18 Nov God’s Word as My Purity and Passion

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Week #4 Devotional

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God’s Word as My Purity and Passion

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word.

I seek You with my whole heart; let me not wander from Your commandments!

I have stored up Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You. . . .

Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day”

Psalm 119:9-11, 97

This week, we will study God’s covenant with David (2 Sam. 7) as well as David’s rebellion against God (2 Sam. 11). Isn’t it unfathomable that God’s chosen king ended up committing adultery and murder? Have you ever wondered how David, after being repeatedly victimized by Saul, victimized Uriah, one of his most loyal citizens?

Israel’s kings were commanded to make a copy of the Law to guard against spiritual infidelity (Deut. 17:18-20), so David would have been quite familiar with God’s statutes. Moreover, the author Samuel repeatedly stresses that God was with David, blessing him with political prominence and peace (1 Sam. 16:18; 18:12, 14, 28; 2 Sam. 5:10; 7:9). But perhaps God’s word and His works became too familiar for Israel’s king.

As those privileged to study God’s Word and works, this is a great danger for us as well. Listen to these words from B. B. Warfield’s 1911 address to theological students:

“We are frequently told, indeed, that the great danger of the theological student lies precisely in his constant contact with divine things. They may come to seem common to him because they are customary. . . . The words which tell you of God’s terrible majesty or of His glorious goodness may come to be mere words to you―Hebrew and Greek words, with etymologies, inflections, and connections in sentences. The reasonings which establish to you the mysteries of His saving activities may come to be to you mere logical paradigms, with premises and conclusions, fitly framed, no doubt, and triumphantly cogent, but with no further significance to you than their formal logical conclusiveness. . . . It is your great danger. But it is your great danger only because it is your great privilege.”

In dissecting the details of Scripture this week, don’t allow God’s Word to become familiar. This privilege is a glorious blessing and a grave danger! Remember, the purity of our walk is made possible by holding to His word. A dozen times in Psalm 119, the psalmist declares his love for God’s law! So, consider what your study this week teaches you about God’s character and commands. Then, as the psalmist urges, meditate on Him all day! Seek Him with all your heart and store up His Word that you may walk in a manner worthy of Him!

Father, continue to remind us of the great blessing and privilege it is to study Your Word in its original languages. Only a small fraction of Christians are given this opportunity. We ask that You would not allow Your Word to become familiar, a textbook for our study rather than a tool for our sanctification! As we examine the life of David this week, may You remind us that we are capable of the same sins. Bind our wandering hearts to You! May we seek you with our whole heart. Help us to store up Your Word, loving and meditating on it all day! In the name of Jesus, we pray! Amen.

In what ways do you guard your life with God’s Word? How do you store it up in your heart?