Teach Me

I forgot to say hello to people online, so happy Sabbath to all of you, and hope everybody in here is doing well. From the time that we were children, we grew up admiring heroes. The heroes that were out there and imagined being like them, sometimes it might have started as superheroes, then it was people who may have been athletes or whatever else. And as adults, I would argue it continues as Christians. We aspire to become like the heroes and the role models that are in our Bible. If you'll please turn to Acts 13, verses 21 through 22.

Acts 13, 21 through 22. David is one of the tops on my list. Very human, man-inspiring too. And he had a very special connection, a very special intimacy with God. Acts 13, verse 21. It says, And afterwards they asked for a king. So God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

And when he had removed him, he raised up for them David as king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will. The New Living Translation translates that he will do everything I want him to do. Our own life's decisions, our own life's choices, will determine if we become like Saul, right, who was removed from the throne because he would not do what God wanted him to do, or we become like David, a man who had a heart and wanted to do everything God wanted him to do.

That's what made him have a heart that was very, very special to God. Our daily decisions, our daily choices impact that in this life, and of course the next. Today we're going to learn what made David, at least one of the items that made David, a man after God's own heart. What do you think made David special? I would argue it started with his desire for God to teach him. It started with that. A great key to David's success was this learning and this seeking attitude that he had.

He certainly struggled, right? He struggled at times to maintain that right attitude, and in a very carnal way I find his humanity refreshing. It makes me relate to him. But he always brought his needs and his trust back to God. And that's encouraging, right? It's actually encouraging to look at all of our heroes, male and female, throughout the Bible, and see all of these great heroes had troubles.

And they pulled through. That gives us hope. That lets us know we're not alone. And it also lets us know our troubles don't mean God doesn't love us or that God is forsaken us. Throughout the Psalms, David shows us that our Heavenly Father allows, and he actually wants us, to pour out all of our feelings, all of us we're processing through, to build that connection with Him.

The message today is going to focus on learning from the 15 times in the Psalms where David specifically asks, teach me. So if you want a title, teach me. This isn't just a statement that David made. It really was a confession of his deepest desires. And I think what we're going to find today as we personalize ourselves in these examples is that if we make that same request, that God will teach and help us to get where He wants us in this lifetime as well.

So please turn to Psalms 143, verses 6 through 10. Psalms 143, verses 6 through 10, it actually may have caught me after that third song on the first set. I had to flip to see where that page was. It's actually this verse it was quoting because it quoted part of this. And I'm like, where, where, where, where, I know I'm saying that somewhere. Where's part of the Psalm, the verse did that come from?

David was very thirsty for God. Why? Why do you think David had this thirst for God? Now, I'm not going to read through all of Psalms 143, but he poured himself out in his writings. And a quick summary we'll find in verse 3, his problems had knocked him to the ground, forced him to live in darkness. He was losing hope and felt paralyzed with fear. Verse 4. He was living off the fuel of past victories because he had no present successes.

Verse 5. And I would argue any follower of Christ who's ever been through serious difficulties, we can all identify this with this, right? This is things we faced. And so we can naturally say next what it says in verse 6. He said, I reach out for you. I thirst for you as parched land, thirsts for rain.

Isn't that a great description? Great imagery. Spiritual thirst in the middle of challenges. I would argue most of us are like the man who came home from work after a really, really long day. And he said, Honey, I have had a bad day in the office. If you have any bad news, keep it to yourself. To which the wife said, Okay, bad news only. Well, you remember our four kids. Three of them didn't break an arm today. The truth is we can't insulate ourselves from trouble. It doesn't happen. We can't run from it. We can't hide from it. We can't keep it from knocking on our door, but we can learn from it.

And I think David set us a good example of that. Because God doesn't give us greater challenges in our life because He wants to discourage us. But rather because He wants to bless us and give us greater opportunities to grow. Different mindset, different perspective. Adversity can make us thirst for God, which is why so often when David is thirsting for God, he's complaining about an adversity. It's this yin and the yang thing that takes place.

And getting out of our comfort zone at times makes us search for God's will. I have this here. Let me turn the light on. Hey! And so it seems that adversities made David thirstier to do what God wanted him to do.

So I guess the question we should ask ourselves when we're facing challenges is, what can I learn from God in my adversity? Fill in the ug at the end if you want to.

Let's start in Psalm 143, verse 7. Answer me speedily, O Lord. My spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me, lest I be like those who go down into the pit. Cause me to hear your loving-kindness in the morning, for in you do I trust. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies. In you I take shelter.

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness. You see, in verse 10, the source of David's great spiritual success in life.

