Psalm 119:170 Walking and Talking

May my supplication come before you;
 deliver me according to your promise.
Psalm 119:170

The most joyful and productive way to travel on the road of life is with continuous two-way communication with God. Supplications from you to God; promises from God to you.

Too often our supplications come in the form of random requests to God for help, while we're living life as we please. A more productive approach is to talk to God while reading about His promises in His Word. Put those promises to test in your life while asking God to help you live them out. Two way communication.

Since my heart attack I've prayed a lot to the Lord.

Oh Lord, won't you carry me over to another day of life, another year, another decade of life? I'm in a tough spot, Lord. Here's what I need. Give me what I want.

That's one-way communication.

My prayer life has been much more effective and joyful when I've buried myself in His Word and His promises. What does He have to say about living a healthy life? What are His promises for people who focus on a life spent serving Him?

Every day I refresh my knowledge of His promises and His purposes, to motivate myself for the day ahead. While I consider His Word, I pray for His help in living the the life He's laid out for me. I thank Him each morning for carrying me over to another day: a new day to find new ways to praise Him and draw others to Him.

Life on the one road can be hard. But you don't have to walk it alone.

Isn't it a long hard road, baby,
Isn't it a long hard road;
Isn't it a long hard road, baby,
Isn't it a long hard road;
But doesn't it feel good to know, baby,
You don't have to walk it alone.

Five Man Electrical Band

Psalm 119:169 Understand

May my cry come before you, LORD;
 give me understanding according to your word.

Psalm 119:169

Everyone I encounter on the one road is trying to understand life.

Many people desperately want to understand how to piece together a daily life that isn't a constant struggle. They see others who lead seemingly seamless lives, progressing forward on a straight line to some semblance of success. They long to understand the secret to such a life.

If they could only learn to cry out to the Lord without ceasing, every hour of every day. True understanding about purposeful living is available to all who seek Him and rely on His Word.

The lives of many more are disorganized and unproductive. Their focus is on the current moment, on the feelings they're grappling with right now. They want to understand how to get out of the cycle of poverty, the grip of addiction, the pipeline to prison, or the strait-jacket of mental illness. They don't understand why every move they make seems to take them further down into the whirlpool.

If they would learn to cry out to the Lord in the company of others who are also crying out to God for understanding, they might find a productive pathway to abundant living.

I walk the road of life with others who are wholeheartedly crying out for understanding of how they can live the sort of spiritual and purposeful life they crave. There's a knowledge in their hearts of the possibility of something more than physical existence. But that meaningful life remains just outside their grasp because the highest authorities they cry out to are so-called experts, the cultural gurus of wind-chasing.

If they ever actually consider the possibility of a god, of a higher power, something inside them pushes back against any possibility of actually knowing the One True God. If only they would cry out to the God who just might be there, they might discover he is there, and he is not silent.

All of  these people have at least one thing in common. They're all fellow travelers on the same road of life I'm on.

As I walk along, crying out to the Lord and seeking understanding through His Word, my purpose - and yours - should be to reach out and help our fellow travelers to understand the Word and to join us in crying out to the Lord.

Psalm 119:169-176 Taw

May my cry come before you, Lord;
 give me understanding according to your word.
May my supplication come before you;
 deliver me according to your promise.
May my lips overflow with praise,
 for you teach me your decrees.
May my tongue sing of your word,
 for all your commands are righteous.
May your hand be ready to help me,
 for I have chosen your precepts.
I long for your salvation, Lord,
 and your law gives me delight.
Let me live that I may praise you,
 and may your laws sustain me.
I have strayed like a lost sheep.
 Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands.

Psalm 119:169-176

As David begins the final 8-verse stanza of this trip diary, each verse is a purpose statement.

This is why I'm on this road, he is saying. This is how I will travel on the one road. These are my goals as I walk down the path of life.

We all have the same one purpose in life.

We are all on that same one road. None of us walks it alone.

.

Psalm 119:168 Known

I obey your precepts and your statutes,
for all my ways are known to you. 

Psalm 119:168 

When I was young I took great pride in knowing myself and knowing the world around me. I can remember proudly telling my dad how self-aware I was one day while we were on our way somewhere in the car. I told him I had a special talent for for it.

I was extremely aware of his indifference, as evidenced by the distracted grunt he delivered as his response. I, in all my magnificent self-awareness, was completely unaware that I was full of baloney.

In college I told one of my friends that I always have a reason for every little thing I do. She told me that was kind of creepy.

I still can come across to people like I have an enormous amount of self confidence. I know who I am and I don't pretend to be something I'm not.

That's generally true. The problem is, I'm not always very proud of who I know myself to be.

I've learned I'm most confident when I trust God to know who I am. He knows everything about me. And in His Word I continually read things that strike me directly in the heart of who I am.

If only I had learned years earlier that the true key to knowing myself is through the precepts and statutes of the one who truly knows me.