Psalms 119:25-32

25 I lie in the dust; revive me by your word. 26 I told you my plans, and you answered. Now teach me your decrees. 27 Help me understand the meaning of your commandments, and I will meditate on your wonderful deeds. 28 I weep with sorrow; encourage me by your word. 29 Keep me from lying to myself;     give me the privilege of knowing your instructions. 30 I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your regulations. 31 I cling to your laws. Lord, don’t let me be put to shame! 32 I will pursue your commands, for you expand my understanding.

Aster the confession of My Ways and the conviction of My Ways third we see:

1. The Contradiction of My Ways – Verse 29

As long as we are living and responding according to “My Ways”, we are going to be living in contradiction to God’s Ways. It is a contradiction for a Christian to praise and pray on Sunday and live like the devil the rest of the week. It is a contradiction to claim the name of Christ, and not live as a blood bought child of the living God. It is a contradiction to call ourselves a Christian and yet not allow Christ to be in charge of every area of our lives. Do those around you know you’re a child of God? Here is a sobering question if it was a crime to be a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you? Or let me ask you this challenging question if someone was looking for a Christian to tell them about Jesus Christ, would they come to you? Many of us have compartmentalized our faith, we claim Christ on Sunday and leave Him in the closet Monday through the next Sunday. Who are you sharing your faith with? Why would you not tell the world about the wonderful marvelous mercy and grace you have received? When you are in love with someone, you share about them and tell the world about how much you are in love with them? So why not tell them about the one that loved you so much He sent His Son to die for you? In contrast to My Ways the last few verses speak second of:

2. Thy Ways – verse 30-32

It is here that the psalmist realizing his sin, not only comes clean and confesses it but makes a deliberate choice to repent and:

• Choose God’s Ways

His confession in verse 30 is, :”I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your regulations.” It is critical that as Christians we continually declare that we have chosen God’s way. That we choose to let God be the one who governs our lives. We need to choose to declare to a lost and dying world that the only way to life is through the Lord Jesus Christ. That only God’s way can bring lasting meaning and purpose to life. As the old hymn says: I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back; No turning back. Though none go with me, I still will follow. The cross before me the world behind me… No turning back… No turning back. The way of the world leads to death but God’s way leads to life. Next, we see:

• The Commitment to God’s Ways

Verse 31 says, “I cling to your laws. Lord, don’t let me be put to shame.”  Here we see that the Psalmist doesn’t want a casual commitment but a clinging commitment. As you look at some of the definitions of the word cling it’s easy to see how it speak of commitment: To remain firm, determined, or resolute. To remain loyal or faithful. To persist or endure. We have all heard the story of the pig and the hen and the difference between a contribution and commitment. In the giving of an egg, the chicken made a contribution to the breakfast, but the ham required the pig to make a commitment. The pig gave something of himself. Choosing to make a commitment to follow the ways of God means that we will give of ourselves. I believe that this is one of the reasons why so many Christians struggle and have difficulties in their lives. While they say that they are committed to God many do not serve His church because they are committed to other things but not God. Lastly, we see:

1. Chase after God’s Ways

Verse 32 says, “I will pursue your commands, for you expand my understanding.” When we chose God’s way we cannot be slow to respond. What about you are you swift or slow to obey God’s commands? What are you running after today, is it righteousness or are you running down a dead end street? Running takes deliberate action and it takes effort. If there is one thing I can’t say strongly enough it’s don’t procrastinate when God speaks to you. If He is calling you today to come to Him then run, respond with swiftness. When He reveals His will to you obey quickly. Just as physical running has many benefits on our hearts so spiritually running after God also benefits and blesses our hearts. The Psalmist says that He will expand our understanding. Running after God’s way and cleaving to His commandments requires more than just an apathetic following. It shouts with an eagerness to follow the set course. Has your heart been enlarged with the Word of God? Do you have the same desire as the psalmist to run after God’s way and follow His commandments? The only way to have strength in the challenging days is to choose to be completely committed to God and chase after His commands.

Psalms 119:25-32

25 I lie in the dust; revive me by your word. 26 I told you my plans, and you answered. Now teach me your decrees. 27 Help me understand the meaning of your commandments, and I will meditate on your wonderful deeds. 28 I weep with sorrow; encourage me by your word. 29 Keep me from lying to myself;     give me the privilege of knowing your instructions. 30 I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your regulations. 31 I cling to your laws. Lord, don’t let me be put to shame! 32 I will pursue your commands, for you expand my understanding.

