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.
Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Psalm 119 turns, again and again, on one subject: the word of God. Verse 11 answers a personal question: where does that word belong? Not on a shelf, but inside a person — and it works once it is there.
The verse does not say he read the word, or repeated it, or admired it. It says he put it somewhere. One writer draws out how much rests on that single detail:
It was not the Bible in his hand to read it, or the word on his tongue to speak of it. It was hiding it in his heart that he found effective against sin.
Inside, the word is safe — and it needs to be. One writer describes people who took God's message in as treasure:
They took it into their knowledge and intelligence, took it into their heart as an invaluable treasure. "I have stored up your word in my heart." That is the right place for it; it is safe there. We need to be on our guard. The birds of the air in the Parable of the Sower stand for real evil spirits. They hover around us, seeking to rob us of the treasure we have received.
"Stored up" sounds like memory work. One writer says that is not deep enough:
The Word of God should not only be a check on our thoughts. It should be their source, which is far deeper. We see it in Christ, the only perfect One. He alone could say, "By the word of your lips I have kept myself from the ways of the violent." "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." The Word has a preserving power that keeps the feet from sliding. Only those who receive the truth in the love of it know that power. Merely having the word hidden in the memory will not do! There is no preserving power in that. The truth must act on the heart and conscience, separating us from all defilement. Otherwise we cannot experience its preserving power.
Another writer makes the same distinction with a memorable turn of phrase, and ties the verse back to the prayer that comes just before it:
The new born soul can rightly claim that with his whole heart he has sought the Lord; and consistently with this, he earnestly prays, "Oh let me not wander from Your commandments" (v. 10). How is this to be accomplished? By the individual's hiding God's Word in his heart. How good indeed to learn the verses of scripture, not merely by memory, but by heart!
One writer reads verse 11 as a further step, taken after the prayer of verse 10:
Second, by casting himself on the power of God, so that God keeps him from wandering into paths of his own lust and will. He knows his weakness. He knows that right and honest desires will not by themselves keep him in the path of blessing. So he casts himself on God with all his heart (v. 10).
Third, by hiding the Word in his heart, which keeps him from sinning against God in secret.
The stored word is for use. One writer points to the pattern:
God's word is a protector from sin — if hidden in the heart. Read, taken seriously, meditated on, remembered — all are involved in hiding it in the heart. Again this takes time, but it helps to protect us from sin. The Lord Jesus is the perfect example of using God's word when under temptation. For each of Satan's temptations He answered with the right scripture. He knew the scriptures, of course, but He also understood how to apply them, and which verses were right for which situation. How vitally important it is that we hide the word in our hearts; there is no better protector from sinning.
One writer sets this verse beside a later line in the same psalm, which says God's word is settled in heaven:
These are golden sentences for the present moment. They set forth the true place for the Word — "settled in heaven" and "hidden in the heart." That is not all. They also link the heart to the very throne of God through His own Word. This gives the Christian all the stability and all the moral security that the divine Word can give.
- Place — the word in the hand or on the tongue did not keep the psalmist; the word hidden in the heart did.
- Treasure — the heart keeps the word safe, but it needs guarding. Evil spirits seek to rob us of the treasure we received.
- Depth — memory alone has no preserving power. The truth must act on heart and conscience, and become the source of our thoughts, not just a check on them.
- Weapon — Jesus answered each temptation with the right scripture. He knew the words, and He knew where they fit.
- Anchor — settled in heaven, hidden in the heart. The same word ties the believer to God's throne and holds him steady.