Even when he was facing adversity, he still wanted more than anything to do what God wanted him to do. Teach me to do your will. Do we want this most?

Or do we want calm waters? I have to say ugh to that one again. It depends on times, right?

Sure, David was searching for answers in the midst of his heartaches, but more than anything I would argue he was searching for God. He was searching for a relationship. And that's what God wants more than anything. God helps us to learn his will not only in trials. Don't get me wrong there. Trials can make us thirst for him, but also in a committed relationship. Everywhere we can find that relationship, that's what he's focusing on. And if you look at that, consider the different statements that are in these verses. In verse 7, he says, I'll die without you. Verse 8, I'm depending upon you. Verse 9, I mean verse 10, you are my God. Verse 12, I am your servant. Relationship. Connection. God doesn't want us just seeking and searching for answers.

He wants us searching for him. That's the connection he's looking for. And he has this inexhaustible, this endless love for us. But in order for us to love God, we need to trust in his will. And David recognized that by what he asked for. How many times do we pray with our mind already made up? Here's one of those out questions. I guess I could say, how many times do we ask the same prayer over and over, which is probably a different way of asking a painfully similar question. But humanly, if someone has treated us badly or has lied to us, it's tough to get that trust back. And so it's hard for us to grasp God's love when most of what we've experienced and what we're used to is performance-based love. Very human. Some of us may blame God for bad things that happened in our life. And then naturally you take that forward. The last thing we want to do is to get hurt again, so we stop trusting the promises of God. Are we really open to what God wants to say to us? Are we willing to change our opinion or our circumstances?

Areas to grow in, areas to learn, like we heard in the sermonette. It's that next layer down that's beyond getting rid of the big loaf from the freezer, but it's looking for the more nuanced parts of life. I think David's example helps us realize and recognize that God allows some things to happen so that our faith increases. And in the process, we come to see God's love for us.

In the process, we build that closer relationship. Imagine if God gave us everything we asked for.

We would be in big trouble, wouldn't we? Because most of the time, we have no clue what the right thing to ask for is. God is in the restoration business. So God's plan is perfect, and we need to ask Him to teach us to do His will. If we get that He has the clearer vision, we ask that differently. We look to Him differently. So never feel like you're too far gone to be saved, or you're too late for God to redeem you. Because as long as you're breathing, God has a great plan for you. And so please don't doubt God's love for you, but pray that your heart would be open to whatever it is that God desires for you. That's one of the lessons from David's life. And then, of course, the key part is then do it. One of the things that struck me in putting this message together, so I encourage you on each of the verses we look at, look at the request and action. Request and action. There are almost every verse that David writes has this, God, I want this, and I promise to do this. God, I'm struggling with this. I need you for that. There is a back and a forth, so watch that throughout these verses, because they're fascinating.

But if we pray that our heart would be open to whatever it is that God desires of us and do it, we are pleasing God. We can have those very vulnerable discussions with God when we approach that. And that's how David knew, or God knew David's heart. He was very open about what he was processing. Turn now to Psalms 86 and verse 11. Psalms 86 and verse 11. So the first thing we learn from David is to ask God to teach us to do your will. All right, good, good start. That points us away from self, right? But we can still easily want to achieve God's outcome our way, right? Or we can want to mix our will with God's will. The next thing we need to ask God for is to teach us his way. So we first ask for his will, now we ask for his way. Psalms 86 and verse 11. Teach me your way, O Lord. I will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name.

So it's only through this right relationship that we develop with God that his way can be understood.

God has to teach it to us. We can't understand the Bible. We can't understand God's will on our own, which is why we have that book in front of us, which is why we read and sometimes shake our head and say, God, I get it, but I'm struggling. Our nature fights it. And if we want to know more about the things of God, then we have to study the Word of God. Turn to John 16 and verse 12-13. Turn to John 16 and verse 12-13. John 16, 12-13. I guess another way to put that is the Bible is a Holy Spirit inspired book that can only be understood through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.

They fit together. John 16 and verse 12. Jesus was teaching that. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when it, the Spirit of truth, has come, it will guide you into all truth. For it will not speak on its own authority, but whatever it hears, it will speak and it will tell you things to come.

As we study, the Holy Spirit teaches us and makes the Bible come alive. It helps us understand how to apply parts into whatever we're facing within our lives. And that happens by having faith.

It happens when we accept the word by faith that our natural mind starts to get pushed away and God starts helping us see things more clearly.

We have to ask, though, for that understanding.

And God promises if we do ask humbly and if we ask without doubting, we'll receive.

But that's hard, isn't it? That is so hard as Christians.

