Psalm 119:106 The Discipline of Yes

I know a young man who is an habitual No-Man (as opposed to a Yes-Man).

His brothers were both Cardinals fans, so he automatically decided he was a Royals fan. He doesn't follow the NFL at all, but if he finds himself at a Super Bowl party, he'll gauge the audience and quickly begin loudly and vociferously rooting for whichever team the majority is against.

No matter the topic of conversation - movies, music, politics, whatever - the only opinion I can count on him taking is the one opposite from the crowd.

I've concluded over the years that he does this just to attract attention to himself. He has no real opinions, but he's learned he can draw attention by being the naysayer. It's often negative attention, but it's attention nevertheless.

I don't think he ever consciously chose this approach. He just fell into it at an early age while squabbling with his older siblings. Now it's an unconscious habit.

I have taken an oath and confirmed it,
that I will follow your righteous laws.

Psalm 119:106

People in 21st century America don't take oaths very often. It's just not done, except in legal circumstances. Outside of legal situations an oath is an anachronism left over from centuries ago.

The  Bible warns against taking oaths (Matthew 5:33-37; James 5:12; Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21-23). It's not that oaths are bad, but failing to keep an oath is strongly warned against.

Instead of resorting to oath-taking, it's better to develop the discipline of saying Yes and sticking to it. Practicing this habit of Yes on smaller things will make it easier to habitually say Yes to larger things.

Say Yes to remembering to brush your teeth each morning. Say Yes to the day ahead as you rise from bed upon waking int he morning.

Say Yes to choosing healthier food options. Say Yes to changing your habits of what foods you purchase and allow to sit on the shelves in your kitchen.

Say Yes to requests for help that comes your way. Say Yes to habitually keeping your eyes open for people who cross your path each day and for opportunities to plant godly seeds of kindness, love, sacrifice, and good news.

Say yes to the habit of church attendance. Say yes to paying attention to the sermon. Say yes to reading and meditating on the Bible each day.

Say Yes to developing intentional habits on the 1 road of life.

Say Yes.

Psalm 119:105 The Discipline of Walking

I remember walking for long distances.

During many of my years in grade school and high school I walked to and from school every day. It was never much more than a mile, but it was good for me, even if I didn't always think so.

During the summer between my freshman and sophomore years at Central Christian College I often walked to work, traveling from the south end of Morley Street to the North end, about 5 miles one way.

I recently bought a Fitbit. It tracks my heart rate, something I'm much more motivated to do since my heart attack a few months ago.

It also tells me I average a little under two miles walking each day. None of those miles come from walking any great distance along streets or on a track. My bad knee has severely limited my walking, to the point where I need a cane just to make it around Walmart for 20 minutes. My daily miles are mostly made up of walking around my house, my office building, and the grocery store.

And yet I still somehow manage a couple miles each day. That's around 4,200 footsteps each day, according to the Fitbit.

When I first saw the number of miles and footsteps I'm walking each day, I was sure the Fitbit was over-counting. It needs adjustment or calibration or maybe a trash can.

Then I realized that daily life for most people is made up of walking, most of it short distances, just in the course of normal activities.

I've only been up for about 90 minutes this morning. Most of that has been standing still at the sink or in the shower, standing at the kitchen stove preparing my breakfast and then sitting to eat, followed by the past 20-25 minutes sitting at this computer, writing this blog post.

And yet somehow I've accumulated 488 steps already today.

Walking is what we do. It's daily life.

Whether your day is spent charging around like the Energizer Bunny doing housework (like my wife) or sitting at a desk in an office for 8 hours, you're still racking up the walking steps. Your feet are driven along by your focus on all the things you do in your daily life, from the mundane (stepping into the bathroom to brush your teeth) to the minutiae of work life (walking from your desk to the copier and back), from the industrious (changing the linens on the bed) to the athletic (exercising on the elliptical at the gym).

Each of us walks a different path than everyone else around us, based on the choices we've made about our lives, our priorities, and our goals.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path

Psalm 119:105

My Fitbit vibrates on my wrist at 10 minutes before each hour, reminding me I still have steps to go to achieve the goal of 250 steps per hour. I'm learning to use that as a guide to step away from desk and walk around for a bit. I'm never again going to be a long-distance walker, let alone a jogger or runner. But with a little more attentiveness to the goal, I can become a healthier walker.

I also want to learn to be a more intentional walker in my spiritual life.

This past year has taught me I no longer have the physical capability of doing many of the soul-stretching ministries I used to do. We quit the prison ministry last June because we no longer had the physical endurance to match our spiritual ambitions. Then a heart attack and other health problems slowed us down even more.

I spent the final few months of the past year in a spiritual and physical funk, depressed about getting old and railing against these newfound limitations. No matter how hard I kicked against the restraints, I was getting nowhere.

My spiritual walk had become a spiritual sit-and-be-frustrated.

With the dawn of the new year, I decided to intentionally set aside that self-defeating habit in favor of a more productive habit.

I'm discovering the key to that readjustment is to refocus on the Word. I'm spending more time rereading the scriptures that have become so familiar to me over the years. Through them, God is guiding me in new directions for my spiritual walk.

Are you stumbling in your walk through life? Get back into God's Word and let him shine a new light on your path.

Psalm 119:105-112 Nun

Your word is a lamp for my feet,
 a light on my path.
I have taken an oath and confirmed it,
 that I will follow your righteous laws.
I have suffered much;
 preserve my life, LORD, according to your word.
Accept, LORD, the willing praise of my mouth,
 and teach me your laws.
Though I constantly take my life in my hands,
 I will not forget your law.
The wicked have set a snare for me,
 but I have not strayed from your precepts.
Your statutes are my heritage forever;
 they are the joy of my heart.
My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.

Psalm 119:105-112

This section of Psalm 119 begins with what is probably the best known and most quoted verse of the chapter.

But without the practices David talks about in the other seven verses, that lamp for the feet and light on the path won't help much with navigating the 1 road of life.

In the end, every spiritual discipline is about developing habits to walk intentionally along the 1 road of life, with the Word as our lamp.

Psalm 119:104 Love of the Roads

Every rideshare passenger who lives in the Forest Village housing complex in Columbia quickly learns to tell each new driver that they don't actually live at Murry's restaurant. They're grateful when a driver is experienced enough to have learned not to trust the rideshare app GPS for directions to that neighborhood.

There are several parts of my city that the GPS gets wrong. I've had to learn to not be fooled when the app tells me to turn south on Old Highway 63, when it's actually Highway 63. There's a difference, one that will take an unwitting driver (and the unfortunate passengers) to the wrong place.

I was annoyed one evening after dark when the app gave me directions to an address on Ridge Road. Only after pulling up into the driveway of a darkened house with my bright lights on did I realize I wasn't actually on Ridge Road at all, but the next street over. the passengers were used to people getting lost in that neighborhood, but I was frustrated at how long they had to wait in the cold and dark.

The more I drive for ridesharing, the better I am getting at learning how to find my way even when the app gives me bad advice. Fool me once, it's the app's fault. Fool me twice, and I'm not paying enough attention as I meditate on my journeys through Columbia's streets.

I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path

Psalm 119:104

The Bible gives me the destination plus many precepts on how to get there, as well as stories about how others have navigated the 1 road of life.

I've come to realize the Bible is not God's GPS. The GPS is far too unreliable to be compared to the scriptures.

Spiritually speaking, the GPS is the things other people tell me about how to navigate my journey through life. Their advice may be extremely reliable, especially if their wisdom is grounded in the Word and prayer. But true guidance comes when I devote myself to meditating on how the Word applies to my experiences, both my failures and my successes.