BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his path? by taking heed according to thy word.
The psalmist asks how a young man can keep his life clean in a dirty world. His answer is God's word — read, taken to heart, and obeyed.
The question comes from someone who has tried to walk well and feels the world sticking to him:
Here is a soul with a question! He has tried to walk in a way that pleases the Lord, but he feels the defiling influences of the world around him. There has been defilement in thought and imagination. Some believers suffer from unclean thoughts or unclean suggestions from the enemy. This young man had known that kind of defilement. Now he asks the question: "With what" shall I cleanse my way, my heart, my thought life? This verse gives us the first wonderful fact about the Word: it purifies.
The verse is not about how a sinner's guilt is removed. It is about the daily upkeep of a walk:
The young man is mentioned here because a believer needs this vital instruction at the very start of his path. The subject here is not the cleansing of his sins, but the practical cleansing of his path. Only the blood of Christ cleanses sins, and God does that work for the believer. But the believer is responsible to cleanse his path. This means a daily, practical separation from evil principles. The means of this is clear: it is the Word of God taken to heart that enables one to act with such effect.
These two cleansings are easy to confuse. One happened once; the other we need every day:
The Word of God is that which has cleansing power for the believer. Bear in mind that we are not now speaking of that cleansing which, as guilty sinners, we get when we come to Christ. At that time we were cleansed in a very different way, even by the precious blood of Christ. But as believers we need the continuous washing, not of blood, but of "water by the word."
The answer is something the believer does, not something he owns:
First, by watchful care to bring all his ways under the searchlight of God's Word.
The blessing comes with reading, and with obeying:
There is a blessing where Scripture is read and in particular where it is obeyed. … We say to the little ones, we need to say it to each other, "read your Bible, pray every day." Now we can say there is a purifying effect from the reading of Holy Scripture.
Satan aims at the young first, but the counsel reaches every age:
In a world where Satan is very active to deceive believers, the young Christian is his special target. So the question the psalmist asked himself matters as much today as in his day. How can a young man — or a young woman — lead a holy and pure life in unholy, sin-stained surroundings? The answer of Scripture is short but enough: by taking heed according to your word. We live in a world where standards and values are changing at an ever-increasing speed. … whether young or old, we need to measure everything by God's plumb line — His Word. That is how we become overcomers in this anti-Christian or post-Christian world.
The cleansing reaches inward as well as outward:
Purity. Perhaps sexual purity is the most obvious example of this. These words speak especially to young men. But let's not suppose that any of us, whatever our age or gender, is safe from the dangers. The word is clear. And of course purity involves not just what we do, but what goes on in our minds too.
Our ways can be pictured as clothing — what touches us, and what others see us wearing:
The clothes stand for what touches us — our associations, what we have dealings with, what the world around us sees us connected with. Perhaps people have often seen us in the gambling halls, or in other evil places. All these associations and ways must be "washed."
- Defilement — a believer who wants to please God feels the world's dirt on his thoughts and his path.
- Distinction — the blood of Christ cleansed our guilt once; the walk needs the daily washing of water by the word.
- Direction — guarding your way means bringing it under the searchlight of Scripture: read it, then obey it.
- Reach — the enemy aims at the young first. Every age needs the same plumb line, in the mind as well as outside it.
- Result — a clean path through an unclean world, as the word washes our habits, company and reputation.
With my whole heart have I sought thee let me not wander from thy commandments.
This verse holds two things together: a claim and a prayer. The psalmist says he has sought God with his whole heart. In the same breath he asks God to keep him from straying. Why does an honest heart still need to pray like that?
The first half of the verse does not say he sought rules. He sought God Himself. One writer explains what a whole heart means here, and why the prayer follows from it.
Here He is "sought with the whole heart"; no guile, but the true desire of the heart towards God. God's commandments are precious, because they make His will known. So the heart that truly seeks Him prays that He will not let it wander from them. The heart looks to God as good, for when He is truly sought there is always some sense of His goodness. That is what distinguishes conversion from mere terror of conscience: desire towards Him, and a sense of goodness in God.
If the seeking takes the whole heart, you cannot squeeze it in. One writer presses this, and notes that the second half of the verse turns into prayer.
This verse shows us that the Word keeps the believer from wandering from the path of obedience. "With my whole heart I seek you…" We have to be in earnest about it! To rush in and out of the Lord's presence for a little reading and prayer is not what we could properly call a "quiet time." We must take time to be holy. Notice that the second half of this verse is a prayer: "…let me not wander…" We have a prayer in verses 5 and 8, and in this verse too. Prayer and Bible study go hand in hand.
David spoke this way in other psalms too. One writer sets that against a religion that is correct but cold.
Whole-heartedness is surely due to such a God as ours! "I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart" (Psalm 9:1), "With my whole heart I seek you" (Psalm 119:10), "With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD!" (Psalm 119:145). This is how David loved to speak to his God. Lord, save us all from dead, decent formality in divine things; give us David's spirit.
The prayer in the second half admits something the first half cannot supply. Good intentions are real, but they are not a guarantee.
He also casts himself upon the power of God, so that God will keep him from wandering into paths of his own lust and will. He knows he is weak. He knows that right and honest desires will not in themselves keep him in the path of blessing. So he casts himself with his whole heart upon God (v. 10).
One writer asks why the psalm speaks of a young man.
The young man is spoken of, no doubt, because life is strong in him, and the untried world is full of natural attraction… Seeking Him with the whole heart, the soul still has to pray, "Let me not wander."
sentence distorts source ("here" = the world); grade-29 sentence; duplicates Smith's point
One writer explains the verb behind the word "wander."
The verb is "to err," as in Psalm 119:10, 21, 118 and Leviticus 4:13 — to sin through ignorance.
One writer asks how that prayer is answered, and points to the next verse.
The newborn soul can rightly claim that with his whole heart he has sought the Lord. In keeping with this, he earnestly prays, "let me not wander from your commandments!" (v. 10). How does this happen? By hiding God's Word in his heart. How good indeed to learn verses of Scripture, not merely by memory, but by heart! This will certainly preserve us from sinning against God (v. 11).
- Sought — the whole heart goes after God Himself, and where He is truly sought there is always some sense of His goodness.
- Slowly — you cannot rush whole-hearted seeking; a hurried visit to the Lord's presence is not really a quiet time.
- Straying — the verb behind "wander" means to err, the word used for sinning through ignorance. It covers drifting, not only defiance.
- Strength — honest desires will not by themselves keep anyone in the path, so the seeker casts himself on God's power.
- Stored — God answers the prayer as we hide His Word in the heart, learning it by heart and not merely by memory.