Willing Obedience to God’s Word

Psalms 119:25-32
ד DALETH

25 My soul clings to the dust;
Revive me according to Your word.

26 I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
Teach me Your statutes.

27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts;
So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.

28 My soul melts from heaviness;
Strengthen me according to Your word.

29 Remove from me the way of lying,
And grant me Your law graciously.

30 I have chosen the way of truth;
Your judgments I have laid before me.

31 I cling to Your testimonies;
O LORD, do not put me to shame!

32 I will run the course of Your commandments,
For You shall enlarge my heart.

This section of the ascending song of praise is about choosing willing obedience to God’s word.  The psalmist starts with how he feels in his sinful state, as if in the dust of the earth which Adam was created, as if he was dying and going back dust to dust.  While holding to that feeling of death distant from God, he prayed for life again, revival from that result of sin as promised by His word recorded in scripture.  He confessed his sin, openly admitting his wrongdoing against the LORD, and received God’s answer in grace and mercy.  This then led to asking to be taught by Him, which meant he was willing to hear and follow in willing and heartfelt obedience.  The psalmist is like us, begging to understand the scriptures to learn God’s ways to walk out at all times.  Therefore, he meditated on all the wonderful works of God as he read, heard, and heeded by listening with the intent of applying the lessons and commands to living.  Though sin weighs heavily on the soul, we follow the example here to pray for strength out of that same word, knowing it has been breathed out by God’s own mouth (2 Timothy 3:16-17) to lead and guide us as it strengthens the inner man (Ephesians 3:16).  We also follow suit to choose to do good and not evil against His commands, such as lying mentioned by the singer of this song.  Instead, he asked to be given the grace of His word to change him and lead him onward.  Since he chose he way of God’s truth, since he put God’s judgments in his view, in his heart (Psalm 119:11), he had something to cling to, to hold fast to live by and avoid the shame of further sin.  In the end, the psalmist gave us the example to run hard after willingly obedience despite having initial feelings to do so, knowing that God would open his heart to want to obey more and more willingly along the way.  This principle of obedience is just as valid in light of the fullness of God’s grace in Christ today as it was before He set foot among us.  Our living sacrifice is obedience to follow from an ongoing metamorphosis of the heart by God’s word according to the working of the Spirit in us.  This is our sanctification.  He shall enlarge the heart set on Him (Psalm 84:5) in this pilgrimage to the celestial city of God.