From a young age, we grew up with strong opinions. It's fascinating. You know, now I'm this little fool with, you know, an 18-year-old son, only one experience, but you watch and you see just the dogmaticness that hits certain ages. No, it's that way. That's right. And then older you get, you get a little more gun-shy about being that dogmatic of things, but it's our journey we go through. We have strong opinions built on very limited experiences. And I'd argue our whole life is this little point in history, but we think we figured it all out at certain points or admire those smarter than us, because they certainly figured it out. Sometimes our opinions are only based on little susceptible impressions that clash with God's opinions. And so our way of thinking, it's naturally inconsistent, is often in contrast to God's way. And we don't see things as they really are, and as a result, our reasoning is false and it's deceptive. And David is very transparent about that in his Psalms. He regularly admits when he's struggling and recognizes the darkness of his own personal understandings.

So asking God, teach me your way, starts with us being sure that he is able to do what he promises. And David saying, teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth shows an action that God expects. If God shows us his way, he expects us to do something with that, right? He expects us to recognize that gift and act on it. David knew God was greater than him and would show him the truth, and that should be more important than our current realities. It's hard, though. David's prayer continues, give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.

So you see this word undivided. Undivided literally means unified, to become one. So give me a heart that's one with you, God. And if our heart really has been brought into that unity with God, then what happens? The objects of our affection must be the same as God's objects of his affection. That's what it will look like. Clearly, fearing God that's referred to here doesn't mean being terrified of God. I think his verse is a classic example of that's not what's being referenced, because you don't ask to be united by what you're terrified of, right? That would be silly.

Fear in this example means reverence. Reverence for God, for his position, for his honor, for his authority. That's what's being described here. To be consistent or unified with God, then he must be first in everything. Easy when good times are happening, right? But regardless of how bad things might seem, we should always know at our core that all of God's promises are still true.

We're in an outstage of life, but God's promises are still true. And when this is our conviction, what happens is our motivations become more consistent. That's where David is voicing things because he's, in a sense, re-centering himself all the time throughout the Psalms.

And we see that is something that we could learn from. What we have to get to is so that we don't act from our selfish desires sometimes, and then generous at others. We need to try to find that consistency to become more and more like God. But of course, as we do this, as we strive to reach that plateau, we're going to fail. And, you know, be fair to yourself. That's part of our journey, too, right? That's what comes. But David's resolution was he wanted to be united with God, and that implies progress. He wanted to work at this daily. He wanted to make effort. Turn now to Psalms 27 in verse 11, and let's look at a second place that David asked God to teach him his way. Psalms 27 in verse 11. In each of these, there's little bit different nuances of his motivation behind these requests. Psalm 27, 11 says, Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth or plain path because of my enemies. That was his motivation in this one. And I would argue this request could be made by all of us who've ever lived on this earth.

I think what we need to be aware of is trying to, while we're trying to seek God's way, how much Satan strives to influence our good intentions to become evil outcomes.

And David recognized that. It wasn't always physical enemies he was fearing. He recognized both sides of that. I read an interesting little made-up story along the way, and it said, you know, once the devil was walking along with one of his cohorts, and they saw a man ahead of them pick up something shiny. And so the cohort said, What did he find? And the devil said, A piece of the truth. Doesn't that bother you that he found a piece of the truth? asked the cohort.

No, said the devil, I will see to it that he makes a religion out of it.

See, we need all of God's truth to guide our ways, not feeling pride because God has shown us parts or we think we can fit the other pieces together in our own head. And although David prayed to be led in this plain path, I think his life shows he realized very well and didn't expect that path to be without difficulties, to be free from pain. That's not the example that he set for us. Although we can reasonably desire, right, is that God will graciously guide us so we don't swerve from the true and the right way. We can want more, but that's the starting point. And I think that's why Jesus so boldly and helpfully said, I am the way, the truth and the light.

You know, that's the clarity point. And one reason why so many don't find that plain path is because of the part that pride plays. We all fight it far often than we want to admit.

Pride makes us care more about enjoyment in the moment, or the temporary, or the justifications, far more than directing our energies toward the pursuit of some unseen spiritual reality.

Right? That's... We don't see it, so we have a harder time holding on to it.

And then we get this lofty human intellect that starts playing through, then we lean towards skepticism about different things, instead of bowing to God. I write the comment that said, we find pride in scientific and personal discovery and condescend learning at the feet of a man from Nazareth. And, you know, there's truth to that. So let's transition to another area David specifically asked God to teach him. So please turn to Psalms 25, and this time we're going to read verses 1 through 4. Psalms 25, 1 through 4.

