How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. I will not neglect your word. (Psalm 119:9-11, 16, NIV 1984).
My Musings – Keeping our way pure is getting harder all the time with the downward spiral in social mores. The customs, norms, and behaviors that are becoming acceptable to our society, that were once considered unacceptable. Had we gotten it wrong in all the preceding years going back hundreds and thousands of years?
How can we know? By checking the standard. Society at large does not have a standard, because what is acceptable is fluid. But according to this text, God’s Word is the standard we should look to. This is probably the reason we hear more and more that the Bible did not say this or did not mean that. Likely by people who have no intention to “seek [God] with all [their] heart.” People who want to bend the standard to fit the behavior rather conforming the behavior to comply with the standard.
We cannot change society, only God through the work of the Holy Spirit can do that. But we can be the light that helps illuminate the word by “living according to [His] word.” And how do we do that? First, “[we must] not neglect [His] word,” as is much too common than it should be. For how else can we ensure that “[we] have hidden [the] word in [our heart]” if we neglect it?
The effect of neglect is predictable. We begin to “stray from [His] commands.” As a result, “that I might not sin against you” turns into “that I most likely will sin against you.” The light that is supposed to illuminate loses its glow and becomes indistinguishable from the darkness. “If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23, NIV 1984). Note that these words of Jesus do not end with a question mark, but with an exclamation point. The effect of neglect is not questionable. It screams predictability.
My Advice – I cannot give any better advice than this. “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:14-17, NIV 1984).
And why is this so vitally important? “The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth [God’s standard] and turn aside to myths [the downward spiral in social mores].” (2 Timothy 4:3-4, NIV 1984).
“The time [has] come.” So, hide it in your heart.
The Brew Is A Musing 