Psalm 119:33-40 His word, our illumination

Psalm 119:33 “Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I shall observe it to the end.” (NASB)
Psalm 119:40 “Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me through Your righteousness.” (NASB)

Living in an upper story apartment, my windows are hard to clean. Oh, certainly I can clean the inside of them but not the outside. There is no ladder or long handled squeegee that I could use either. No, I must allow the landlord to bring in someone to do it. After the windows are cleaned everything outside looks lovely! There is no longer dust or grime in the way to prevent the fullest admiration of God's creation while I sit inside.

But what have windows to do with learning God's statutes? How do windows deal with understanding? Imagine if you will that I am unable to leave my apartment. The only way I can enjoy and discover the world outside is through my windows. If I am unable to see out my window, I must remove what blockages are there from my side, as much as I am able, but I must still call out for someone to clean and remove the blockages from the outside of the window. This is the imagery that the psalmist is trying to evoke in this section of the psalm. The Hebrew letter “He” is a picture of a window and lattice with a meaning of “Behold!” or in modern day language “Look Here!” David is wanting God to reveal or illuminate (yet another function of a window) his mind and heart. He no longer wants to be blind or indifferent, in fact David cries out to be “revived through righteousness” meaning that he feels that he is dying through unrighteousness! He wants the shackles and the weights of everything holding him back removed.

Are we like David, crying out for illumination, wishing that we could “look here” or just “Behold!” Are we wanting to be able to see clearly and distinctly all that we can? Or have we found ourselves in a place where we are comfortable with the grime and the grit covering our sight? Perhaps we have lost the distinction and the clarity we once had. I remember when I first got my glasses, suddenly the colours were brighter and the world more clear – but I had been going fine until then! It is the same with us spiritually. We need God to come in and clean up our sight so that we can have better sight. If you, like I, desire clearer vision and greater understanding and clarity then please, by all means join me in praying as David did in the section. Let us cry out to the Lord together to be revived by righteousness!

Jesus, keep me near the cross;
there a precious fountain,
free to all, a healing stream,
flows from Calvary's mountain.