Psalm 119: Nurturing Passion for God
When You Desire Something More than God
Psalm 119:33-40
Let’s turn to Psalm 119 v.33. If you need a Bible, please let us know by raising your hand and we will bring one to you. In the Bibles we are passing out, Psalm 119 is on page 513. And while you are turning there, I want you to imagine a scenario.
Let’s say someone in your home group hurts you. Maybe they didn’t talk to you at home group, or forgot to ask how your job interview went, or forgot your name.
You know that Jesus calls you to be patient, to forgive, and to love. That’s the path on which you will have the sweetest fellowship with God. But the fact that they hurt you makes you want to walk another path – the path of bitterness, of revenge, of nursing a grudge.
So here is the path of patience, forgiveness, and love – which will bring the sweetest fellowship with God. But you are struggling with wanting something more than God. You are wanting the pleasures of bitterness, revenge, and nursing a grudge more than you want God.
So what do you do at those times? The good news is that in the Bible God tells us exactly what to do. And one passage in which he tells us what to do is in Psalm 119:33-40 –
So let’s read these verses to ask the question – what do we learn about the author’s spiritual condition? Start with verse 33 --
33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
38 Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.
39 Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.
40 Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!
So what was the author’s spiritual condition? Notice what he said in v.36 –
36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
What he’s asking God is to so change his heart that he wants to seek God through reading the Bible more than he wants selfish gain. And the reason he prays this is because he is struggling with wanting selfish gain more.
Maybe he’d rather work, or hang out with his buddies, or go to the gym, even though he’s had no time with God. Now there’s nothing wrong with working, or hanging with your buddies, or going to the gym. But it would be wrong if these kept you from seeking God in the Word. So the author was struggling with wanting something else more than fellowship with God.
And look at how he describes it in v.37 –
37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
If you ask God to turn your eyes from looking at worthless things, that means your eyes are looking at worthless things. Maybe his eyes are envying his neighbor’s new car, or having wrong thoughts about the woman down the street.
Those are worthless things, because they won’t satisfy your heart. Your heart will only be satisfied in God himself.
But it’s clear from what he writes that he is struggling with wanting other things more than God. So the author is facing something that all of us often face.
So what do we need when we struggle with wanting something else more than God? You might think that what you need is discipline. Will-power. That you just need to stop being bitter about that person in your home group. You just need to stop envying your neighbor’s new car.
But that’s not what the author asks for. There is something else far more important, which the author asks for two times in these eight verses. So what it is that he needs? Life. Spiritual life.
You can see that in v.37 –
37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
And he repeats it in v.40 –
40 Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!
So two times the author asks God for spiritual life, which shows us that he’s lacking spiritual life. He’s lacking spiritual life, which means his heart is empty; he’s not sensing God’s presence, God’s love, God’s goodness. And so two times prays “give me life!”
Now let me give you an illustration to show why this is so important. The psalmist is struggling with wanting something else more than God. So here’s what’s going on whenever that happens.
Let this cup picture my heart, and your heart. And God created you so that he could fill you up with the joy of knowing him, communing with him, worshiping him. But tragically, we’ve all refused. We turned our backs on God, and tried to find water in other places.
But this is sin against God. And so, because God is just, he withdraws his presence from us, and we face punishment from him forever.
But God loves us. He cares about us. And in great mercy he sent Jesus Christ to die on the Cross, to be punished in our place for our sins.
And then God sent someone to you to tell you about Jesus. About why your heart is empty. And about what God has done for you. And you loved this message and put your trust in Jesus to forgive you, change you, and satisfy you.
And the moment you do that, God pours his living water into your soul – so for the first time you experience the joy of trusting him, worshiping him, and loving him. For the first time your heart is full of spiritual life.
But this is not a permanent condition. The demands and pressures and problems of life empty us. And so we are thirsty once again.
Now if we will turn back to Jesus Christ, and seek him and trust him, he will pour his life into us once again. But too often, when we are empty, we think other things will give us water – so we want bitterness more than God, we want gossip more than God, we want lust more than God. And so we struggle with wanting something else more than God.
So what can we do? Here we are – empty and thirsty – and wanting something else more than God. So what can we do?
Too often what we do is to just grit our teeth and try to endure our emptiness and thirst and try not to desire the sin of bitterness or gossip or lust. We … try … really … hard. But that does not work, because we are thirsty.
