Oh that my ways may be established
To keep Your statutes!

Then I shall not be ashamed
When I look upon all Your commandments (Psalm 119:5-6).

This entire Hebrew acrostic (Psalm 119) focuses on a singular theme: The preciousness of God's Word. Having read this psalm I don't know how many times, I have no confusion as to the importance of God's Word.

But what I desire is capsulated in the verse above: "Oh that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes!" 

Augustine wrote in his autobiography, "Lord, give what you command, and then command whatever you will" (Confessions, p 263). He recognized the need for divine help. He struggled with a sexual addiction that consumed him:

I was bound not with the iron of another’s chains, but with my own iron will. The enemy held my will; and of it he made a chain and bound me. Because my will was perverse it changed to lust, and lust yielded to become habit, and habit not resisted became necessity (Confessions, Book 8, Ch. 5, No.10).

It is the perennial struggle of Christians with their own nature:

The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions (Galatians 5:17, NLT).

An addict understands this conflict better than anyone. They are mastered by something other than the good they desire, whether drugs or alcohol or smoking or pornography or immoral sex or tv or video games, whatever. So Paul also wrote,

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing (Romans 7:19).

Is it possible that the Apostle Paul also suffered from some kind of sinful addiction? 

The Psalmist prays that his ways may be established (by God) to keep His statutes. One might even say that the remainder of this longest of chapters in the Bible is the Psalmist's expressed dedication to center his life around the statutes (the Word) of God. He treasures God's Word more than anything else. He takes refuge in God's Word. God's Word is his delight in every occasion. Having such an all-consuming delight in God's Word, the Psalmist has no time and no room to make any provision for his sinful flesh. This is just the command we find from Paul:

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Romans 13:14, NASB).

This is the verse Augustine used to battle and presumably find victory over his sexual addiction. 

The Psalmist also writes, 

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night (Psalm 1:1-2).

The Psalmist found freedom from evil by removing himself from the company of evil, whether walking, standing or sitting with them. He replaced such company with an all-consuming preoccupation with God's law. The expression "day and night" is a Hebrew merism, which suggests not only the onset and terminus of something but also all the points in between. So "day and night" means "from the beginning of the day to its end; all day long." All day long, the blessed man medidates on God's Word!

While the Psalmist prays for God to establish his ways in His statutes, he does not simply wait for God to act as an idle bystander, but he engages in (1) meditating on God's Word day and night and (2) giving no occasion to indulge the company of the wicked, sinners or mockers. In the New Testament this counsel is the same for the Christian, who is commanded to (1) put on Christ and (2) make no provision for the sinful nature (Romans 13:14). He is to fill his time, his mind, his energy with reading, memorizing, studying and obeying God's Word. He is to remove the triggers and pathways and occasions for sinful thoughts and behavior in his life. This is not to be a passive hope but an active, creative and diligent effort. 

Brothers and sisters, if you are mastered by some evil habit or besetting sin, you are not alone. This is the struggle of every Christian. But just as the struggle is universal, so must the effort be toward obedience. The greatest saints of the Old and New Testaments struggled as you and I, but they struggled in faith. They persevered without giving up. 

Also, understand this. At the end of your life, wherever you are in your striving for God's holy standard in Christ, He will finish the process in the end:

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

Praise God!

My soul languishes for Your salvation;
I wait for Your word.
My eyes fail with longing for Your word,
While I say, “When will You comfort me?” (Psalm 119:81-82)

Do these verses sort of sound like another famous set of verses?

As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God? (Psalm 42:1-2)

We are not told explicitly who the author of Psalm 119 was, but Rabbinic tradition pegs King David as the author. The arguments in support of Davidic authorship is very persuasive (see this blog). Now, Psalm 42 is not from David but attributed to the Sons of Korah. Yet, these psalms use a very similar format to convey a similar message, namely, the psalmist's longing for God. They put in parallel a longing for God with a longing for His Word, and the satiation that comes from meeting with God is parallel to the comfort that comes from hearing His Word. 

