Morning Psalms and Prayer: Psalm 119:25-32

Contemplate these questions as you look at Psalm 119:25-32:

1. In Psalm 119, the repetition of phrases like "according to your word" emphasizes the centrality of God's word in the Psalmist's life. How does this repetition underscore the importance of divine revelation in shaping one's understanding of God's statutes, works, and commandments? How can believers today prioritize God's word in a similar manner?

2. Verse 29 highlights the Psalmist's plea for God to "put false ways far" and to "graciously teach" him God's law. Why is it crucial for individuals to seek guidance and understanding from God's word rather than relying solely on personal interpretations or societal norms? How can this prayer resonate with contemporary challenges to biblical truth?

3. Reflecting on the Barna Group survey mentioned, which indicates a drift away from a biblical understanding of God, how might the Psalmist's prayer in verse 29 serve as a remedy to such trends? What practical steps can individuals and communities take to ensure a faithful adherence to God's word amidst cultural shifts and diverse interpretations of spirituality?

Transcript:

You may notice that I highlighted things a little bit differently today, and not just because they're in blue. I highlighted smaller sections of the text. And so what you see here is that we have my soul clings to the dust, give me life according to your word. And then I highlighted your statues, then wondrous works, according to your word. Teach me your law, your rules, your testimonies, your commandments, notice what all of those things actually are. They are all things from the word of God. We, obviously, According to your word is the word of God. But your statutes, how do we know God's statutes apart from his word? We don't. We need that special revelation. We need God to reveal himself to us in his word to know what his statutes are. His wondrous works, how do we know what his wondrous works are? Yes, we can see them in creation, but specifically, we see the wondrous works of God in his word when we hear the story of redemption in the Bible, right? Then once again, they say, According to your word. Then you say, We see, teach me your law. Where do we know God's law?

We don't know it apart from how it is revealed to us in his word. Then we see your rules, same thing. Then your testimonies. What is the testimony of God? It is the word of scripture coming to us and testifying to the work of God. Then we see, once again, your Commandments. You can see what's happening here and the way this portion of the Psalm is written. Actually, quite a bit of Psalm 119 is like this. It's driving home the point. We need the word of God. This is what we need. This is where our understanding of God comes from. This is where we know what God expects of us. This is where we hear of how God loves us and how he saves us. What we need to remember here is the importance of the word, and that's why we're driving this home. This is great for our start of the morning, right? Because what we're seeing is that we need God's word to get us on track. Verse 29, specifically, is one that I want to think about. Verse 29, Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law.

How important is that? Because we are prone to come up with our own ideas of God. We need his word for this reason. I saw a result from a survey by the Barna Group recently. It says that so many people are moving away from the biblical understanding of God. They have an idea of God, but it's coming from within themselves and what they think God is. Well, is that biblical It's not. It's not at all. What we need is an understanding of who God has revealed himself to be from his word. And so may our prayer daily be, put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law. When we come to God's word, we're going to get an understanding of who God is, not our imagination of who God is, but who he actually is and who he has revealed himself to be through his word. And so may we come to God's word every day, and may the spirit equip us to understand who God truly is. And may this point through here, your word, your statues, wondrous works, according to your word, teach me your law, your rules, your testimonies, your commandments, may that be driven home to us daily, that we live God's word so that we will know who he is, so that we can know this true God, who not only shows us how to live, but who has saved us by his absolutely amazing grace.