TURN MY EYES FROM WORTHLESS THINGS

Psalm 119:33-40     (He)      Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 119:36,37          6-18-21

“Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.” (ESV)

Part 1: Turn My Heart Toward Your Word (33-37)

      Verses 33-37 read, “Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.  34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.35 Lead me in the path of your commandments for I delight in it.36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! 37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”

      Because we are naturally selfish, our hearts easily turn toward selfish gain. The cravings of sinful man and the lust of the eyes are not from God but from the world (1Jn 2:16). We must turn our eyes away from the TV and other enticing things and look to God’s word.

     How easy it is to get distracted and seek after things that can be categorized as selfish gain. One huge idol that people lose their hearts to, is money and the acquisition of money. Their whole lives focus on it. All of their decisions are based on making money. It is like picking up little pieces of gold dust from a brick road. I am not against making money. A believer must be responsible with their lives. They need to be able to provide for their family, their neighbors (if need be) and their church. They should support a few missionaries also. The problem is when we become consumed with money making. A couple I know was consumed with money making their whole lives. They died with nearly a million dollars in the bank. The legacy they left behind was not a legacy of faith, but a legacy of selfish gain. They lived modest lives. They enjoyed a handful of vacations. Yet, they died without a saving relationship with Jesus and other people will enjoy the money they accumulated.

      Another idol is traveling and accumulating life experiences, endlessly. This is actually a type of selfish gain. It really never ends, until a person gets bored of doing it. Believers ignore Jesus and the Gospel for the sake of accumulating life experiences. We can totally loose our focus chasing after this form of selfish gain.

     Another idol is being too inward in taking care of our own. When believers choose to only disciple their own children, and seek to fill their kids’ lives with meaningful experiences and never disciple someone outside of the family, this too can be a form of selfish gain. Though they try their best to bless their kids’ lives, the kids actually suffer because they never see their parents reaching out to anyone other than them! Things backfire on the parents.

     There is a warning here. Look at verse 37a which reads, “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things…”  If we do not repent of these idols in our hearts, we will spend our lives looking at worthless things. I am not going to make a list about what are worthless things. We know what looking at worthless things means to us personally. What is worthless to one may not be worthless to another. God will make it clear. How empty we feel when we have spent our lives looking at worthless things! It leaves us with so many regrets.

      When we focus on worthless things, we lose God’s life. Look at verse 37b, “…and give me life in your ways.” We can have life in God’s ways when we know God’s ways and follow in God’s ways. This means deep, personal Bible study. “In Him was life and that life was the light of men.” (John 1:4 NIV). In Jesus is true life that we long for. But if we take our eyes if of Jesus and go chasing after worthless things, we are actually allowing our hearts to be disconnected from our life source, Jesus, the True Vine. Yes, we will have eternal life, but we will be struggling needlessly in this life. When will we ever learn?

     What is the solution? This passage makes it clear. Look at verses 33-36a, “Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.  34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. 35 Lead me in the path of your commandments for I delight in it. 36 Incline my heart to your testimonies…”  The solution to the waywardness of our hearts is to study the word of God. We must pray that God may teach us the meaning of his word and help us to apply it. We need to pray that God may help us to follow him faithfully throughout our lives. We must pray that God may help us to give our whole hearts to him.

      When we come to God, humbly, with such a prayer in our hearts, something supernatural happens. Look at verses 35b and 36b, “for I delight in it…. and give me life in your ways.” We will actually delight in the words of God. God will infuse his life into us. Our hearts will come alive! We will grieve for a short time giving up our idols but we will become spiritually alive and rejoice that our lives are bearing wonderful, eternal fruit, and not worthless things, that will only be burnt up at the judgement, like chaff. Jesus leads us to this true life in him!

Part 2: God Confirms His Promises in Our Hearts (38-40)

Verses 38-40 read, “38 Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.39 Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.40 Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!”

      When we turn our hearts toward God’s word, he purges us of our desires for worthless things and preserves our lives according to his word.  Because of his grace, our sins are forgiven and God confirms his promises within us. We have confidence in God. We no longer have to live in dread of judgement. God will take away his reproach. He will impart to us his righteousness. Let us hold God’s word of promise in our hearts, for God keeps his promises to us. He is our faithful God.

     Again, when all of this happens, a miracle happens. God gives us life! We can testify that God’s rules are good. They are life giving. We actually want to submit ourselves to God’s statutes. Our lives become a testimony to this grace.

Prayer: “Lord, I am so prone to running after worthless things. Even after being in Jesus for thirty-five years. I need your help to stay focused. I need your help to bear worthwhile fruit and not worthless things. Help me Lord to hold onto your word and your promises.”

One Word: Turn our hearts to fruitful and worthy things in Christ and not for selfish gain.