Verse of the Day Devotion: Psalm 119:9 

“How can a young man keep his way pure?  By keeping it according to Your word.” – Psalm 119:9    

I want to first state that this is intended for all young men, basically any man who is still alive.  It should be applied to all men because we all can take the wisdom written here and put it into practice.  I would also go as far as state it should be applied by all people, either male of female.  The rhetorical question being asked is essentially, how can we keep ourselves pure before God? 

Lets look at this from the beginning of the chapter.  He starts out by declaring the following.  “How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the LORD.” Psalm 119:1  Being pure and blameless is a good thing, it is what God desires of us.  He wants us to obey and follow His laws.  Not just for the law’s sake, but to please God.  We are to walk blameless and in obedience to Him.  And not only observe and keep His commandments, but also seek Him with our whole heart.  Not just to do things because we are commanded to, but because we love Him and desire to do what He commands.  We are to do no unrighteousness but walk in His ways.  (Psalm 119:3). 

But how can we do this?  As our focus verse states, how can we keep our ways pure?  He has a truly short answer for us.  “By keeping it according to Your word.” Psalm 119:9b.  We must know His Word before we can keep it, therefore, we must take the time to study His word, read His scriptures and put them into practice.  This is well exemplified in the following, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11.  We must take God’s word and treasure it in our hearts and minds so that we can not only learn what we should do, but also what we should not.  And as Adam Clarke so clearly put it, “If God’s word be only in his Bible, and not also in his heart, he may soon and easily be surprised into his besetting sin.”

The world we live in is going quickly downhill regarding what it finds acceptable and good.  And there is no question that much that the world embraces is sinful and displeases the Lord.  Temptation abounds everywhere.  We must study His word regularly in order to learn what is good and what is not.  Satan will bring our way thoughts and desires that are not good.  And we may not even realize that something we do or desire is sinful.  This is why it is imperative that we dive into His word, read it, study it, and place it deep into our being and treasure it with all our heart.  Then, when we are tempted, we will know that it is wrong and it must be denied.  And if we apply these words of wisdom, “Then I shall not be ashamed When I look upon all Your commandments. I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments.” Psalm 119:6-7.

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William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, Inc.