Longing

Thrust

God's people, longing for his word, ask him to lead them wholeheartedly in his ways — where alone there is life.

INTRO

Illustration

I didn’t get anything.

No, I'm not describing my trip to the market.

I'm not describing how people respond to my teaching.

And I'm not describing what I got out of an hour on Instagram.

“I didn’t get anything”

The most common response in the church to Bible reading and study.

If I haven’t said it, I’ve thought it.

We read the Bible for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, sometimes an hour and it is just duty.

Sometimes pure drudgery.

And I’m not even talking about Numbers and Leviticus.

Sometimes I close the Bible and I’m clueless about what I read 15 minutes ago.

It hasn’t made me alive.

I didn’t get anything.

Need

Some of us have read the Bible end to end multiple times.

And it hasn't made us alive.

I didn’t get anything

It's not that we're in rebellion.

In fact, we want it. We sit down wanting it, especially after Sunday sermons.

And by the fourth verse we're thinking breakfast and Adyar Anand Bhavan.

We want to have life.

We want breakfast.

Both true; same morning.

So here's the question: how does God make us alive by his Word?

Topic

Our stanza from Psalm 119:33-40 shows us.

Reference

While you're turning — Psalm 119 — one thing to know: the man writing this has been walking with God a very long time.

And he is asking to be taught how.

Organisation

So while you look at the passage,

We’ll consider three things:

Leading (Ps 119:33-36)

Living (Ps 119:37-40)

Longing

Leading (Ps 119:33-36)

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible.

Twenty-two stanzas,

One per Hebrew letter,

Eight verses per stanza.

And almost every line

talks about God's word —

his commands,

his promises —

using eight different words for it.

We don't know who wrote it.

But we know he's in trouble:

Taunts.

Reproach.

Worthless men.

And we're in the fifth stanza.

The letter heh in Hebrew.

Now here's the thing about heh

for you grammar nerds.

In Hebrew, that letter

at the front of a verb

often makes it causative.

Make me to know.

Make me to walk.

Make my heart to bend.

Seven of these eight lines start that way. Seven.

So right away,

we can see that the Psalmist

is not merely commentating

or making resolutions or even praising God.

He is using that one Hebrew letter

to make the entire stanza a prayer.

He is asking for something to be done

TO him.

Now here's what's odd.

Every verse, except one, begins with a petition.

Every verse, except one, has the word "me."

Every verse, except one, talks about God's Word.

But every single verse

— without exception —

talks to "You".

YHWH.

When all's said and done,

this stanza is fundamentally

about God.

Look at the first four verses.

Four prayers.

Teach me.

Give me understanding.

Make me walk.

Incline my heart.

And the word behind "lead" (ESV) in verse 35

is the same root as "way" in verse 33.

So watch the pattern. Verse 33 — way. Verse 34 — heart. Verse 35 — way again. Verse 36 — heart again.

He wants God to work on the inside

so that the outside moves

along the way of God.

And notice verse 36 has a second half.

Incline my heart to your testimonies —

and not to gain.

Incline my heart not to what

I can get out of it.

He wants God to lead him

along the path of

wholehearted discipleship.

But here's what he does not ask for.

He doesn't ask for more content.

He has the teaching of Moses. He has the prophets. He’s writing wisdom. So he is not short of Scripture.

And he isn't short of affection either. Verse 35 —

"Make me to walk/Lead me in the path of your commandments,

for...

because...

I delight in them."

He already loves walking on this path.

He has the book.

He loves the book.

Yet he still wants

God to make him

walk in it.

That's the strange thing.

And I think that is why every line

is a prayer.

This morning we heard about the Bereans,

examining the Scriptures daily.

This man has been doing that

for years.

He’s a pro.

And he is still asking God to teach him.

Church, I wonder if we've assumed

the problem is supply:

Not enough books.

Not enough podcasts.

Not enough core classes.

When I first came to BBC,

the question I kept hearing was

not

"How are you?"

but

"Who are you reading with?"

It’s a great discipleship question.

And we are a church that loves reading.

But we are very good

at reading books about the book.

Another author. Another podcast. Another sermon.

Sometimes God's word is just duty.

Like breakfast.

Feed me today.

Sometimes it's worse than that —

it's superstition.

If I don't read today,

something will go wrong.

The Psalmist,

with his problem,

didn’t go to a commentary

or podcast.

God was big enough

And near enough

to ask.

So he asked.

No, he didn't ask

John Piper or

John MacArthur or

John Stott to lead him.

He asks God.

4 prayers for

Leading in vv33-36

And now we will see 4 more in vv37-40.

Living (Ps 119:37-40)

Verses 33 to 36 alternated.

Way, heart.

Way, heart.

Verses 37-40 are different.

They're framed.

Verse 37 ends —

Give me life!

Verse 40 ends —

Give me life!

Same two words.

Top and bottom.

Everything in between

sits inside that frame.

So look at verse 37.

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things...

Worthless things.

Empty things.

