One Path

DEVOTION

PSALMS

ONE PATH

Ps 119:25-32

25 Daleth

I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word. 26 I recounted my ways and you answered me; teach me your decrees. 27 Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders. 28 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. 29 Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through your law. 30 I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. 31 I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame. 32 I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.

NIV

Day four in the longest psalm. When we consider our humanity, our state of being in this corruptible flesh and how weak it is, we lay low in the dust. How could we think so highly of ourselves? That is the life of the wicked. Although we are the children of God and we are his chosen people, in the sense we have accepted Jesus, we are still not supposed to think more highly of ourselves then we should. In light of the holiness and righteousness of God, we are still his creation, a human, not a god. It is by his power, his word, our life is preserved, not by ours.  We recount the ways we have lived, and we sought the Lord and he answered us, bringing us from that darkness into his light. We could say he shone his light into our darkness, but the result is the same. We now live in the light of the Lord. He teaches us his decrees, or statutes which are an enactment, an appointment of time, space, quantity, labor or usage. This could mean that we ask him to make known to us his will for our lives, what we are to do in time, space, etc. We also should be asking for him to teach us his precepts or his mandate for us. This mandate would first of all be accepting Jesus, but then how to live as a believer, living by faith, not by sight, trusting in him, not in ourselves. Because we are believers we meditate on his wonders, the work of his hands, not in the wonders of our hands. Life can become wearisome trying to live right, doing all the right things, not doing all the wrong things. It can wear at having an attitude of joy, thankfulness and contentment. Life has a way of dragging us into that pity-party at times. Just the aches and pains of getting old, or some other infirmity that makes life difficult. Our soul can get weary with sorrow, but it does not have to be because we have the Lord to strengthen us according to his word. His word gives us strength to live a joyful life, full of thanksgiving and contentment. His word keeps us from deceitful ways. Left to our own devises, without having his word hidden in our heart, we would live in deceit. It can show up in that façade we build to impress everyone, keeping them from seeing the real us. That is deceit in its finest form. Even if we tried, we could not pull off any deceit when it comes to the Lord, for he knows our heart. So we ask him to be gracious to us. In the Hebrew it says, may the Torah grant me grace. That is what the psalmist had, but we have Jesus, so we would then say, may Jesus grant us grace, which he most certainly does. The one thing we can do is set our heart on his ways. This goes back to that divided heart issue again. We either set our heart on his ways, or we don’t. We cannot set it in two ways, his and the worlds. We have chosen the way of truth. That is only one way, we cannot travel in two directions at the same time. One way, his way or the highway. We have to hold fast to that position in our life, his way, not our way. One way, only one path to run on. There is only one path on which our heart is set free.