The Heart of a Worshipper: Longing for God’s Wisdom
Notes
Transcript
If there is one verse in this Psalm that summarizes the writers desire it would be verse 33. The psalmist prays to God for God to teach him the way to happiness and joy and that is to learn and obey God’s statues.
Psalm 119 is a long psalm and the passage we will read today is consider by many to be the prayer of the psalmist. This prayer helps us to learn what it means to be a Christian as well as teaches us what we should pray for daily.
This prayer leads us to be the person God plans for us to be as well as points to Christ so we can see God’s instructions lived as we live.
Follow along as I read our passage. Psalm 119 33-40
33 Teach me, the way of Your statutes, Lord, And I shall comply with it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, so that I may comply with Your Law And keep it with all my heart.
35 Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it.
36 Incline my heart to Your testimonies, And not to dishonest gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from looking at what is worthless, And revive me in Your ways.
38 Establish Your word to Your servant As that which produces reverence for You.
39 Take away my disgrace which I dread, For Your judgments are good.
40 Behold, I long for Your precepts; Revive me through Your righteousness.
1. Desire to Discern God's Ways
Who considers themselves to be a good driver?
What makes a person a good driver?
According to the internet: A good driver demonstrates responsible and safe driving behaviors, including following traffic laws, maintaining situational awareness, practicing defensive driving, and being courteous to other road user.
I have some questions for you to answer. If you know the answer or think you know, raise your hand. When I read the answer put your hand down if you were not correct and that means completely correct. Missing part of the answer is the same as missing all of it.
When is it legal to make a turning movement on the road?
Answer: (a) No person shall turn a vehicle at an intersection unless the vehicle is in proper position upon the roadway as required in § 55-8-140, or turn a vehicle to enter a private road or driveway, or otherwise turn a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left upon a roadway, unless and until this movement can be made with reasonable safety. No person shall so turn any vehicle without giving an appropriate signal in the manner provided in §§ 55-8-143 and 55-8-144 in the event any other traffic may be affected by this movement.
(b) No person shall stop or suddenly decrease the speed of a vehicle without first giving an appropriate signal in the manner provided herein to the driver of any vehicle immediately to the rear when there is opportunity to give this signal.
How quickly must your brakes be able to stop your vehicle?
Answer: At 20 mph, you must be able to stop with in 30 feet. For the handbrake, it has to be 55 ft.
What is the highest speed you are allowed to drive in TN?
(a) Except as provided in subsection (c), it is unlawful for any person to operate or drive a motor vehicle upon any highway or public road of this state in excess of sixty-five miles per hour (65 mph).
Subsection C says the limit on interstates is 70 mph. In the left lane you cannot travel at less than 55 mph.
We could continue going through traffic laws in TN but I think this helps us to see that we don’t really know all of the traffic codes in our state. Combine that with states surrounding us and it is surprising each of us don’t have more tickets on our records.
What do traffic laws in TN have to do with our desires to know God’s laws?
Actually nothing, I just thought I would test you.
Truthfully, if being a good driver means you obey traffic laws, that at least implies that you know traffic laws.
If you want to really worship God, then you must know God’s laws. This is what the psalmist is saying. He wants to know God’s laws, His statutes and His instructions. The reason the psalmist gives about knowing is so that he can obey God and worship Him.
The psalmist also knows the only way to really learn God’s laws is from God. It is a recognition that he cannot fully understand God’s laws on his own. He can’t be good enough without God.
Today, we have the Bible, which is a compilation of God’s teaching and God’s laws. But we also have the NT which goes beyond just reading God’s instructions. The NT gives us the example of how to follow God, how to worship Him.
Jesus came to fulfill the law but also to be an example of obedience to the law.
We have been given God’s instructions, God’s statutes. We have been given the life of Jesus as an example of keeping God’s instructions as well as being the only way that we can get to God and learn from God. And then we have the letters that help us better understand those laws and how to follow Jesus.
It takes someone with a devoted love of God to ask God to teach them to know Him so that they may follow Him daily.
It is important that we spend time in prayer with God so He can teach us His ways.
2. Delight in Divine Paths
There are several popular motorcycle roads in this region.
You may have heard the names of some of them. Tail of the dragon. Back of the dragon. The snake. The rattlesnake. The devil’s triangle. The million dollar highway. These are just a few of the named roads.
People from all over the US and many from other countries travel to this area just to ride these paths. Some come because these roads are famous in the motorcycling community. Some come because of the challenges many of these paths have to ride them.
