“I shall observe it to the end”
[Psalms 119:33-40]
Yesterday evening on the CBS 9 o'clock news, I saw a person from Hermosa Beach running around the 3.36 miles of sand for 24 hours with a group of participants to help with financially troubled schools. As I watched it, I thought how difficult it would be for the people to run without a break for 24 hours on the sandy beach because even running 24 hours on the playground is very difficult. But they have a purpose (last year the participants jumped 83.04 miles, set a world record, and people donated tens of millions of dollars) and it was nice to see them struggling to achieve that goal. And looking at it for some reason, I thought about our race of faith. As we know, the race of faith is not a 100-meter running, but a long-distance marathon. We can't help thinking about what to do and how to finish this long-distance spiritual marathon.
If we look at Psalms 119:33, the psalmist said: “Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, And I shall observe it to the end.” In other words, he was committed to keeping the commandments of the Lord to the end. How is this possible? What and how can we keep God's word to the end? There are three things we can think of:
First, we must enjoy keeping God's commandments.
Look at Psalms 119:35 – “Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it.” The psalmist prayed that God would enable him to walk in the way of the Lord's commandments. Because he found delight in the path of the Lord’s commandments. It means that the psalmist enjoyed the delight that God gives (v. 35) because he obeyed the enlightened word with all his heart (v. 34) because God taught him (v. 33) and made him understand the word (v. 34). When we enjoy this delight, we can keep the word of God to the end. When this joy is in us, we can complete the race of faith to the end. When I see my youngest child, Yeun, I think it's a little different from the rest of our family. Yeun does what she loves to do with joyful and willing heart. Yesterday, after came back from the summer school, she asked me and my wife whether she could move her school to the summer school. The reason was because she thought that the summer school is better than her school. I think her reason was because she loved the cooking class and the summer school had it, not her own school. And I think she really liked her summer school teacher. It was really nice to see Yeun liking and enjoying so much. I just thanked God. Looking at my youngest child, Yeun, I remembered the first question and answer of Westminster Short Catechism. And in the answer, I thought we were too much focused on the first part, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God.” We all know that we Christians must live for the glory of God. However, I think that what we don’t seem to know very well is to enjoy God forever. I think we even don't know how to enjoy God. When we can live for the glory of God and enjoy Him, we can run the race of faith that lies before us to the end. When we can enjoy keeping God's commandments, we will be able to keep His word to the end.
Second, we must be revived by God’s word.
Look at Psalms 119:37, 40 – “Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways. … Behold, I long for Your precepts; Revive me through Your righteousness.” When our souls cleave to the dust because of tribulation and persecution (v. 25), and when our souls weep because of grief (v. 28), we must experience the restoration and revival of our souls by the word of God. Then we can keep the word of God until the end.
Personally, whenever my soul is discouraged and fall, the Lord raised me up again with the word of promise given to me so that I came thus far. Even though I fell, the Lord made me to meditate on the words of John 6:1-15, and gave me hope to my soul so that I came thus far. God revitalized my soul and led me through the faith that He who promised is faithful and cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13) and clearly does what He said to me (Num. 23:19). When my soul is discouraged and anxious (Ps. 42:5, 11; 43:5), God made my soul to look again at the Lord with the living and active word of God (Heb. 4:12), and to long for and hope for the Lord. Therefore, I earnestly hope and pray that the faithful covenant God will allow me to obey His word until the end.
Third and last, we must fear the Lord.
Look at Psalms 119:38 – “Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.” The psalmist asked for God to fulfill the word of His promise to him. As a result, he wanted to fear God. The psalmist wanted his heart not to turn to dishonest gain because he feared God through the fulfillment of the word of the Lord's promise (v. 36). And because he feared God, he wanted his eyes to turn away from looking at vanity (v. 37). Because the psalmist fears God, he didn’t look to the left or to the right, but only wants to keep God's word to the end.
I want to walk one road to the end. I want to walk to the end of the righteous path that the Lord wants me to walk, looking only at the Lord, not leaning to the left or to the right. However, I experience the works of Satan countless times, which makes me to lean to the left or to the right because even though my spirit is willing, my flesh is weak (Mt. 26:41). I admit that some of the works of Satan is the greed (dishonest gain) and vain that the psalmist spoke of in today's text. In the lust of the eyes (1 Jn. 2:16), I often see myself looking at things that are vain and meaningless. There are many times when I am disappointed with myself when I see the greed of my heart that wants it as my eyes look at something empty that is of no value and is of no benefit to me. When I think about why I commit these sins against holy God, my problem is because I don’t fear God. I am not hating evil because I don’t fear God. Therefore, the prayer topic that the psalmist asked God in Psalms 119:38 is also my earnest prayer topic: “Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You.” I want to fear God like the psalmist because God fulfills the word of promise given to me. And because of the fear of God, I want to be free from greed, vain, and all sinful things that make me lean to the left or to the right in walking the righteous path to the end.
When I became a gray-haired old man, I want to be able to look back on my life and see the righteous path that the Lord was with me and walked with me (Prov. 16:31). In particular, I want to be able to confess, like the apostle Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept my faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). I want to give glory to God by obeying His word until the end. To that end, I want to enjoy more and more of the delight in keeping His word. I want to have more and more experiences in which my soul is revived by the word of God. Because of fearing God, I want to stay away from evil and live a life that keeps only the way of the Lord and only His word.
Wanting to complete the race of faith,
James Kim
(Only by Word, only by faith)