Anyone who has climbed in the mountains, and I used to do that every weekend in California, has had somebody tell them something along the lines of, you need to go 10 miles that way. Okay, so we know the way. But I can guarantee you that's not going to be the way it works for you on a walk, because anybody who's tried to hike in the mountains knows they're going to be blocked by mountains and trees and rivers and hills and canyons. Rarely do you ever find a path that goes straight. That's why they talk about it as a crow flies. It's not as a human walks. So the next thing we need to ask God is to teach us His path, and you will see that David requests that. How many times in life do we try to work out our problems on our own? I'm guilty. And finally, only when all else has failed do we go to the one who designed us, and then only after we listen and do what we're told does life suddenly come back into peace and equilibrium. It's this interesting part of humans.

Well, as you know from the life of David, he often faced troubles. I read that he, there were actually 16 times before David finally ascended the throne that Saul tried to kill him. I'd never seen that number before. I thought that was a fascinating amount of instances.

And even after David was crowned, he continued to face all kinds of trials. So what we see in Psalms 25 was this, it just shows a mature faith, a person looking to a heavenly Father. And one of the areas that contextually might help connect that is history tells Psalm 25 is believed to have been written later in his life when Absalom organized a rebellion against his father. So maybe a context as we read it. But when trouble comes into our life, the question is who do we turn to?

To whom do we go for help? And if you look in the world right now, entire nations are turning to their governments for help. And they don't like what their governments do. They say the other party of their government is the one to help. They look to the government to get rid of a virus. They want to go to the government to provide health care. They want to go to the government to pay our bills. Soon we'll look to the government to give us jobs. And one of the roles of government is their to help us. That is part of what they're there for, to help, to protect, to provide.

But I argue that the mature child of God knows they must ultimately look to God.

And so we see that example with David. He found strength in the fact that God helps in our times of need. And we see that in verse 1. He starts, to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in you. Let not my enemies triumph over me. So he knew that ultimate source of his encouragement was God. And that's why he was able to go on and say in verse 3, Indeed, let no one who waits on you be ashamed. Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause. So this Hebrew word for shame or ashamed is different than being embarrassed or feeling foolish. One commentary wrote, The unique biblical idea for shame and ashamed is that of being let down or disappointed or having trusted in something that in the end proves unworthy of our trust.

No different use than when we think of our own personal shame, right?

The New Living Translation puts verse 3, No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.

So David pleaded with God to teach him his truth.

Do we do that? Do we plea with God to understand his truth? And then he not only affirmed his trust in God, he then asked God to teach him his path. Verse 4, Show me your way, O Lord, teach me your path. Another thing that we can ask for, do we want God to teach us his path so that we can walk in it? And to work on my hiking analogy, you know, there's all sorts of times, you know, if you've ever been out in the middle of a forest, you can get turned around, you can get lost. Very, very easy. Whether you're turned around with the troubles you're facing right now in life, the challenges, the health difficulties, the family struggles, whether it's not being able to let go of your past forgiven sins, or simply wanting to validate whether our future dreams align with God's, remember God has promised to help us in our times of need, and he will show us the best path if we ask. Oftentimes, we don't ask, or we ask in a wrong way. So to extend my analogy, let's picture walking on the path that God has set before us, right, toward the way that he has directed us, in alignment with his will. Good, right? But I can tell you, as a person who's done a whole lot of 10 to 20 mile hikes, as you go, the mind can easily get distracted and tired. And when you do that, you forget the core rules of hiking. And you might step on a loose rock and twist an ankle, or step on a snake, or do all sorts of various things, because your mind just tracks, or loses track. That leads us to the next thing. If you'll turn to Psalm 119, and we're going to read from verse 9 to 12, Psalm 119, 9 through 12, what we're now going to find is actually what David asks, teach me about most often. He requested this eight times in Psalm 119, and that is, teach me your statutes. Interesting request. Teach me your statutes. So we'll start with the first one that he requested and do a little bit of a lead-in. In Psalm 119, verse 9, and I'm going to read this from the English Standard Version, the question is posed, how can a young man keep his way pure? So I guess the first question is, who is this young man being referred to? And David, just like Solomon in Proverbs, put himself and all of us in the situation of a young man when we recognize our need to be a student. And if we're asking, teach me, that means we need to be learning to be a student. He's putting himself into this. But the answer unfolds in the rest of the stanza. He says, by guarding it according to your word. So perhaps one short answer to the question of how we keep our way pure is by conforming our way to match God's way. Okay, how do we know God's way? We talked about that a little bit in the earlier point, right?

