Psalm 119:58-61 - November 20, 2009

Ps 119:58-61 "I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. 59 I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes. 60 I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands. 61 Though the wicked bind me with ropes, I will not forget your law." NIV

What is going on in your heart? Where are your desires directed? God is looking for whole hearted seekers. God is awakening in the earth a people who will seek after Him with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength. There is a people rising in the earth who will live righteously before the Lord, who love the things of the Spirit above the things of the flesh. Ps. 24:3-6 speaks of this generation. David sees them from afar and declares “3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.” KJV

Psalm 119:58-61 demonstrates the heart that David is speaking of in Psalm 24. How many of us can say with the Psalmist: “I have sought your face with all my heart!”? What a piercing example to all of those who follow after the Lord. Whole hearted seeking is the standard that God is raising up! But what does this look like? How do I live before God with a whole heart? In verses 59-61 the resolve of the psalmist shows us the way. “I have considered my ways and turned my steps to your statutes.” Whole hearted devotion begins with a self-examination that looks deep into the heart. Are my ways pleasing to the Lord? This is the birth place of a whole hearted faith: self-awareness before God. As we make a decision to turn our steps towards God’s word we are making a decision to turn away from other things! Whole heartedness begins with sifting out the mixture that corrupts our hearts before God.

Verse 60 continues to lay out the path of wholeheartedness by saying “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.” The rebirth of a sensitive conscience and a commitment to instant obedience renews our intimacy with the Lord. When we are not resisting the Lord in areas of our lives we find that the richness of God’s presence rises up in us quickly to embrace our hearts. There is great reward in presenting ourselves before God with a pure heart. Jesus speaks to this in His sermon on the mount in Matt 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” KJV Purity is rewarded with intimacy and intimacy causes spiritual hunger to grow! We are rewarded by our pursuit of God with a hunger to experience even more of Him!