How About A Little Fire, Scarecrow…

Morning!

Raises his cup of coffee

So yesterday we started in on the Psalm 119 challenge and part of that challenge is reading through the entire psalm as it is the longest chapter in the Bible.  Have we done so yet?  We’re starting in the second stanza here this morning, or verse 9.

Psalm 119: 9-16

“How can a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to Your Word.  With my whole heart I have sought You; oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!  Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that might not sin against You.  Blessed are You, O LORD!  Teach me Your statutes.  With my lips I have declared all the judgments of You mouth.  I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.  I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.  I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your Word.”

This is a stanza of direction and action— a how-to explanation of what David did.  David, a man after God’s own heart— who was blessed with the Presence of God, and whose words were honored through time by being included in Holy Scripture— explains to us here how he interacts with God’s Word.

Before we get too far in to the text today we should take a moment to consider the first line of our verses today.  How can a young man cleanse his way?  The word used for young man is…

Na’ar: (Hebrew)

- A boy, from the age of infancy to adolescence, by implication a servant

- Also a girl of similar latitude in age

- Babe, boy, child, damsel, lad, servant, young man

Before we go too much further, I want to take a moment to consider something: As Christians, we live on an eternal timeline with an eternal clock.  We live forever.  One hundred years from now— we will be living, somehow and in some form.  Two thousand years from now— we’ll still be there.  So how long have we been around so far?  Relative to other humans, we might be older or wiser.  But Christians don’t measure themselves by comparison with others— we measure ourselves in relation to God.  God is our anchor. God is our standard.  Which means— if my theological calculus is correct— Every one of us reading this passage together is, relative to God… young.

And always will be.

We also—all of us, regardless of our age— struggle with sin.  Sin, though it may take different forms for each of us, is with us from birth all the way through our life here on earth.  Now, there is no condemnation

for those of us who are in Christ.  If we walk in the Spirit,

we walk in the Mercy and Grace of Jesus Christ.  But the point remains: Sanctification continues through this life.  And it doesn’t stop when you reach a certain age.

We are all young men and women to God— and we are all on our journeys to cleanse our ways with the help of the Holy Spirit, for those of us who believe.  So how does the psalmist say we cleanse our way?  By faith in God’s Word— and by taking action upon it.

Heed: (verb)

- To pay attention

- To give consideration or attention to: Mind

James 1: 21-25

“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.  But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.  But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

We are to take heed of the Word.  We are to give it consideration and attention and then we are to act upon that Word.  This is how we cleanse our path.  And as James teaches, by doing the work of the Word, by laying aside all filthiness, by taking away the wickedness from before us, our thrones will be established in righteousness.  Like it says in Proverbs.

Proverbs 25: 4-5

“Take away the dross from silver, and it will go to the silversmith for jewelry.  Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne will be stablished in righteousness.”

Take heed of the Word and be doers of the work.  The psalmist then moves on in the next line— showing us how we are to take heed to the Word.  With the whole heart, he has sought God.  This kind of seeking—

it is judged by Jesus.  It’s between Jesus and each one of us individually

to examine our hearts and ask: Are we seeking Him with our whole heart?  Notice— the text doesn’t say “feeling love” with all our hearts.  The text says we are to be seeking God with all our hearts.

So what does it look like for us to be seeking God with all our hearts?  The word used in our text is…

Darash: (Hebrew)

- To tread, frequent

- usually to follow (for pursuit or search);

- by implication, to seek or ask; specifically to worship

-  Ask, care for, diligently inquire, make inquisition, question, require, search, seek out

In English…

Seek: (verb)

- To resort to: go to

- To go in search of: look for, to try to discover

- To ask for: request

- To try to acquire or gain: aim at

- To make an attempt: Try

Are we trying to discover Jesus with our whole hearts?

What does that look like?  I imagine it will be somewhat different for everyone.  But I also imagine it will be interestingly similar, because we are all seeking the same God— the God of the Bible.  One of the ways the psalmist shows us that he sought the LORD is given in our next line.

Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

To take heed according to the Word is to pay attention to the Word.  To pay attention to the Word is to spend time in the Word.  To spend time in the Word is to read the Word and by spending time taking heed to the Word, the Word will be hidden in our hearts.   

So when I first read this passage, I got real excited and motivated

to memorize the Word of God.  I immediately started doing research about memory and techniques that could help me memorize Scripture.  I did everything in my power to work with my terrible memory— which, if you didn’t know, is almost comical in how forgetful I am.  Then it hit me— What I was doing was trying to cram Scripture into my head.  But that’s a lot different than letting Scripture into my heart.

Knowledge—lasting knowledge—comes from familiarity.  And familiarity only comes by spending time with something.  I’ve found that there is no substitute for hiding God’s Word in my heart other than simply spending time with Jesus in the Word.  You see, the mistake I made early on

was moving too fast.  I was too eager to get where I was going— and I forgot the most important step: To pray first.

It reminds me of a parable…

Matthew 13: 1-9

“On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.  And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.  Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: ‘Behold, a sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.  Some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth: and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.  But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.  But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!’”

We are to love the LORD with all our hearts, all our minds, and with all our souls.  If we remember the parable, this is one that is explained by Jesus to His disciples.

Matthew 13: 18-23

“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the Word of the Kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is he who received seed by the wayside.  But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the Word and immediately receives it with Joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.  For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he stumbles.  Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the Word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and he becomes unfruitful.  But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the Word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

How is the soil of our hearts?

Have we been tending it?

How is the soil of our minds?

Tending a field for planting is an ongoing process and it does not stop.  Like Sanctification.  If we are to take heed according to the Word of the LORD, if we are to seek Him with our whole heart, it seems to follow that we will need to do the work necessary with the Holy Spirit to tend the fields we are asking Jesus to plant His Word into.  Jesus gives us a few scenarios that we can take heed of as we place His Word in our hearts.

Do we have trouble understanding the Word?  Then maybe we need a proverbial scarecrow to watch our fields.

Proverbs 3: 1-10

“My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you.  Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.  Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil.  It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.  Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.”

Do we receive the Word with joy, but then have trouble holding on to it?

Who do we need to root ourselves in?

John 14: 6-7

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the Way the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

Do we have thorns around our heart strangling the Word?

Isaiah 26: 3

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”

Jesus teaches that the Word of God takes root and holds for those of us that have good ground for it to be planted in.  So I’ll ask again.

Are we seeking Jesus with our whole hearts?

I think that’s a good start for the day.