"Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it." (Psalm 119:35)
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
The NLT says, "Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found." The word for, "walk," means, " tread, march." Sounds sort of militaristic to me. But why not? The Bible is full of "army" talk; read The Revelation of John, Ephesians 6, 2 Corinthians 10, just to name some of the New Testament references. Yet in the middle of life's warfare, "happiness is found," when I, "walk along the path of your commands."
The word, "Make," is not in the Hebrew interlinear text. Since I am not a Hebrew scholar, I assume that the form of the verb is imperative. It can be a "dangerous" prayer, because God's "ways and means committee " can be quite effective in, "Make me." Regardless, our text is another prayer from Psalm 119, a prayer with an affirmed causal effect, "for I delight in it." The dictionary defines "delight" as, "something which gives great pleasure." No one probably starts with an, "I delight in it," attitude towards, "Your commandments." But when we learn the power, the life changing, best-way-to-live of, "Your commandments," then, "for I delight in it," will follow.
Someone once asked a nutritionist why he liked all the foods which are not good for you. The nutritionist replied, "Because you have a perverted tongue." Perverted tastes, defiled by a life time of conditioning are perhaps akin to a life accustomed to perverted "delights;" all of them are fluff, very temporary. This is true of any taste. Maybe what the human race needs is a conditioning of tastes, a constant "exercising" of walking in, "Your commandments." Hebrews 12:11 says, "Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained (exercised) by it." Carrots compared to a Dairy Queen Blizzard may be a case of pain versus delight. But no one in their right mind would say the "Blizzard" is better for you. Maybe the religious community needs a, "for I delight," conversion.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I confess that I lived too much of my life for the "blizzard," and not the carrots. Only the training of, "Your commands," have enabled me to see, "taste and see that the Lord is good." Thank You. Amen.
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* Please pray for my involvement in the "David's Tent" effort in Washington, DC, 9/24-10/1/2012.
* Another Article on President Obama's complicity in the The Arab Winter: www.jerusalemberlinwashington.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
