TEXT: Psalm 119:33–40 (ESV)
33Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.
34Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
By now, this prayer request is becoming familiar. He is asking God to teach him the word of God. He combines this with a vow to keep His word to the end of his days.
We should stop and notice two things here:
First, He understands that God actively explains the Bible to people. The Bible is a book that can be known by anyone who reads it, but only those who receive additional help from the Holy Spirit can truly understand it.
Second, David’s goal of keeping the word of God is the condition necessary for a person to understand the Bible.
The words of the Bible have a meaning and anyone can grasp that meaning. Anyone can read “In the beginning God created…” and know what it says. But the understanding of the words that changes the mind and soul of a person? That requires the help of the Holy Spirit.
Let me show you this from the life of Jesus:
“If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.” --John 7:17
Jesus states an unshakeable truth: if you do not desire to do God’s will, you will not understand the words of Jesus as coming from God. What is your inner desire when you hear the word of God? Do you want to do it? Do you desire to conform to God’s good standards? Then you will gain understanding.
“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” --John 8:43–44
Jesus tells the Pharisees, learned men who knew the Bible, and were well educated: You can’t understand me. Why? Because they wanted to do devilish things. They did not want to do God’s will. So they heard Jesus, and the Bible, knew the meanings, didn’t understand the words correctly.
The Bible explains how this phenomenon works here:
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. --1 Corinthians 2:12–14
The Holy Spirit works with the Word of God to give us true understanding, and true change within. We do not need to be super-spiritual, nor super-educated to gain understanding; we simply need to desire to do the will of God. Do you?
35Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
He does not do the words of God out of fear, but out of delight. Why? We covered this several weeks ago, but it is worthy us remembering this again. The one who is saved does the will of God not out of fear, but out of love for God. He does not fear because he has escaped judgement. To sin is to be guilty, to be guilty is to fear seeing God, for He punishes sin. But Jesus died for our sins, so they are gone. We are not made innocent by trust in Him.
So we seek to do good because we want to, not because we need to in order to be saved. Let’s consider again the verse that we saw a few weeks ago:
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. --1 John 4:18–19
The Psalm writer asks to be led down the paths that he delights in. The goodness of God is a pleasure that he wants to enjoy. What about his sins? Do they not keep God from him? No. He trusts that God will take care of them, and God has, in Jesus. Do you live a good life, not out of fear of punishment, but out of love the goodness of God?
36Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
37Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
These two verses present a challenge to his love for the words of God. That challenge is the stuff of this world. It is in the heart of all us to choose love God or the things God gives. We will love more either the gift or the Giver. We must choose.
The ungrateful, spoiled brat wants to know the presents you will give him, but he has no concern for you. The grateful and content friend receives the gift and cherishes it because he knows the it is a symbol of a greater thing: the friendship and love of the giver.
The human instinct is to love the gift, not the giver. Our parents attempt to teach us to love the giver, because they know that children need to learn. We are sinners by nature. And so it is true. The greatest threat to our love for God is the stuff of earth. The theme does not happen once, but over and over in the Bible. Let’s look at just a few occasions where this truth is taught to us.
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”--Luke 16:13
This rule is absolute. To love God you cannot love money. The difficulty we can have is that all of us do love the wealth of earth somewhat. We want things. We want stuff. That stuff can be be money, property, people, animals, art, or anything. We want something on earth. We all do. But what do we love more? God or His gifts? The way to know by looking to see what or who we serve. What or Who is our master? Is God my master? Is attaining things my master?
The way to know this is to see what we are willing to lose. Are you and I willing to lose everything in order to serve God?
As we wrestle with this question, I think it is important to clarify something. To follow God does not mean that we do not get treasure. In fact, to serve God means we get more treasure ultimately for we get God and all He is and has. It means that we choose God as our treasure.
Let me show you what I mean:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” –Matthew 6:19
Jesus is speaking to the ones who want to please God. Where is your treasure? Heaven? Or earth? He does not say to give up your desire for treasure, rather He advises us to store up the more valuable treasure.