The word of God can teach us that. And so that's why we talk about by guarding or taking heed according to God's word. That's the only true way. Verse 10 continues, With my whole heart I seek you, let me not wander from your commandments. Again, it's always this back and forth, back and forth of what each of these do. And in this situation, he's contrasting seeking and wandering or searching in this same verse. So we need to actively direct our heart toward God. And it's easy for us to wander in the wrong direction, kind of like being out hiking. And if you just decide on this one, if you've ever seen the MythBusters where they tried to see could you walk in a straight line and they blindfolded, it's hilarious. But if you've ever seen them, you can't. You're going to turn in circles.

No matter how hard you try, how focused you are, you can't walk in a straight line.

So it's just fascinating, and there's a lot of spiritual analogies to it.

We need to seek God, or else our nature will have us willfully wandering away from him.

The analogy applies to us. Verse 11, I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

So, interesting here. So obviously, confession of sin is important. Studying God's word is vital. But what we see here is active obedience to living out our faith is what God is looking for, too. That I may not sin again. He's saying, I'm not only going to admit I did wrong, I don't want to do this anymore. And then verse 12, Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes.

So he begins verse 12 praising God. He knows his sinful nature. That's pointed out in the verses before. And then he also understands that the only way he can make his path straight and pure is through God. And that's why he says, teach me your statutes.

So what is this word, statutes? Well, a little different, potentially, than our natural association with the word. But it describes something being engraved or drawn in detail. Think of like a chart or a map. That's the reference here. So in a sense, it's prescribing the way that's to be taken, which is exactly what the word of God is. In essence, he's saying, God, show me this is the way. Walk in it. Help me know exactly the nuances of how to make the decisions in each part of this path that I'm going down in life. That's what's being referenced.

And then understand that God will clearly and plainly mark out the course for us if we sincerely ask. But then there's a but. The but is we may not like where it's taking us. That's where human nature comes in and fights too, right? So oftentimes, I mean, just use my hiking analogy. Imagine you're going over and you see this really nice, sturdy bridge going along this fast, rushing torrent of water. And we're saying, I'm going to walk that way. And then also you hear God's booming voice say, don't take the easy way. Go walk through the water.

That's the association of realizing, are we allowing our nature to step in, are we looking for God to teach us his statutes in his way, in his path, in his will?

Let's proceed now to Psalms 119 verse 25 through 27. And that's the next area that's requested. So starting in verse 25, it says, My soul clings to the dust. Give me life according to your word.

So this word clings to is interesting, right? Our soul can easily cling to what is sinful. We don't need instructions on that. We do pretty well, thank you. And David laments his sinful nature here because he recognizes that his life is destined for death. That's what he's referencing. And we can feel that personally, right? We can fail it certainly when you're going through times of sickness or you see loved ones going through sickness. You recognize how physically temporary we are. But spiritually, even more so, when we know the penalty of sin is death, like we talked about in the sermonette, all these things help us realize, and that can either lead us to depression, to anxiety, to doubt, or it can help us focus on what's more important.

So rather than dwelling on that as an anxious thought, David understood where he needed to go for deliverance. And he asked God to lift him out of that depression through or according to his word. That's what he was crying to God for. Deliver me through your word. Show me what I need to be doing, and that will quicken the spirit. And I'd say the same is very, very true for us, because we're not worthy to go to God. I'm sorry, and me. Satan can tell us we're not worthy. Satan can tell us you're too far beyond hope. And isn't that a little voice sometimes we hear in our head? You know, we messed up. All right, we're done. God's done with me now. That's not at all what God wants to do. God wants us to reach out to him, for him to lift us up through his word. And that's what he's wanting us to focus on. Verse 26, when I told of my ways, you answered me, teach me your statutes. So interesting part is a is the start of this. It's this when I told you my ways, which, and what I could read into that, it's this Hebrew phrase that speaks of a revelation. So in this one, it's like a self revelation. In a sense, David is saying, when I take account of my life and think about how badly I have lived. That's kind of the reference point here. And if you think that to any any recovery program, anybody who's gone through addictions, it all starts with a person owning their problem, right? Until I first take account of who they are and what they've done, then they will never be able to go forward. And so that's the mindset that David had, where he then said, teach me your statutes. Now recognize, okay, this is where I'm going. This is how far it takes me. God, teach me your statutes. I recognize what works and what doesn't work. And this word teach that we see in each of these examples, actually references an expert who trains others. You know, I think of of lower back there as a professor. Who do you go to that are the people who really trained in something? Teach me the expertise that I don't have just by flipping through things. Teach me who is an expert. That's what's being referenced. David knew God would remove sin and he cried to God to instill with him the knowledge of how to properly live. Verse 27 continues, make me understand the way of your precepts and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