Instagram, Youtube, sales, entertainment.

All options we try instead of God.

Idolatry.

Death.

Now, Watch what he asks for next.

Not: take these empty things away from me.

Not: give me more discipline.

No.

Give me life...

Where?

in your ways

Here's what is odd.

The life is not the reward

for walking the way.

The life is in the way.

I suffer from what is called Tuesday blues.

I'm sure many of us deal with something similar

A bad boss. A fight at home. Exhaustion. Overwhelm. Anxiety.

Where do you go?

Be honest.

A sermon on YouTube? Phone a friend? A book? An article?

Netflix or Football, Or Swiggy.

Till it stops hurting.

Now —on that list

Where is opening the Bible?

Church, we know the right answer.

We can all say it.

But watch what our hands do at 11 p.m.

on a Tuesday.

Somewhere underneath,

we do not believe

that this book gives life.

And some of us here this morning

have no longing for this book at all.

Not even a small one.

None.

If that's you,

the answer is not to try harder.

You need a new heart.

And that is exactly what this book

promises to give,

and what Christ died to secure.

Ask him for that first.

Because in v38,

he asks God to confirm his promise

to his servant.

Language that sounds a lot like

God's promised King

from 2 Samuel 7.

He asks God to prove himself

to be true to his word,

so that he can fear the Lord.

A Promise-keeping God is a trustworthy God.

A trustworthy God encourages trust.

Trust enables following.

And on this side of the cross,

God's already proved it.

All of God's promises are yes and Amen

In Christ Jesus.

In him, we find the real fear of the Lord.

But v39 talks about another fear.

And another prayer to "Turn away".

Verse 37 and verse 39

use the very same verb.

Turn my eyes away.

Turn the reproach away.

The same thing, requested twice.

Turn away:

1. What he's looking at.

2. What's looking at him.

In v38,

there was the life-giving fear of the Lord.

Now, in v39,

there is fear of reproach

distracting the Psalmist from life in the fear of God.

Turn it away.

And why should God do it?

Because his judgments are good.

Because the goodness of God's word is at stake.

You see, to disgrace the Psalmist

who is walking in God's ways

is to disgrace the word of God.

So he asks God to take the mockery away.

Not because he can't bear it.

But because God's word deserves better.

God's word offers life-giving fearless fear.

Seven verses. Seven petitions.

Every one of them opening

with the same kind of word —

Make this happen to me.

And now, in verse 40,

that pattern breaks.

For one line

he stops asking for something

and says something about himself

that explains everything he has said.

Behold! I have longed after your precepts.

Look!

Here I am.

This is what I want.

Yet even that statement

for this professional Bible-guy

ends as a prayer.

In your righteousness, make me alive.

Life!

So if I'm stuck with the worthless things,

Be it pornography or politics,

Sports or Swiggy,

and I’m struggling to get anything

from his word —

How do I get onto that path

where there is life?

Longing

The answer is in the declaration

the Psalmist makes in v40.

A summary declaration of the entire stanza:

Behold! Look!

I long for your precepts

Leading. Living. Longing.

Longing so much

that it flows out to God

in asking, asking, asking.

Here's what's remarkable.

The Psalmist has walked with God for years.

Despite that,

The only thing he has

is a request.

He has the book. He loves the book. But he has to walk! So he asks. He is not getting.

So he asks.

Are you not getting? Start asking!

The Psalm is written for those

who long for God's word.

And no matter how little that longing might be,

it is still written for you.

I would love for us to be a church

that longs for this book.

Not a Bangalore Book-Reading Club. Bangalore BIBLE church.

A church that wants God himself to lead us on his ways.

A church that wants God himself to give us life in his word.

And here's the thing about longing:

You cannot manufacture it.

You can only bring the almost empty bowl you have

and ask for more.

Application

So here is what I propose.

Your handouts have the Scripture passage.

I'd like you right now to tear that page out

And stick it into your Bible as a bookmark.

And every time you sit to read God's word.

Pray v33-40 aloud.

Not so the reading goes better.

But for walking in God’s life-giving way.

So if you’re not getting, You can start asking!

I've been doing this myself.

The page is in my journal.

I pray it before I read —

out loud, badly, most mornings.

And I'll be honest with you.

I have prayed v36 for weeks

and nothing seems to have changed.

But I'm still praying it.

Still asking.

Here’s why it matters to me, personally:

For many years, I've struggled yearly with

a strange form of spiritual darkness.

Triggered by sins from my past,

I suddenly feel that God is far far far away from me.

I long for him to speak to me,

but all I hear is the sound of silence.

So I still sit down to read.

I'm desperate.

I want his words.

I want life.

But it feels hard.

Duty.

Hence I pray the Psalm almost daily.

And I hope against hope

that the God who brought life from nothing,

Can lead me on his ways,

Can give me life in his word,

Because I long for his word.

Church. Not getting? Start Asking.

Ask God to Lead you. Ask God for Life. Because you Long for his Word.