"36. Incline my heart to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. 37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken me in thy way. 38. Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear."
The three verses written above spoke to my heart. What they said to me was that the Psalmist deeply desired a life of substance. He did not want his life to be shallow and vain. This is a good goal for us to consider. In our affluent society it is easy to live a covetous life. First, he wanted his life to be built on the decrees, testimonies, or word of God. He did not want his life to be based on material gain, which comes from a covetous heart. We can really use this advice today. He wanted the testimonies of God to drive his life's decisions. This is one reason why we should spend some time each day in the Bible where we can find many examples of the reward of serving the Lord and many examples of the futility of failing to serve God. Second, he did not want to go through life looking at vain things, things that have no eternal meaning. Most of the things that people really care about today do not amount to a hill of beans in comparison to eternity. The HCSB translates it this way: "Turn my eyes from looking at what is worthless; give me life in your ways." Think of how many worthless things we look at today. We can't live lives of substance if we spend our time observing what is worthless. What we need is to live the way God wills us to live. Third, he wanted what he concentrated on to lead him to greater reverence for God. HCSB: "Confirm what you said to your servant, for it produces reverence for you." He wanted to really hear in his heart what God was saying to him so that he would have greater reverence for God. We will reverence what we concentrate most on. Pay attention to these verses for they can lead you to a life of substance. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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