Mission Venture Ministries

“Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared.” (Psalm 119:33-38)

This section of Psalm 119 focuses on being taught, gaining understanding, and keeping “the instructions” of God’s Word. 

Here we read the psalmist request for God to control the process of teaching him since he needs the help from the Lord to find the truth he cannot find on his own. 

• “Teach me, Lord” (v. 33) – He longs for God to teach him His decrees so that he may obey them. 

• “Give me understanding” (v. 34) – Here we see that if the Lord did not give Him His understanding, he could not find godly understanding on his own. 

• “Direct me in the path of your commands” (v. 35) – He wants to follow God’s commands so that he will not be inclined to go the wrong way. 

• “Turn my heart toward your statutes” (v. 36) – Here we sense his longing to obey God and he asks to have his heart directed in the right way and not toward selfish gain. 

• “Turn my eyes away from worthless things” (v. 37) – He wants to focus on those things that have meaning and purpose in his life as he walks with his Master. 

• “Fulfill your promise to your servant” (v. 38) – He desires God to fulfill all His promises so that he can be an obedient servant. 

To be taught by God we must absolutely believe that all Scripture is divinely inspired (2 Timothy 3:16) and apply it to our lives. 

The Ten Commandments were divinely inscribed! And the testimony of their unique importance is a sobering condemnation of any who ignore them or distort their meaning (Exodus 20). 

And in the New Testament Paul writes: “You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3). 

As we see, it is no longer an external standard divinely engraved in stone by the finger of God, but an internal conviction inscribed in the heart by the Spirit of God! “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds” (Hebrews 10:16). 

This remarkable writing of God’s law in our hearts and minds has been accomplished through Christ, because He came not “to destroy, but to fulfill” the law (Matthew 5:17) and “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). Now, with the law in our hearts, we have become epistles of God, “known and read of all men” (2 Corinthians 3:2), and it is vital that the writing read true and clear throughout our lives. 

Having prayed for God’s direction in his life, the psalmist promised to act on God’s ways illumined by the Lord’s instructions, because, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105). He acknowledged his “delight” and his “longing” in the holy life and character revealed in the Scriptures and, like the Proverbs 2:1-5 passage, showed a willingness of the spiritual consciousness of his heart and mind to “understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:5). 

If you are making decisions, always look to God’s Word for direction. Take comfort in the peace which only He can provide (Philippians 4:7). Ask for wisdom, trust His promises, and He will guide your path: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). 

God blesses those decisions that He initiates and that line up with His Word and instructs you in the way of wisdom and leads you along straight paths (Proverbs 4:11); and He blesses decisions that accomplish His purpose and depend on His strength because, “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). 

Always remember that having the desire to live a godly life takes determination. The person seeking to live as God wants him to live will hasten and does not delay to obey the Lord’s commands (Psalm 119:60). 

May our prayer always be: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). 

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