot leave the Word of God in the intellectual realm. Then we must act on the Word of God through the power of His Holy Spirit.
Prayer Focus
Oh Lord, establish Your word as the meditation of my heart. Take my thoughts and fill them with the purity of Your Word. Protect me from sinning against You. You are holy and pure. Keep me pure and make me holy by keeping me in Your Word. Amen.
From Bunyan’s The Acceptable Sacrifice
What is meant by the word contrite? A contrite spirit is a penitent one and deeply sorrowful, for the sins it has committed against God, and to the damage of the soul. As a man that has by his folly procured a broken leg is heartily sorry that ever he was so foolish as to engage in such foolish ways; so he whose heart is broken with a sense of God's wrath due to his sin, has deep sorrow in his soul, and is greatly repentant that ever he should be such a fool to bring himself and his soul so much sharp affliction. Hence, while others are sporting themselves in vanity, such a one calls his sin his greatest folly. 'My wounds are corrupt, ' said David, 'because of my foolishness.' And again, 'O God, thou know my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from You' (Psa 38:5, 69:5). Men, whatever they say with their lips, cannot conclude, if their hearts are not breaking, that sin is a foolish thing. The foolishness of some men, is that they take pleasure in their sins; for their sins are their foolishness, and the folly of their soul lies in their countenancing of this foolishness. But the man whose heart is broken, he is none of these, he cannot be one of these, no more than he that has his bones broken can rejoice that he is desired to play a match at football. Hence, to hear others talk foolishly, is to the grief of those whom God has wounded: or, as it is in another place, their words are 'like the piercings of a sword' (Psa 69:26; Prov 12:18).