In a sense it's saying, God, teach me and then make me to understand it. It's not just head knowledge. David was asking for some kind of divine intervention to help him understand and comprehend so that he could live it as he should. And you see that plea through so many parts of the Psalms, which I think why we can relate to David. Because you see the struggle, but then you see the desire, which is where he humbles all of us. And we can't expect God to move within our lives if we're not willing to act accordingly in obedience. That's what we're trying to be taught. Move forward now to verse 32 of Psalms 119, 32 through 34, and we're going to read another one of the requests. Verse 32 says, I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. Now, first of all, verse 32 starts with running. If we think about some of the earlier verses, he was struggling and crawling and miserable, and that's, if nothing else, gives courage to our life, right? You have to crawl before you walk. You have to walk before you run. You start seeing the example taking place and the objective that God wants is us moving forward, growing, maturing, not standing idle. And to do this, we have to be obedient, and we have to allow God's faith within us to grow. But David realized he couldn't do this on his own. You see, that's so often throughout the Psalms. You and I don't need anyone to teach us how to do wrong.

Not much of a skill set, but we've got that part down, right?

But we definitely need somebody to teach us how to do right. You don't need to turn there, but Jeremiah 13, verse 23 says, can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leoparded spot? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. So we need someone to teach us how to do what is right.

And there is someone who is ready, who is willing, who is passionate. God will grow us if we're willing and if we're obedient. And that then comes to the next verse, verse 33. Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will keep it to the end. So slightly different phrasing this time.

He asks, teach me the way of your statutes. And remember, we talked earlier that all of us know the way to do wrong. Let me figure that part out. But we can't teach ourselves how to live right.

Other people, politicians, celebrities, brilliant scholars, can't teach us the way to do right.

The world can't teach us how to live right. God alone is this master scholar, is this tenured professor in the divine school of right living. He is the one who we have to go to, to figure that part out. So we have to submit to God's instructions in order to be this righteous person. Or if you want to put it another way, if we're going to live right, we must trust and obey the word of God in the testimony of Jesus Christ. David didn't want to merely know a body of truth. And I think that's a challenge we could run into, because sometimes we can just feel full of ourselves, feel proud because of things we understand or that God has revealed to us. But that is not the end of what God has wanted. He, like us, had found this straight and narrow way that leads to life.

But notice the pledge that David made, and this is what God wants us to learn from David. He said, and I will keep it to the end. I think that's this powerful lesson of this passion David had.

And I will keep it to the end. God didn't give us the Scripture to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives. And the goal of spiritual instructions is this obedient life. That's what the goal is. Not getting smarter, but what we're doing to act on what we've been taught. And in fact, it's not only active obedience. It's really this persistent obedience.

Because it's not about how we start the journey. It's not about being occasional and periodic and sporadic. It must be to the end. And that's what we see from David. Verse 34 says, give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

So we see it during this example. David asked for two different things, really. He was saying he understood he lacked understanding and then the ability to do it. I think we all would admit that we fall well into that boat. We lack understanding and we lack the ability to do what we understand. And that's a good area to take from these examples of what we could do.

God is willing to help those who want to obey him. Now, I can tell you, we could go this whole sermon as I was going through this. It could easily be multiple sermons. But just through the different examples of where he used that, teach me your statutes. For your notes, I'll give you the other five and I'll read them to you, but we're not going to go exhaustively into it. So, verse 64, and all these are in Psalm 119. Verse 64 says, the earth, oh Lord, is full of your steadfast love. Teach me your statutes. Verse 124 is similar. It says, deal with your servant according to your steadfast love and teach me your statutes. Verse 68 says, you are good and do good. Teach me your statutes. Verse 135 says, make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your statutes. And then verse 171 says, my lips will pour forth praise for you. Teach me your statutes. But let's transition now to the next thing that David asked so we can learn the different things he asked to be taught on. And so, look now in Psalm 119, not making you work really hard for... but verse 105 through 112. All right, let's do a little confession time. How many of you have ever tried to walk through your own house in the dark?

Yeah, I could tell you a whole story of me having a scar on my face running into a wall, trying to not let my parents know I was coming in late. But we, in the moment, think what we're doing is okay, right? After all, we know the landscape. In most situations, we know whether or not we've cleaned up. And we know basically what we think is going to happen, right? But what actually happens? We walk in in the dark and we inevitably stub our toe, bump our knee, step on something we didn't think was there. All right? We put ourselves through all this when all we had to do was turn on a light. So I'm gonna... I know this sounds overly simple, but just bear with me.

When you turn on a light, you can see. That's smart thinking here. Big brain. And when we can see our pathway is evident. So now we're going to take this analogy into the spiritual realm.