Why am I making this observation? It is to correct the notion that is becoming increasingly popular today that God can be known apart from His Word or that there is some transcendant experience for Christians that rises above simply meditating and obeying God's Word. 

Friends, if there is such a transcendant experience, don't seek it, unless you need it to believe in Christ. Such experiences are not for the mature in faith but the immature. As Jesus said to the father of the sick boy in Capernaum, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe" (John 4:48). Jesus also taught, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign" Yet, Jesus concedes, "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves" (John 14:11). Jesus does not commend such faith because He tells Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29). 

You see, to seek for "something more" is to say that what God has already revealed in His Word is somehow insufficient (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17). To go to Kansas City psychics for a prophetic word is to deny the promise of Scripture that the Holy Spirit in every believer is sufficient to teach you everything you need to know (cf. John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:15-16; 1 John 2:27).

Friends, be wary of people that practice triangulating visions to discern God's will. This is simply a modern-day practice of divination. Be wary of people today that often say things like, "The Lord told me..." or "The Lord revealed to me..." because most all of them speak only what they imagine in their own minds and hearts. They dishonor God because even when their pronouncements are shown to be false, they keep on speaking this way. They like to claim authority for themselves by making such bold claims, silencing any opposition, but they are unwilling to take responsibility when their words fall to the ground. If they were sincere, they would both repent and stop such blasphemous silliness altogether. 

Friends, I encourage you to remain faithful to the sufficiency of God's Word. You came to know Christ through His Word. You learned how to grow up in your salvation through the Word. Everything you can know about your future hope in heaven is revealed in God's Word. So don't go beyond what is written! (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6)

 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

I don't know that there is any more beautiful chapter in the Bible than Psalm 119. It is a masterpiece of composition and content. The one focus of the entire psalm and that which is referenced in every verse of the psalm is the Word of God. The psalm cannot be classified within any one category because it covers many: praise, prayer, meditation, instruction, testimony, wisdom and lament. It is written as a Hebrew alphabetical acrostic. It is composed of twenty-two sections, following the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section contains eight verses, each of which begins with the Hebrew letter associated with that section. If we were thinking of the English alphabet, every verse in the first eight verses would begin with an "A," every verse in the second eight verses would begin with a "B," etc. This beauty and symmetry in composition suggest that Psalm 119 was written to be read aloud and to be remembered. It's A to Z (Hebrew aleph to taw) format suggests that every facet of human existence is in view, and the Word of God is sufficient in them all, whether you are happy or sad, praising God or confessing sin, poor or rich, foolish or wise, alone or in the company of many. It is by this Word that one finds significance, even light, life, joy and delight. We are to understand that God's Word is completely reliable and incomparably wonderful and altogether sufficient.

The psalm begins like a beattiude (cf. Psalm 1:1-2; Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:3-12):

Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the LORD.

Blessed are those who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart—

If there is a pathway to spiritual and moral perfection, it will be defined by one's conformity to the written Word of God. Remember, the key to Hebrew poetry is "parallelism," where the thought expressed in one line is reiterated, extended, or negatively restated in the very next line. This literary device is called "parallelism" because just as parallel lines go in the same direction, so parallel thoughts in poetry convey similar meanings. For example, in verse 2 above, "those who keep his statutes" is parallel to "seek him with all their heart" such that this latter thought complements the first so that we understand that obeying God's Word and seeking God wholeheartedly are synonymous.

In a day when people are seeking all kinds of mystical and ecstatic experiences of God's presence, we are reminded that God has already made this available through His Word and there is nothing that compares with it. The Word of God is an all-sufficient guide for our relationship to God and the life that pleases Him (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Psalm 119 is the longest psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible (note: Psalm 117 is the shortest), so I will not even attempt to exposit the whole psalm. But I will share that Psalm 119:9-11 are among my favorite verses and were the impetus for me to begin my daily Scripture memorization:

    How can a young man keep his way pure?
         By keeping it according to Your word.
    With all my heart I have sought You;
         Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
    Your word I have treasured in my heart,
         That I may not sin against You.