The Plumbline

How can a young person live a clean life?  By carefully reading the map of your Word.   I'm single-minded in pursuit of you;  don't let me miss the road signs you've posted.  (Psalm 119:9-10 The Message) Yesterday, we finished the first "section" of this Psalm.  We begin the next "section" with David posing a question:  How do we live a clean life?  He sets out several things in the verses that follow - we will consider those over the next couple of days.  Before we get to the answer, we should try to understand the question a little better.  In some translations, this question is posed as: - How shall a young man cleanse his way?  That one is a little confusing because it sort of focuses us on having to do the work of "cleaning up our act" ourselves. - How can a young person live a pure life?  I like this one because it really gets to the core of what David is trying to say - he wants to know how he gets from the point of ...

 I thank you for speaking straight from your heart;  I learn the pattern of your righteous ways.  I'm going to do what you tell me to do;  don't ever walk off and leave me. (Psalm 119:7-8 The Message) The most amazing thing about God's method of "dealing with us" is his ability to get right at the heart of the matter!  He certainly does not beat around the bush when it comes to "focusing" on an area of "opportunity" in our lives.  As we have begun our exploration into this rather lengthy psalm, we have seen that God is focused on our "consecration" - our being set apart and living like the "highly favored" ones that we are.  Yesterday, we looked at the power of "comparison" - of having a "reliable" measure by which to "line ourselves up" against in looking at the progress we are making.  Today, David caps this section off with the truth that God does not mince his words - in turn, we can learn...