We know spiritually that we naturally move toward a different way, toward a wrong way of living, right? Humanly, we don't know what spiritual direction to take. And if we try to just feel our way through it, it's not going to work real well. That's the lead-in I want you to have. And I'm going to read this next section from the New Living Translation. Verse 105. Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. It's part of the mindset as he leads into this next request.

If we don't follow the light of God's Word, then we're going to stub our spiritual toe or our spiritual knee, sprain our spiritual ankle. Or worse yet, if you want to take that analogy, we're going to fall into a pit and lose all direction of where we're supposed to go.

When we trust in God, he's not going to cause us to trip into the darkness of the world around us, but he will light a path for us. And so like a lamp, the Word of God does two things. First of all, it exposes sin in our lives. There's an ouch part to that, but there's a blessing to it as well, right? It lights up and doesn't allow us to keep the dirty unnoticed. From there, God wants us to confess our sins, to seek forgiveness. The second thing, though, that the light of God does is helps us if we're wanting to find the path God desires, it will illuminate it.

Light of God does both things. So here we see... Actually, let's continue in verse 107 before I go to that. I'm in 106. Verse 106 says, I've promised it once, and I'll promise it again. I will obey your righteous regulations. Now that word on your Bibles might be judgments, might be rules, might be regulations. So same word. So what we see here, Dave, is David making a vow before God that he wants to be vigilant to keep the law. And he's promising, I will seek and obey God's wisdom. I won't go back, even if it's hard. That's what he's implying. And I think so often we have to remind ourselves of what we've promised to God. He started this. I promised it once, because all of us who are baptized made an oath, a very, very solemn oath to God. That was a lifetime commitment, and it's something that's serious. And for the rest of our lives, we must make it a point to perform for and to God what we have obligated ourselves to do. We're supposed to make that effort to be obedient, to be submissive. That's why we have the Passover, to remind us of that every year, right? A beautiful and a powerful symbolism. Verse 106, 107, now, I have suffered much, O Lord, restore my life again as you promised. So David, again, is talking about the suffering, because he knows he's stumbled along his ways. I think a lot of this stumbling right here, he's talking about a sin. He recognizes when he trusts in himself what happens, rather than walking on the path that God has cleared out. In a sense, what he's saying is, God, or maybe he's not saying this example, but you know we've all said it. I'll certainly admit I've said this before. You come to God and you're like, God, I've done it again.

All right. I tried to do things on my own. I call on you, God, to please deliver me again. I'm sorry. You know, it's this ick. All right, did I hit it again? Don't learn too well. And David's praying here and pleading for God's promise to restore him, and then that leads to verse 108.

Lord, accept my offering of praise and teach me your regulations or your judgments or your rules.

So he's lifting up thanks and praising God because of his unfailing love and grace, knowing that he can't do it on his own. And then he says, teach me your rules and your requirements. God, I need your acceptance and assistance, and I want you to teach me your judgments. Get the feel of what he is asking for here. Because as humans, we can't offer anything to God.

God doesn't, you know, what our best is is filthy rags along the way. We don't deserve what God gives us, but the truth is that God is pleased to instruct us. He is pleased to show us and help us if we seek his grace and instructions humbly. And that's what he's wanting us to do.

Who are we to set up our flimsy ideas as superior to God's?

Do you think our precedents and our rules and our judgments are wiser than God's?

But we do it very often, I would argue. It's very, very natural, and that's why we need to seek to know more about God's Word. That's why verse 105 was the one that said God's Word is the only light of real clarity. It's this back and forth that David's reflecting on. And then we come to verse 109. My life constantly hangs in the balance, but I will not stop obeying your instructions. So obviously he found himself in danger here, and we know whether it was Saul trying to kill him or other areas, this was something that was common. And in the face of this, we see him knowing that what matters most was about what his heavenly judge said. And then in verse 112 it says, I am determined to keep your decrees to the very end. He mentioned a number of times, you see these examples, right? When he says, teach me, and he goes, and I'm going to do it to the end. I'm not going to stop. Something that was obviously a very, very passionate area, and that should actually ring a little bell to you. For those of you who are married, you can think of marriage vows. To the very end, till death do us part. Through thick and thin. You know, it's that concept that's being voiced here. Good times aren't bad. We're going to keep God's decrees.

Now, all right, here goes another one of those ick realities of life. But realize this whole thought of God shining his light. God shines his light only on those steps where he wants us to step.

Okay, so that seems okay so far. Sometimes it gives just enough light for the step we're on.

Often what we want is for God to illuminate so we can see farther into the future.

Right? Oftentimes we want it so that, you know, we see the whole story.

But the truth is we have to learn to trust God to illuminate what we're ready for and show us the rest when he knows is right. When inside of us we're going, ah, I want to know! I want to know how this ends. We're supposed to keep focusing on what God has shown us to do right now.

