Psalm 119:9-16 His word, our shelter

Psalm 119:9 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.” (NASB)
Psalm 119:16 “I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.” (NASB)

Do you seek security? Safety? Blessing? Well, in this the second octonary (eight verses), David continues on with his cry of inadequacy, however he now deals with the subject and the thought of Beth, or the second Hebrew letter. Beth means house and has connotations of blessing, and safety. Why would David, in his cry for saving from inadequacy and himself link this new thought up with the idea of a dwelling? The whole idea in this section of the psalm is that the only way, the only method anyone can have of being pure, of being righteous, of truly following God is by dwelling, living, abiding in the word of God, in His statutes. That is the only way to be truly blessed, truly safe, and truly secure.

We have all found ourselves crying out to God to teach us something, to show us something, to fix something, to do something. That is a whole lot of “somethings!” Yet all to frequently we miss one of those “somethings” we miss asking God as David did in verse 12 to teach us his statutes and to not let us wander from His commandments (verse 10). We don't receive the blessings because we are not living according to His word, and because of that we are not receiving the testimonies, the witness that we would like to have to glorify our Lord and savior.

You see, God has placed us in His house for a reason. It is while we abide there that we are truly blessed. When we leave His house, His place of shelter for us that we find ourselves screwing up and in a whole heap of trouble. The only way we can be pure is if He does it for us and provides. When we go our own way that is us leaving His house, the refuge He has made for us here on earth. We need – for ourselves, not for others wishes or desires – to delight, to take joy in, to adore being in His word, obeying Him, and following His footsteps.

God set the house rules and He expects us to do our best to live up to them. He knows already that we are imperfect and impure so when we approach Him we don't need to pretend that we aren't. He already knows! He just wants us to love Him enough to try to take His path and to obey His statutes, even when we would rather not. In the end they are better for us. His word is our place of refuge for anything and everything in fact, He asks us to bring it to Him and let Him deal with it! How awesome is that? He says “Child, if you love me you will obey me. If you obey me, you will let me deal with your problems, your issues, your mistakes, your failures. I have paid the price for them and I will help you more than you will ever know!” So lets do just that! Let us live, eat, sleep, breathe His mighty and powerful, loving and living Word!

Before Thy mercy seat, O Lord,
Behold, Thy servants stand,
To ask the knowledge of Thy Word,
The guidance of Thy hand.

Let Thy eternal truths, we pray,
Dwell richly in each heart;
That from the safe and narrow way
We never may depart.