Psalm 119:40 Seeking His Righteousness

How I long for your precepts! In your righteousness preserve my life

Psalm 119:40.

If you've been reading along in Psalm 119 while you've been reading my blog posts, there's probably something about this verse that sounds familiar. That's because not too far back David wrote this:

I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word

Psalm 119:25

And then, just a few verses later...

Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word

Psalm 119:37

Actually, David uses that phrase, preserve my life, eleven times in Psalms 119. The King James version translates it as quicken me, the ESV says give me life, and the NASB revive me.

The Hebrew word comes from the root word for life. David is saying over and over that the Word gives him life, a life that quickens him when he's feeling worn out and lifeless, a life that is worth living.

In each of these verses he provides a detail about how the Word gives life. Here in Psalm 119:40, David makes a connection between longing for God's precepts and righteousness, with a life worth living.

God's precepts are a codified representation of His righteous character, defining the way you should live in order to become righteous like He is righteous. That's not going to happen through occasional reading or through picking up whatever bits of His Word you might pick up from sermons. It only happens when you're spending so much time deep in His Word that you long for those precepts, like a former couch potato learns to long for exercise.

Like regular workouts at the gym, the habit of going deep into the Word will produce changes in you. When you're feeling down, instead of reflexively retreating into a pity party, you'll eagerly seek out God's Word. When you're frustrated, instead of lashing out in anger, you'll dive into His precepts. When the things you see in the news and in pop culture make you feel sick, instead of a knee-jerk political reaction, your instant reflex will be to open the pages of the scriptures.

All of those changes in how you respond to life add up to righteousness. You're looking at life like God does, you're living your life like Jesus did.

Your devotion to the scriptures has reworked your heart toward righteousness, which will give you a new life like you never knew before.

 That new approach to the Word, to righteousness, to life, begins and is sustained through prayer.

Lord, pull me toward your precepts. Grant me the discipline to develop a longing for your Word and for your righteousness. Preserve my life and jump start my life by injecting me with your righteousness. I want to be like you, Lord. I want the life you intended for me.