Often, we are tempted to not only store up treasure on earth, but to trade the treasure of heaven for the treasure of earth. That is a bad deal. There have always been stories of people who sell their souls to the devil in order to gain money or fame. But really, the devil does not normally pay that high of a price. A person will often sell out heaven for a small price. One person might sell out God for a few bucks or popularity with the right people, or a little affair on the side.
Do you have a price at which you would choose earth over heaven? Would you trade your faith in Christ for wealth and safety? Many have. Many do. Many will. A wealthy man asked a woman if for 10 million dollars she would spend the night with him. She thought for a moment of how that money would change her life, so she agreed. Then he said, “Wait, would you do the same for only 50 dollars?” She was offended, and said, “What kind of woman do you think I am?” He said, “we have established what kind of woman you are. Now we are negotiating on the price.”
Is that the way some are with their faith? If the price is right do they sell out? I think the reason so many of us love Tim Tebow is because he is one of the few celebrity Christians who has not sold his faith to the highest bidder, like Katy Perry, Kevin Max, or others.
But some ditch their faith for very little. Just to not be slammed on facebook is enough for some.
Jesus cuts through the clutter and says, “your treasure and your heart are in the same place.” Do you know one of the reasons why we went ahead with the building plans of Harvest even through Covid? Not because we knew the people would all be back, but because we knew that the people who loved Harvest most still loved Harvest. How did we know? They kept giving. Where your treasure is, your heart is. If you love your church and what God is doing here, it shows in your time, your service and your money. Some one might say, “wait. I have been a part of Harvest a long time, and I hardly give anything financially, serve only when convenient or not at all. Are you saying that I don’t love Harvest just as much?”
No, I’m not saying that; but Jesus is.
Where our treasure is, that’s where our heart lies.
If our treasure is in heaven, then our life will demonstrate it in that we will live meaningful lives aimed and doing the deeds that please God. We will strive to be like Paul who wrote this:
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— Philippians 3:7–9
Hearing those words, what did Paul love? He loved Jesus. He loved God’s treasure. What did he serve? This is the example of a meaningful life. Paul’s life is not set before us as unattainable, but as the way to follow. All our lives, sacrificed for the sake of gaining more later.
Notice that he does not say he wants to live poor and have nothing. He says that he counts all he has as loss,
In order that I may gain Christ.
Does he want to lose or to gain? Gain.
How do we do this? How do we love God more than treasure? It is easier than we might think. As Chesterton said, “Its not that the Christian life has been tried and found too difficult, but that it has been thought too difficult and left untried.”
Choose the better treasure. When your heart begins to long for selfish gain, say a prayer to God like:
37Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
Do what the Bible says, by always giving thanks for what you have. Gratitude for what we have is a constant reminder that God gives us good things –it keeps us loving the Giver not the gift.
Share what you have. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive, so it is. Sometimes I don’t feel like giving, but I do it anyway. But most of the time I enjoy giving and sharing. Either way, it is more blessed for me to give than to receive.
Learning to love the world less involves asking to see more of God. The more we see of Him, the easier it is see the world’s pleasures and treasures as shadows and ashes, temporary, and fading away. And where do we see Him? In His word.
And who finds Him in His word? The one who desires to do the will of God. The process of loving the Giver more than His gifts is ongoing. We are to go further up and further in as life progresses.
Let me end with an encouraging word from Paul:
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. --Philippians 4:11–13
Paul learned to be content. Contentment is learned for the follower of Jesus. The faster we learn it, the better off we are, right? He is content when he has much—most people are not. He is content when he has little—most people are not. His contentment is Christ who gives him strength.
In another place, the Bible teaches us:
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” --Hebrews 13:5
What do you have? That is enough, because you have God.
This is to be our daily attitude.
Content believers find God in the Bible. Content believers serve God, love others. Content believers are unruffled by the threat of future loss, because they know that when the future comes, God will be there.