Here is a major key truth that must be followed on every road or path. You have to stay on that path in order to ride it. Unless you follow the path, you have not ridden that road.
The divine path of our Lord is very similar. You have to know the path in order to follow the path. And you have to stay on God’s path. It isn’t your own path. It isn’t your own way. It isn’t how you or some other person decides what is a good path.
Unless you learn God’s divine path, unless you seek God’s wisdom and follow His wisdom then you are not following God.
The common way people ride the back of the dragon means then end the ride in Tazwell, VA. The common place people stop on the tail of the dragon is Deal’s Gap.
If I ride the back of the dragon, I will not be in or around Deal’s Gap. It isn’t possible even if I tell people that is where I am.
The psalmist understands that without God, it is impossible to stay on the path God commands us.
We must have God’s wisdom in order for us to stay on the path commanded by God. Without His wisdom, we will end up worshipping a false god.
3. Direct Attention to Truth
How do we stay on, how do we even know the correct path?
You will know you are on the path if your focus is on God. I know that sounds easy and simple but it is also truthful.
If you ride motorcycles and you take the time to learn to ride correctly, something you learn early on is that the bike will go in the direction you are looking. If you are going through a turn, you must look at where you want the bike to go. The sharper the turn the more you turn your head to look.
I had a friend who wrecked his bike on a ride we were doing. Luckily he was just bruised and banged up but the bike had some good damage. It was a very simple but costly mistake he made.
He took a turn on the road and while turning he looked in a different direction than the turn. He actually turned his head and looked further around then he needed which caused him to run off the road. Even then, going through a gravel turn off, he could have saved the bike. Instead he became fixated on a tree he wanted to avoid. He target fixated and because of this, the bike and what he did headed toward the tree.
He took his eyes off the asphalt road and looked at a small gravel parking place and the bike ended up going into the gravel then the trees. If he had kept his focus on the road, he would have stayed on the road.
This is what the psalmist is writing to us. Keep your eyes focused on God and pray for God’s help to turn your eyes away from anything that might catch them. What we focus on is what we will head toward.
Have you ever gone grocery shopping when you are hungry? You have a list with you. It isn’t a long list, maybe 5 or 6 items but you are hungry. Those 5 - 6 items turn into about 50 items because the people in the grocery store know how to put things that will catch your attention, things you don’t really need, things you didn’t go in to buy.
If we shift our eyes off of the truth, then the untruth will catch our eyes and we will follow untruth. It happens a lot in churches these days. What the preacher says sounds so inviting, so much of what I want. If I pray hard enough then wealth will come my way. If I think and feel hard enough that I am a certain gender then I will become that gender. If I really love someone of the same sex, as long as I really love them then God will honor that love.
These are all untruths according to the Bible.
If we spend time praying to God, if we spend time reading God’s word, if our focus is on God then God will help us by showing us the truth.
And he has shown us the way to recognize and follow His truth.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.
Do you want to focus on the truth?
Do you want to see God?
Follow Jesus.
4. Depend on God's Renewal
The psalmist knows the only way that disgrace can be taken away is through God’s grace.
As I mentioned before, we have God’s teachings, instructions and law written for us. We have the example of Jesus who followed and obeyed the law perfectly. To help us better understand the doctrine that comes from God, we have the letters in the NT to help instruct us.
But there is one step missing from this.
That step is Jesus.
From the very beginning, God had a plan for salvation and throughout history, God worked His plan so that at the right time, Jesus came. At the right time, Jesus lived to be our example. At the right time, Jesus walked to the cross and allowed men to crucify Him. Then, in three days as promised, Jesus rose from the grave and presented Himself to His disciples, to over 500 people so that we have proof of His resurrection. All of this gives us the missing step.
In order to know God’s law. In order to learn God’s law. In order to please and worship God we have to depend on the work of God which is to renew us through His righteousness …. daily.
Our disgrace is replaced by God’s grace.
Our unrighteous acts are replaced by the righteousness of Jesus.
And all of these lead us into a prayerful life which depends upon God and longs for God’s wisdom.
Do you know God. Have you confessed and believed in Jesus so that you have access to God?
If not, now is the time.
Maybe you have but just aren’t living the life which God calls us to. If this is you, if you do not know the fullness of God’s law, be like the psalmist and pray for God to guide and teach you.
Let’s pray.