Here in this section of Psalm 119 we see the writer crying out from the caldron of suffering and strife. Today some of you are in the middle of the melting pot of trials and troubles and like the author of Psalm 119 your pain is written across the pages of your life. The first thing I want you to note is that the one suffering here is a child of God. Today we desperately need to recognize that being a believer does not except us from trials and tribulations. Just because you have placed your faith in Jesus doesn’t make you immune to the headaches and heartaches of this life. Despite being a believer the author here freely admits to his audience the pain and heartache he is going through. Today many of us have bought into a prosperity Gospel, where everything works out well for God’s kids. The problem with this is that God’s Holy Word doesn’t proclaim a Gospel of prosperity in the here and now but rather one of pain and problems.  2 Timothy 3:12 tells us: “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” It’s in the next life that we will prosper, the problem is that many Christians today are living for the earthly and not the eternal. Our focus is on the here and now instead of on heaven. We are seeking the temporary treasures instead of the true treasures. Living for a feel good instead of living for God the Father. No Psalm 119 makes it clear that God’s kids are not immune from the problems of this World. Here we find a believer who is struggling and desires a deeper understanding and a greater insight into God’s Word. We need to realize that even those who are called by God and serve Him faithfully get to a point when we experience days of weakness. There will be days of weakness and wondering, where you question not only God but your service to Him and even your salvation. There will be times where you wonder why you are weak, times where you feel like you should be stronger. Where you think you should be better at this Christian life or may be more in control of your Christian walk. But despite all this, it is critical that we see that the problems this person of faith was going through did not drive them away from God but drawn them closer to Him. Problems and pain will either drive you away from God or draw you to Him. This section of Psalm 119 appears to be divided into two parts, My ways, and God’s Ways. If there is one thing we need to understand it’s that you cannot live a committed Christian life and be satisfied living according to your own ways. In the end, it all boils down to this, you are either living according to your way or God’s way. As we look at the two we will start first with:

1. My Ways – verse 25-29

It’s here that the Psalmist starts with the

• The Confession of My Ways

“I lie in the dust.” This is spoken with a tone of conflict and of humiliation in the situation that he finds himself. But this humiliation is not without hope. Some of us find ourselves in desperate situations today because of a lack of consistency in our Christian walk. There are many things that can turn us from the faithful life that we really desire to one of disaster. The only way to live a fruitful life is to listen to the Lord, but listening to self, society, and sin takes us from fruitful to failure fast. It’s here in verse 25 that we see the real longing of his life, “revive me by your word.” We may not like the painful and problematic times of life but they reveal what matters most. Sometimes it’s not until we are faced with heartache that we discover the true longing of our heart. Notice that his heart is not interested in riches but in revival. To revive here means to become alive or become sensitive. Today some of us need to confess the corruption of our ways and cry out to Christ for revival in our lives. Do you feel dead today, do you need to be revived and brought back to life? We need to understand that we will not experience true revival in our personal lives or in our land until we repent and return to God’s Word. As 2 Chronicles 7:14 clearly states: “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Until we have a hunger to hear from God we will live mediocre and miserable lives. Today many of us have become consumed with riches instead of revival, as a result, we are chasing after money instead of the Messiah. I wonder what will it take for us to realize that we don’t need wealth we need His Word. Second after the confession of my ways we see:

• The Conviction of My Ways – verses 26-27

He has a conviction as he has confessed his ways that God has heard and is responding. We can be assured that when we confess our sins God hears. Confession doesn’t just clean our hearts it clears our minds so that our ears are open to hear God’s Word and our hearts are ready receive it. Some of us are reading God’s Word but we are not responding to His Word because our hearts are hard and calloused. Not only do we need to open God’s Word but we need to open our hearts. Confession cleans and clears so that we are ready to receive instruction from the Lord. Sadly many Christians today are just reading the Bible for information instead of instruction. Our problem is that we don’t have a desire to do God’s Word. Many believers just want to understand it, they don’t want to obey it. Today we want information without implementation. But reading to know and not to do, leads to information without transformation. We need to be careful that we don’t get seduced into thinking that knowing a lot of information equals transformation. Consider the apostle Paul, before his conversion scripture tells us that Saul was very knowledgeable. He was a scholar among scholars, a Pharisee among Pharisees, trained by the very best. But it wasn’t until Paul encountered the living God and had an authentic experience with Jesus that God’s Spirit formed him from the inside out, and he was actually transformed. So information enough was not enough for Saul. Information becomes the foundation for which formation begins in a person’s life. And then the transformation is something that God’s Spirit comes in, takes over and does. In short information plus formation equals transformation. What about you are you, is it about your way or His? Is there something that God is convicting you of that you need to confess and come clean. God wants to replace your weakness with His strength so don’t despise times of weakness for it’s in our weakness that we see His strength most clearly.