Delight

" 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.
Praise be to you, O Lord;
teach me your decrees.
With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word."
Psalm 119:9-16

I can't say that I can recall too many scriptures from the days I was a young man/teenager. However, I do distinctly remember reading and reflecting on this passage. I mean here was a passage especially for me - a young man. Through the eyes of a teen, most of the Scriptures were written for grown ups with grown up issues - there weren't a lot that specifically addressed me and my adolescent context. Perhaps that's why I liked and remembered this one so much. I mean, I was a teen who had put His faith in Christ and who was endeavoring to keep his way pure - this verse spelled it out for me plainly - albeit, leaving me perplexed.

How was I to keep my way pure? To stop sinning and pursue holiness? Well, all the answers to those questions were to be found in the pages of the Bible - that same book that was written for grown-ups and was filled with lists of names I couldn't pronounce, in a language and style that was part Shakespeare part Chaucer. Truthfully, at the time, I recall feeling a sense of anti-climactic disappointment. How was I to grow in Godliness - read a book. I had somewhat resigned myself to a life of impurity, for how could I ever relate to this antiquarian book?

The author of the Psalm hid the words in his heart to the point where he could recount them all from memory any time he needed to say them out loud - I had a hard enough time reading it, let alone memorizing it. The author of the Psalm equivocates the joy of reading and obeying the law with the joy that comes in obtaining large amounts of cash - in my selfish teen existence I would have taken the money every time. The author of the Psalm meditated on the words thinking deeply on what they meant - I didn't meditate on anything past the few seconds it took to decide what to wear in the morning.

I knew that reading, memorizing, and meditating on the Bible were important but I had a real hard time getting in to it - it seemed so foreign to me. Not surprisingly, I did struggle with sin in my life.

I wonder if this Psalm is more than just a bit of loving advice for young men. I wonder if these are precious words of life for all of us. A reminder to get back at it and make Bible reading and study an important part of our life. A call to purity through dedication to the Scriptures, not as a means of guilting us into it, but in offering a delicious drink of cold water on a hot day.

I'm pleased to say that despite my initial hesitation and fears, I stuck with the Bible. I can't say it was (and is) always easy, but I stuck with it. I moved from reading little snippets, to the Gospels, to the New Testament, to the Old Testament, to the Bible as the whole revelation of God's great redemption plan in Christ Jesus - my only rule of faith and life. I have learned to love the Word of God and cherish each word, digging for the meaning out of it as a young lover does the words of a love letter from their beloved. I will never stop being amazed at how this living Word continues to nourish and feed me in new and surprising ways time after time.

O Lord, continue to keep our ways pure through the light of Your Word. Increase in us daily, a desire to want to read and mediate on it, in addition to our understanding. May we never neglect Your Word, rather may you continue to take us to new and surprising places of joy and delight.

Be God's, Scott