Tune My Heart, Episode 36
- Stacy Bishop
- Mar 28
- 3 min read
Episode 36
Happy Sunday, friend. As you prepare for worship this morning, let’s take a moment of quiet to invite God’s presence into your awareness today.
As we continue our study of Psalm 119 and it’s focus on the importance and value of the Word of the Lord, let’s read the next section, He, verses 33-40.
ה He
33 Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,
that I may follow it to the end.
34 Give me understanding,
so that I may keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.
35 Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.
36 Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.
38 Fulfill your promise to your servant,
so that you may be feared.
39 Take away the disgrace I dread,
for your laws are good.
40 How I long for your precepts!
In your righteousness preserve my life.
In a similar vein to last week’s reading, David is again praying for God’s guidance to understand His Word, that he would obey it with his whole heart. He also prays that God would keep his heart from being distracted from understanding His Word. He doesn’t want to be distracted by selfish gain or worthless things.
These are some big prayers, in my mind. I think sometimes we pray to not be distracted while we’re reading the Bible or praying, but David is praying against anything worldly that would come between him and his God. If I’m being perfectly honest, and I’m guessing you might be right with me, it’s easy to pray to not be distracted, but I don’t want to pray against the worldly distractions that I really kind of love. Your worldly distractions that keep you from God may be similar to mine—social media, the drive to never disappoint people by saying no, the fear of what people will think if we really, truly take the Bible seriously, the lack of time you might give yourself because you need a solid three hours of TV watching at the end of the day to unwind, busyness that’s not even important. There are a million things that could be listed as our distractions.
I wonder if we could honestly pray this prayer of David’s and mean it. Are we willing to sacrifice a little of our selfish ambition and worthless pursuits to follow more closely to Jesus?
Let’s pray.
God, these words today convicted me. Would you continue to allow them to convict us, if they need to. Would you give us the desire to even pray those big prayers like David did. We know You are better than anything this life could ever offer, but help us to really remember that. We’re here for a few years, but our home is with You in Heaven. Help us to not be so busy chasing the world that we miss out on abundance with You. God, as we sing and praise You today, stir our affections for You. As we look at the cross today, help us to remember our minimal sacrifice here is nothing compared to what Jesus did for us, and nothing compared to the glory that’s to come. Keep our eyes fixed on Heaven. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.
A printable/downloadable version of today's devo is available here:
Comentários