Psalm 119: Beth

BETH
9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, O LORD! Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth.
14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.
16 I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.
[Psalm 119:9-16 NKJV]

When I wrote a few months ago about Psalm 119, I had no thought of coming back to it in these meditations; but with all that has been happening for us recently, this second section of the longest Psalm impressed on me just how clearly God's word relates to our day-to-day inward experience.

The first eight verses (Aleph,"ox") show us The Way, and point towards His way becoming my way. Essentially, however, we have someone crying out to be shown the path to follow; there is a desperation as to the next step when the Psalmist cries Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes! We can know His laws and can follow that line, but despite that knowledge there is still the anxiety that He will forsake us. Where do we go; what must we do?

This second group of eight verses (Beth,"house") begins by asking the question, how can the way be cleansed? The Psalmist recognises that the only way to progress in our relationship with God is by cleansing. Before you can enter the temple - the house of God - you must first be washed clean, and the answer as to how this can be done follows immediately on the question: by taking heed according to Your word.

There is more to it than simply taking heed, and the remainder of this grouping expands on that theme revealing that God's word must be hidden in my heart. It must become a part of us, so that our contemplations and meditations are on His ways and His word. In this way, we can become "washed in the water of the word", the spiritual equivalent of the brazen laver in the outer court of the tabernacle. This is where the priests would wash their feet and hands to prepare for entrance into the Holy Place.

At the Last Supper, Jesus did three things to prepare the way. He poured the wine; He broke the bread, and finally, He washed the disciples feet. Our walk with Jesus must be cleansed, for without holiness, no man shall see The Lord. Remember also, that Jesus is The Word and only He can present us as holy.

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight
[Colossians 1:21-22 NKJV]

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“Way Maker” — LEELAND

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OSWALD CHAMBERS —RUN TODAY’S RACE
Wednesday 9th September 2020
We impoverish God in our minds when we say there must be answers to our prayers on the material plane; the biggest answers to our prayers are in the realm of the unseen (Ephesians 6:12–13).

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