Meditations on Psalm 119:9-12

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!" (ESV)

I have a friend in prison. Let us call him David. He has been in prison about seven years. As those years have passed his thinking has changed about why he is there.

Initially he said he was in prison because he was falsely convicted. Later he admitted he was guilty.

Then he said he broke the law because he was trying to please his girlfriend. Later she left him.

Then he told me his friends caused him to do it. They never came to see him.

Finally, after a number of years and a heart change, David confessed that he committed his crime because he rebelled against God. And even more specifically, because he rebelled against the Christian instruction he received from his parents as he grew.

Does that happen? Of course it does. Perhaps it has happened or is happening to you. You may be the kind of person who is not particularly worried about that fact; you believe there will always be time later when you can return to God. If so, this article is not for you.

But, if you are young, and you want to know how to avoid ending up living in a concrete room, if you want to avoid making serious mistakes as you mature, and it is your sincere desire to please God, then you need to read this. It is God's instruction on how to keep the path of your life pure.

When should I worry about the pure path?

Verse 9 begins a new section of Psalm 119. And it begins with a very important question: "How can a young man keep his way pure?" Notice the question is about maintenance. It is based on a pair of important assumptions. The first is that whoever this young person is, he has been raised in a godly fashion and therefore has been prepared to walk on a pure path. The young man knows this. The second assumption is one that sometimes bothers us because it eliminates a common excuse. There is no leniency given here for the indiscretion of youth. I have heard church members excuse the behavior of their children because "they are young." Or elders have said about wayward members, "when they are older they will come back to church."

The Bible tells us this is a mistake. The pure path is one to walk early in life. Proverbs 4:3-4, 26-27 says "When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, "Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live . . . . Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil."

There is a great deal of wisdom in the Bible's teaching. The patterns you establish for yourself when you are young will likely be those you maintain as you grow. If you go away to college and the first Lord's Day you attend faithful, biblical, worship, the next Sunday it is just a bit easier to go . . . and the Sunday after that . . . and the Sundays after those. But if you decide to serve yourself rather than God on that day, it will not take long until that becomes your pattern. In fact our sinful tendencies confirm the adage that it takes three months to establish a good habit but only three days to break one.

So do not wait. And do not excuse yourself. Maintain the pure path pattern you learned at home. Then you will following the command Paul gave to the young man Timothy "to discipline himself for the purpose of godliness." (1 Tim. 4:7)

What can I do to stay on the pure path?

These verses tell us what it means to follow after God. Three items are mentioned, all with a common thread. The end of verse 9 tells us we are to guard our way according to God's way. Verse 10 says we are not to wander from God's commands. And verse 11 states we are to store God's Word in our hearts. The similarity is easy to spot-all mention the use of God's Word.

The third of these three is where the others begin. In order to guard my pure path of life and not wander from it, I need to have God's Word deep within my heart. The Bible is a cleansing word (John 15:3, 17:17). Therefore the Psalmist is not simply saying we should know about the Bible or even that we should know the general doctrines of the Scriptures. Both of these kinds of knowledge are important, but here the writer is speaking specifically about serious study and memorization.

Serious Bible study is more than simply reading the Bible. People sometimes read the Bible as though the simple repetition of the words holds the key to Christian obedience. But the Psalmist speaks of something more comprehensive. In addition to reading there must a striving for understanding. This is not as complicated as it might sound. One of the simplest ways to study any passage is to read a significant part before and after the passage to understand the context, look up any words in the passage which you do not understand in a Bible dictionary, go through the cross references most basic Bible editions include, and then try to restate in your own words what the passage is teaching or requiring of you. If you desire some more help I am certain your pastor would be more than willing to point you to a good study Bible. The wonderful consequence of practicing consistent Bible study is that the more you do, the more connections you will be able to make with the teaching of other passages in the Bible.

In addition to Bible study it is important for any church member to memorize Scripture. There is a reason the Psalmist notes this in connection with the young. It is far easier for young people to memorize and retain Scripture than it is for people who are older. And it is what is memorized when we are young which remains with us throughout life.

There is no magical quality to the rote memorization of anything, including the Bible. But if you study and memorize to make the Scriptures a pervasive part of your thinking, then you have the key to remaining on the pure path.

Why should I stay on the pure path?

There is no doubt that what the Psalmist tells us in verses 9-11 require a serious commitment. So he tells us that the pure path of life not only requires the use of the Scriptures, he also tells us why: "that I might not sin against you." (v. 11b)

One of the most basic facts of the Christian life is that we live before a holy God who calls us to be likewise holy (1 Peter 1:16). So the Psalmist provides this as the essential reason why we must maintain a pure path. Often our motivation for doing what is right is another's approval. This is particularly true if you are young, and for a time this is necessary. Most of us learn to pursue God's path of life because our parents train us as to what to do. But the true test of spiritual maturity is the ability to respond to God's holiness with holy living in spite of whether others do or do not approve. My father made this clear to me before I left home for college: "Up to now your mother and I have been responsible for your training. Now you are moving out and beyond our direct influence . . . you answer to a holy God."

Is your life motivated by a desire to please this holy God . . . to avoid grieving him by your sin? If so, you know why you should stay on the pure path.

How is it possible to stay on the pure path?

The fourth important question answered about the pure path life comes in verse 12. How is it possible that you and I will continue to walk with God? How can we remain on the pure path? Only, we are told, if God is our teacher.

The Protestant Reformers understood very well the necessary connection between God's Word and God's Spirit. Many people have a Bible somewhere in their house. Most Americans have read or heard a portion of it at some time in their lives. But relatively few believe what it says and live by it. Why?

1 Corinthians 2:12, 14, answers: "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. . . . The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." In order for us to really understand the Bible, more than hard work is required. We need a teacher, a divine teacher who will give us both an intellectual understanding as well as a conviction and response.

Without the Holy Spirit we can not know God's Word, and therefore we can not know God. When we study the Bible we must sincerely ask God to teach us his truth. Without the Spirit's work we cannot walk faithfully.

Ordinarily I would not recommend anyone cutting up the Reformed Herald. But let me make an exception. And it is not an exception born from the exceptional quality of this article as much as the absolute importance of Psalm 119:9-12. If you are at college as you read this, cut this article out and post it above your desk. If you a bit older with children or grandchildren who are in the "young man" years, cut this article out and send it to them.

The church is in yearning for young men and women who walk the pure path of life. Be one of them!