This is The Way – Devo Day 12

Daleth – Psalm 119:25-32

25 My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!
26 When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
28 My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!
29 Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.
31 I cling to your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame!
32 I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!

Psalm 119:25–32 (ESV)

Here the psalmist is continuing his prayer from the previous stanza (Psalm 119:17-24). It’s not a prayer for vindication, protection, or deliverance. It is a desperate prayer. He uses strong imagery to describe his mental and emotional condition. “My soul clings to the dust.” (v25) Here dust is a low place, a place of humiliation, a place of mourning, a place of death. This is no casual or accidental falling into the dust but rather lowliness, bankrupt without recourse or resource to effect change on his own. There would be no “picking oneself up by the bootstraps” from here.

Most of us have been at that low desperate place ourselves, so we know how it feels. But what is really surprising is that he doesn’t ask for relief, comfort, or even strength (which were likely the essence of our prayers in that time and place). Instead, he recognizes that while he is down here he might as well learn what God has for him in the midst of this hard dark trial. He values understanding more than knowledge saying, “make me understand the way of your precepts.” (v27) We get the sense of this from his petitions that he wants God to instruct, guide, inspire him and he knows it’s all in God’s Word. He is asking for God’s help to mature/grow past whatever the circumstances and cause might be:

• v25 – give me life according to your word!
• v26 – teach me your statutes!
• v27 – make me understand the way of your precepts
• v28 – strengthen me according to your word
• v29 – graciously teach me your law!
• v32 – when you enlarge my heart!

It is a prayer of confession and for revival, new life. He seems to know that the blessings of God and the goodness of life would be the overflow of God’s work to revive his heart and transform his mind. “Give me life according to your word!” (v25) He takes full responsibility for whatever put him in the dust. “When I told of my ways” (v26) No hiding behind lies. “Put false ways far from me.” (v29) No blaming others, no excuses, just genuine sorrow for what he had done. “My soul melts away for sorrow.” (v28)

“I cling to your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame!” (v31) The psalmist confidently declares that if he clings to God, like a drowning man clinging to a life preserver, then he would not be put to shame or give up.

Now at the end of his prayer, the psalmist transitions from the depths of the dust … to confession … to hope … to reliance … to strength … to running in the way God’s Word directs. “I will run in the way of your commandments.” (v32)

He finishes with a beautiful realization that not only is he totally dependent on God and God’s Word but that his heart is too small, too weak, too unreliable for what he wanted God to do in him and for the path that God had ordained for him to run.

Well, in Whoville they say – that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day. And then – the true meaning of Christmas came through, and the Grinch found the strength of ten Grinches, plus two! – This is The Way

Dr. Seuss, “How the Ginch Stole Christmas”

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

1. The next time life knocks you down, before you get up, before you cry out for help, try looking around for what God might have for you to learn. Perspective is powerful. Can you think of a time where that either did help you grown or it would have saved you another trip to the dust?
2. What kind of lessons have you learned or could have learned from the dust?
3. Is it possible that YOU are perhaps more like the Grinch than you would like to admit? “It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. Or maybe his head wasn’t screwed on just right. But I think that the best reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small.” How might God enlarge your heart? And what would be His reasons for doing it?

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