Psalm 119.33-40 (3)

Pray Psalm 119.35.
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.

Sing Psalm 119.35.
(Regent Square: Angels from the Realms of Glory)
Make me walk in Your commandments, let me keep Your holy part.
I will keep Your Law unfailing; from it let me ne’er depart.
For Your Word is my delight, Lord; help me keep it from the heart.

Read Psalm 119.33-40; meditate on verse 35.

Preparation
1. What does the psalmist want God to do?

2. Why does he want God to do this?

Meditation
We cannot make ourselves delight in God’s Law. The winds of the world and even the Church today blow against delighting in God’s Law. All around us, the spiritual air we breathe wants to contaminate our souls with negative attitudes toward the Law of God. We must delight in God’s Law, but He must do it for us.

How can this be realized? Only by the grace of God. The psalmist pleads with God to “make me walk” His path. He was not naturally inclined to delight in God’s commandments nor to walk in His path. It takes a supernatural work to change the inward bent of the soul and teach us the true nature of delight. Only God can do this. Unless He gives us grace to delight in His commandments and walk His path, we’ll just continue filling the sails of our soul with the winds of lawlessness, and thus we will fail to love God and our neighbors as we should (Matt. 24.12).

Nonetheless, the psalmist knew that tapping into the grace of God, receiving the favor God freely offers,  is realized through faith and obedience. As he prayed for grace, he acted in obedience to God’s Law, for he knew the grace of God would meet him, empower (“make me”) his obedience, and confirm his delight in the commandments of God (Phil. 2.12, 13).

As you read, meditate in, and contemplate God’s Law – and all his Word – plead for grace and plan for obedience. Call on the Lord to make you delight in His commandments, and all His Word; and determine to walk in His way. The more you do, and the more you experience that sense of delight, the more your soul will begin to incline toward Jesus and the joy and power that come from knowing and obeying Him.

Plus, the more you do, the more you’ll realize it is God at work in you, willing and doing according to His good pleasure in making you more like Jesus (Phil. 2.13; 2 Cor. 3.12-18). And then you will give Him more abundant thanks and praise (2 Cor. 4.15).

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
And delight. So much of the Christian walk is a circuitous motion.

First, He saves us by His grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2.8, 9).

Then He allows us to implore Him for more grace. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4.16). This is grace that empowers us to obey.

Then, because of His grace, He allows us to see the futility of not pleading for grace to be obedient to Him.
“He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is careless (despises or is reckless) with his ways will die” (Prov. 19.16). Just a heads up.

He also allows us to see how foolish we look when we disobey: “The foolishness of a man twists his way, and his heart frets against the LORD” (Prov. 19.3). Yeah. Just don’t.

Then He gives us the power of His grace to obey Him: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” (Acts 1.8).

Then finally He warns us to stay the course, to ask Him, through His grace to “Make [us] walk in the path of [His] commandments” because only then will we find true delight in keeping His Law” (Ps. 119.35).

“You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen” (2 Pet. 3.17, 18).

Grace. Obedience. Grace. Don’t be foolish. Grace. Steadfastness. Grace. Delight. Grace. It's all of God. But we must participate. Wholeheartedly: “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law in within my heart” (Ps. 40.8).

For reflection
1. How does grace work with faith and obedience? To what ends?

2. Why do we need the grace of God to discover the delight of living within His Law?

3. What can you do so that reading, meditating in, and obeying God’s commandments is a delight?

Let it be remembered, that he does not boast of the inherent working of his nature, but sets forth the grace he has received, that God may complete the work he has begun. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Psalm 119.35

Pray Psalm 119.38-40.
Pray that God will give such a firm understanding and joyous delight in His Word that you will gladly walk His path in all you do today.

Sing Psalm 119.38-40.
(Regent Square: Angels from the Realms of Glory)
Set me firmly in Your statutes, for Your servant, Lord am I.
Fearing You in sweet devotion, let me live until I die.
Let no dread, let no reproach obscure Your judgments from my eye.

For Your holy precepts, Jesus, my whole heart longs earnestly,
for Your judgments all are good; Your Word is a delight to me!
In Your righteousness revive me! For Your goodness I would see!

T. M. and Susie Moore

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The winds of false doctrine are exceedingly strong in our day. If we don’t recognize them, we may become swept up in them and blown off course in our walk with Lord. Our ReVision study on “Winds of Doctrine” can help you keep the sails of your soul in the wind of God’s Spirit. You can download all the studies in this series by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.