04 April, 2008

How Shall a Young Man Clean His Way?

Psa 119:9
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed [thereto] according to thy word.


I really enjoyed this verse when we talked about it last Sunday. I meant to post about this a little earlier, but such is life.

So, a young man definitely needs to clean his way up. That's believable. So how does the great 119th Psalm recommend he do it? 119 is the Psalm most completely dedicated to the law of God, to His statutes, so what does it recommend.

It recommends that young man take heed to "his way."

I don't know why, but I loved that. It doesn't recommend that he pour over the law every waking second. It recommends he love and learn that law, but take heed to his own way.

I know I'm fighting a rare enemy here, but some of us spent too much time on theology and not enough figuring out our way through life. It's cool when God's inspired word does not make the mistakes of young men.

8 comments:

Milly said...

>not enough figuring out our way through life. It's cool when God's inspired word does not make the mistakes of young men

Indeed

Missy said...

Funny to read this at the start of "cleaning day." :)

This made me think of 1 Timothy 4:16. I know it's been a fine line of watching both my life and my doctrine without ignoring one at the expense of the other.

kc bob said...

I think that a young man's temptations are mainly one's of ego that lead him to think that he is indestructable. This is what Adam Clark says about him:

1. He is to consider that his way is impure; and how abominable this must make him appear in the sight of God.

2. He must examine it according to God’s word, and carefully hear what God has said concerning him and it.

3. He must take heed to it, לשמר lishmor, to keep guard, and preserve his way - his general course of life, from all defilement.

Kevin Knox said...

Good call and good balance, Missy.

Kevin Knox said...

And I wish I could take credit for thinking of posting this on cleaning day. :-)

Kevin Knox said...

> a young man's temptations are mainly one's of ego

:-(

They surely were so for me. Well said, Bob

kc bob said...

Me too CP!

Lynne said...

and the more I've studied theology, the more I become convinced that my doctrine only has legs if it helps me grow in Christlikeness.
Not sure I can contribute much on the mistakes of young men, my biggest mistake as a young woman was to be passive when i should have been active, and let others speak into my life with a level of authority which drowned out what God was saying...