So then what too often happens is we just give up and surrender to the bitterness, to the gossip, to the lust. And that satisfies us a little bit for a little while. But soon the satisfaction is gone. And because it is sin we are left guilty before God and feeling far from God.
So what should we do? We should not just grit our teeth and endure our thirst. Nor should we surrender to the sin. God has a better way -- the way that the psalmist pursues. He asks God to give him life – to give him a fresh outpouring of living water – of God’s love, God’s glory, God’s nearness.
And when that happens, and his heart is once again satisfied in God, he will no longer desire these other things.
So the way to stop desiring other things more than God, is by seeking God for a fresh outpouring of his life. That’s what the author is doing in these eight verses. So let’s look more closely at how he does this, by asking how does the author seek life from God?
I saw six steps that he takes.
First, he asks God to teach him the word. You can see that in vv.33-34, which I think are the same request repeated with different words –
33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
Spiritual life comes through the truth of God’s Word. To seek spiritual life we don’t close our Bibles – we open our Bibles. We open our Bibles and pray – teach me, give me understanding.
And the reason we ask God to give us understanding is because when we want other things more than God, we are not understanding God’s Word. We are not really believing Psalm 16:11 – that it’s in God’s presence that there is fullness of joy; we are not really believing Jeremiah 2:12-13 – that God is a fountain of living water, and everything else is broken cisterns.
So ask God to open the eyes of your hearts so you once again see and believe the truth of his Word.
Second, he asks God to change his heart. That’s in vv.35-37, which are the same request prayed in three different ways --
35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things…
Don’t miss this powerful picture. His heart is wanting this other path more than the path of God’s commandments. His heart is inclining toward selfish gain more than God’s testimonies. His eyes are looking at worthless things more than God.
So what can we do when our hearts are wanting something else more than God? We can ask God to change our hearts. And here’s the good news – he will.
As we open up God’s Word, and ask him to teach us, and ask him to change our hearts, then as we pray over the truth of his glory, God will pour his Spirit upon us. We will see the truth of God, the reality of God, the all-satisfying glory of God.
And our hearts will be changed.
This is such good news. No matter how strong the temptation, God can so satisfy you in himself that you want him more than anything. So when you struggle with wanting something else more than God, ask God to change your heart.
Third, he asks God to give him life in his ways. That’s at the end of v.37 –
37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
This is how God changes our hearts; by giving us spiritual life; by helping us see and feel his reality, his love, his goodness, his glory.
So don’t just grit your teeth and try not to stop desiring sin. That does not work. Instead, ask God to give you life in his ways. And as you pray over God’s Word – he will give you life. He will pour his Spirit upon you. And you will be so filled that you will gladly turn from worthless things.
Fourth, he asks God to strengthen his faith in the promises. You can see that in v.38 --
38 Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.
What promise is he talking about? He’s talking about his promise to give us life as we seek him and trust him.
See, sometimes, as we are praying and seeking the Lord for a fresh outpouring of his life, God will pour his life upon us instantly. But at other times, in great love for us and flawless wisdom, he will choose to delay a bit – because that will give us even more joy in him.
So we will need to wait on God patiently. But as we do that our faith can waver. We can start to doubt that God will give us life. So it’s good to pray – strengthen my faith in your promises. Help me trust that you will pour your life on me in the perfect amount and at the perfect time.
Then fifth, he asks God to take away the reproach he dreads. That’s in v.39 --
39 Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.
So what is this reproach? There are two main possibilities. One is that he’s asking God to not let him be reproached or mocked by others – but I’m not sure how that fits the context. The other possibility is that he’s asking God to keep him from bringing reproach on God’s name by sinning – I probably go with that one because it fits the context better.
And then sixth, he again asks God to give him life. That’s v.40 --
40 Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!
This is what it is all about – asking God for a fresh outpouring of his life through the truth of his Word.
Questions?
So – MercyHillChurch – when you are struggling with wanting something else more than God – don’t grit your teeth and try to change your own desires. That doesn’t solve the problem. The problem is that you lack spiritual life. You are thirsty.
So open up God’s Word, and ask him to give you understanding. Ask him to change your heart. Ask him to give you life. Ask him to strengthen your faith in his promises. Ask him to keep you from reproaching him by sinning. And again – ask him to give you life.
He will.