Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep Your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of Your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward Your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to Your word. Fulfill Your promise to Your servant, so that You may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for Your laws are good. How I long for Your precepts! In Your righteousness, preserve my life. (Psalm 119: 33-40)
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No matter who you are or what kind of personality you have, there is something about asking for help that makes every one of us cringe at times.
Whether it is asking for directions on a trip, help with homework, assistance on that particular soccer play, advice in your marriage, counsel regarding your depression, support through a financial hardship, or even guidance with a struggle in your faith... the reality is that all of us have those certain situations where we hate having to ask for help.
But when it comes to our faith - actually maturing, growing, and deepening that faith - we cannot do anything without help from the Lord.
You see, everything good and holy comes from the Lord. And without Him, our habitual heart will always bend towards sin.
To often, our faith is weak, distant, dry, and mundane because we have not asked for help, guidance, support, or direction. Like James says, "[we] have not, because [we] ask not." (4:2)
And today's passage is all about the ask. It is a psalm for all of us "help haters" who need help articulating what we actually need help with. So below are what the psalmist asks the Lord for - the good and holy things that come only from Him.
{Teach and Direct me.} How can we expect to understand life without asking to be taught and directed from the Creator of life? Here, the psalmist is begging to be shown the way; to be directed on a path that leads towards righteousness.
Our human mind naturally is taught about sin from the sinful world.
We grow up as sinners, being hardwired and conditioned to follow a certain path (the wide one), live with a certain understanding (a sinful one); and worship a certain "god" (Satan). Because of the fall, all men understand what it is to be sinful.
Therefore, if we are going to be guided down the "narrow path" today, it starts with asking the Spirit to invade our minds and teach our hearts. If you want true understanding, it comes from Him. And if you want to be taught by the true God, it starts with this ask.
{Turn my heart and eyes away from what is worthless.} Along with our naturally sinful understanding is our natural ability to be selfish and to want to see worthless things.
That naked image on the screen. That dark and gory - yet so enticing - tv show. That text messaging fight that he is having with her. Or that hilarious movie that just came out.
Our fleshy eyes desire what is worthless to our faith. And too often, our selfish hearts will let our fleshy eyes have those desires. It is the battle that we face daily.
But this is why the psalmist begs for a change; a turn in his behavior. He wants a heart that is focused on God's desires and clean eyes that search out the good amidst the bad. He wants all of that disgrace to be gone.
Without God's power, his flesh will prevail. But with God's power, the impossible happens: selfishness turns to selflessness and worthless pursuits turn to righteous ones.
If we want to overcome our bend towards selfishness and our cravings for worthlessness, it comes from this ask. We will neither be free nor see freely without Him.
So right now, I challenge you to reread this psalm and let it be your ask. My prayer is that today, you "have" because you have asked for it.
What is your ask today? Feel free to let us know in the comments of today's Instagram post! You can find it at Instagram.com/DeclareGlory.
Blessings,
Greg, Declare Glory
