A Righteous Prayer

Psalm 119:145-152

I. A single-minded call

(Psalm 119:145-146) I cry out with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord! I will obey your statutes. I call to you; save me, and I will keep your decrees.”

Psalm 119:145–146 CSB

145 I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord. I will obey your statutes. 146 I call to you; save me, and I will keep your decrees.

I cry out –

Sense of urgency. Not necessarily emergency.

We know that this writer has had problems, and that’s certainly a time and reason, but this may not be where he’s coming from and it’s certainly not the only cause for urgency.

· Can also be caused by:

· Awareness of the condition of our heart.

· Complacency can distance us,

· Realize we’re not able to follow Jesus on His own, so our sin problem leads to cry to God.

I so identify with the stanza of the classic “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,”

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

External and internal trouble/frustrations can lead a Believer to cry out. These troubles can be blessings in our lives because it narrows our focus and brings us to that place of single-mindedness: I cry out with my whole heart!

I find myself at that place and my heart cries out, “Hear me, Lord! I will obey your statutes. Save me, and I will keep your decrees.

This is not a transactional plea: “If you save me, thenI’ll keep your decrees. If not, I won’t”

This is one who wants to keep God’s decrees, but can’t unless God hears and saves.

More like: “If you hear me and save me (revive me), then I can and will obey you and keep your decrees.

If you desire to be single-minded, the inability can feel futile. The battle leads to desperation and full submission.

Notice the psalmist doesn’t specify HOW he wants God to save/revive.

Because he is so singularly focused on the omniscience of God and the goodness of God – and his own weakness -- he knows God will always do what is best, in the way that is best. Hear me. Save me. Then I can obey — I want to obey.

ILLUS: A child in trouble only cries out, whole-heartedly for parents to help.

Here’s my question: Do you want to follow Christ like this? Call out to him with your whole heart.

II. A single-minded focus

(Psalm 119:147-148) I rise before dawn and cry out for help; I put my hope in your word. 148 I am awake through each watch of the night to meditate on your promise.

Psalm 119:147–148 CSB

147 I rise before dawn and cry out for help; I put my hope in your word. 148 I am awake through each watch of the night to meditate on your promise.

A singular-focused life does singular-focused things:

I rise before dawn and cry for help.

Daily desperation – I need thee every hour. Every hour I need thee.

Before I get out of bed, I’m going to ask Jesus to keep me focused on Him.

I put my hope in your Word.

Another way to say that is I’m hopeless without it. I realize that I will go astray if my life isn’t founded and grounded in the Word.

Asa – A godly king, but later in life, he did things his own way without seeking the Lord’s direction. It cost him.

I’m awake through each watch of the night to meditate on your promises.

This is how it should be during dark seasons, but it should be our practice to meditate on God’s Word always.

The idea here is, generally, that the psalmist is in a constant state of communication with God. 1 These. 5:17 - “Pray without ceasing.” If we are singularly focused on Christ, His presence will always be known (notice I didn’t say “felt”). When Jesus said he’d never leave or forsake, He meant it. Faith allows you to take Him at His word.

Let me ask you this: did I just describe you? Do you daily rise in the morning asking God’s direction? Do you put ALL your hope in God’s Word? Do you have an ongoing dialogue with Jesus through the day because you desire to walk with Him; because you know you need Him?

If not, do you want it? Start there! Ask Him for it.

III. A single-minded request: revive me.

(Psalm 119:149 ) In keeping with your faithful love, hear my voice. Lord, give me life (revive me) in keeping with your justice.

Psalm 119:149 CSB

149 In keeping with your faithful love, hear my voice. Lord, give me life in keeping with your justice.

“Hear me according to your covenant love.”

That’s the only grounds we have to ask for God to hear us – His faithful love (hesed – loving-kindness) or covenant love based solely on grace makes possible a holy God to condescend to sinners and hear their cry and respond.

Important to see that God deals with us according to his grace; his faithful love (hesed), but a single-minded life also understands the important of his judgments.

To be clear, Christians don’t fall under God’s righteous judgment against sin, but we understand that God’s judgment is righteous and that guides his discipline towards giving us life.

Judgment = “meeshpot” – “The quality of being free from favoritism, self-interest, bias, or deception; Especially conforming to established standards or rules.”

This is a request for God to revive us according to His own best standards. This assumes discipline.

:

Hebrews 12:5–11 CSB

5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, 6 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives. 7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. 11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Unknown: “Grace always offers the solutions to man’s problems, but judgement often provides the motivation to accept the solution. Pain drives us to the cure.”

IV. A single minded perspective

(Psalm 119:150-152) Those who pursue evil plans come near; they are far from your instruction. 151 You are near, Lord, and all your commands are true. Long ago I learned from your decrees that you have established them forever.

Psalm 119:150–152 CSB

150 Those who pursue evil plans come near; they are far from your instruction. 151 You are near, Lord, and all your commands are true. 152 Long ago I learned from your decrees that you have established them forever.

This is always the case: those with evil plans either come near to do us direct harm or to influence us to join them in their evil plans – in some way to take our eyes off of Christ.

· They come near with plans that are evil.

· Jesus IS near with commands that are true.

Kidner: “Note the realism of the double statement, They draw near … but you are near. The threat is not glossed over; it is put in perspective by a bigger fact.”

There will always be threats against the one who pursues a single-minded devotion to Jesus, but we have to fall back on what we know (regardless of how bad the attacks feel), and preach the gospel to ourselves again, calling out to God with our whole heart, asking him to revive me, discipline as necessary, to keep me from following after the evil that tries to ensnare me.

The psalmist fell back on what he knew: (Psalm 119:152 ) Long ago I learned from your decrees that you have established them forever.

Psalm 119:152 CSB

152 Long ago I learned from your decrees that you have established them forever.

He goes to God single-minded with no plan B because there simply isn’t one!

Conclusion

I don’t want to be double-minded, which can include a hot/cold relationship with God. I want to be HOT. I want to be single-minded, and that will only and always come when I am ingesting His Word and speaking to Him in prayer. That’s the only way.

Here’s the thing: single-mindedness is a fight. Like marriage, it’s really hard work because everything, including simple complacency, battles against it. We have to fight to be single-minded towards God and it’s hard…but worth it. HE’S worth it, and worthy of it.