When drowning in a sea of impurity- what can you hold on to?

Zac Guy writes on Psalm 119:9 in a two part blog. The second part will be posted on here next week.

Psalm 119:9 says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word”.

In the world around us, we encounter sin and impurity on a daily basis. Especially as young men and women, the temptations that life throws at us can often seem impossible to overcome. Sadly for many of us, the weight of that temptation can be too much and we all too easily give into it and act on the temptation. Although this is an amazing reason to thank God for his never ending grace over our lives, I’m sure we would all rather be in a position where we can say no to being impure and press into the good things God sets out for us because he loves us.

The great news is that there is a way! The Word of God holds all the answers.  In this blog I will try to break down some of the ways in which we can keep our ways pure in a corrupt world by living by and applying the Bible to our lives.

When we look at Psalm 119:9-16, it gives us some incredible insight into how we can combat the lure of sin. The first weapon we have is God’s word. Verse 9 says “By living according to your word”. By knowing, loving and living by the word of God, we can find all the strength and wisdom we need. When we react to the word of God and live out the things it teaches us, we find that the things we face in life are no match for God’s sovereignty. Just as Michael spoke about at Oneway, the Bible gives us answers to all the things we go through. Whether we feel tempted, guilty, lustful or impure, the Bible has all we need to conquer these unwanted feelings; we just need to look for them. God does not throw your Bible open at you on the page he wants you to read. We need to get stuck in and ask God to reveal himself to us through the Holy Spirit.

Verse 11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”. The word ‘hidden’ in this context can also mean to ‘keep’. So my second point is that we need to remember scripture and keep it close to our hearts. The writer of this Psalm clearly knew that if he memorised God’s word and really held onto it he could remain pure in his ways and it would empower him to avoid sin. Scripture is the best deterrent to sin. But sometimes it can be a real challenge to memorise scripture. Even if we are great at regularly reading our Bibles, to try and get it embedded in our hearts is another challenge all in it’s self.

The great thing about God’s word is that you don’t have to memorise whole chapters to be changed and transformed by what it says. Take Proverbs 3:5-6 for example. It simply says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” That has helped me on countless occasions when I’ve felt confused or worried. Another example of an easy to remember scripture is 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. Remembering short verses like theses and having them in your heart and mind can be completely life changing.

(Part 2 of this blog will be posted next week so look back then to read on)
 
Zac