That's an important connection to make. I read this insightful quote by a lady named Stormy O'Marshan. So IAN, I figure she's Armenian. And she said, God gives me just the amount of light I need at just the time I need it.

And powerful thought. And it shows this great level of trust and submission that I think God wants from each of us. God, I recognize you're going to give me just the amount of light I need at just the time I need it. And then if we're honest with ourselves, we're saying, but God, can you give me a little bit more? So are we willing to trust in God to light our path toward his desires?

Let's go ahead and turn to verse 16 for the next thing that David requested. I'm sorry, 66. Verse 66, Psalm 119, it says, Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe your commandments.

Teach me good judgment and knowledge. So this is a little different. The word judgment in this case is talking about good discernment, right? Different word, different context. Good discernment based on God's knowledge. And that's, in a sense, what we should always be asking for, right? Better judgment, sound judgment. That's what's being referenced here. Because David knew, again, this mistake that would happen when he based things on his own judgments. And a lot of these areas of teach me is him saying, I know I do this wrong myself. God, teach me. I know I'm not good at this. God, teach me. That's what's being referenced. We need God to help us understand him better. We need God to help us to understand our suffering better. We need God to help us understand God's judgments and his rules and his regulations better. And so David is basically saying, Lord, I am very foolish, yet I believe that your commandments are the best guide to my life, therefore I desire to follow him. Right? That's kind of what's being referenced. For our final judgment, I mean, our final example, I'd like you to go back to the first or one of the first ones we went to. Psalms 25. This is going to, this time we're going to read verse four and five.

Verse four was one I read before, but I intentionally skipped verse five because I wanted to finish with it. So Psalms 25 verses four through five. I'll start in verse four. Show me your way, O Lord. Teach me your paths. And then it continues. Lead me in your truth and teach me. For you are the God of my salvation. On you I wait all the day. So you can see kind of why I kept it because this verse kind of holds together a lot of what we've talked about already, where he's saying, show me your way. Teach me your path. Lead me in your truth. I think that's really the core of why David was such a man after God's own heart, why God could relate to him so much.

God longs for us to say, lead me in your truth and teach me. And if you kind of group the different requests that we've learned along the way, some of the things that all of us could ask God for along the way is, you know, help me to understand your way, for I'm often perplexed by them. Teach me the paths in which you would have me walk. Enlighten my thoughts. Give me the power to interpret your way of acting. Control my conduct. Give me an obedient heart. Help me to trust in the truth of your word and your way. Because your nature is love and good, please do these favors and please save me. I'm waiting on you till the end. Kind of thoughts that blend in all these verses we read that David's referencing. And we know that God says he's not willing that any should perish, but he wants us to want him. He wants us to ask for him to teach us not to say, God, I'm going to be stubborn, but I just whacked me out of the head when I really needed it. That's not the heart of David along the way. Verse 5 ends with David saying, On you I wait all the day.

What does that mean? What does that mean to wait on God? I read several explanations I thought were very good, so I'll read them to you. It's to live a life of desire toward him. Our desire should be not only toward the good things God gives us, but toward God himself. It is to live a life of a dependence on God as a child waits on a father. It's to live a life devoted to God as a servant waits on his master. It's to live a life of delight in God as the bride delights in her groom, and it is to make his will and statutes our rules to live by willingly.

Things we need to do all of our life, things we need to focus on. And I hope you learn through these different Teach Me examples and can see even the Passover connections to it, because what we find is that David was this man who was devoted to the Word of God.

And the example, he sets, is not only about what he knew, because obviously he had a tremendous amount of wisdom. We've learned from him constantly. But his acknowledgement of what he did not know by praying, Teach Me. And I think that's an essential qualification for admission into God's kingdom. We have to recognize that we have a lot to learn. Final verse, if you would turn to John 8, verse 31 through 32. John 8, 31 through 32. There is a lot of people who've striven to be enrolled, you could say, into God's school, but they don't make much spiritual progress.

And I think there's this deception that we could have into thinking that just enrolling into God's school will automatically produce a passing grade. And that's not the way it works.

The foolish people do not know that they do not know. And God doesn't accept them. God only accepts those who recognize their need for instruction. And I think that's why this great pinnacle, this great hero of ours and David, sets the light by so often saying, Teach me. Baptism is just admission into God's school of lifetime learning. What we're about to read in John 8 is Jesus saying, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Someone once said that education is the process of going from unconscious ignorance to conscious ignorance. The enrollment process into God's kingdom requires that we recognize our spiritual ignorance and that we cry out to God saying, Teach me.