Psalm 119:9-16

The question the psalmist asks is: “How can a young man keep his way pure?” He does not leave the reader to guess. In fact, he offers seven actions verbs to point the way. How is that for direct! To make things even more practical, he shows how it all works in his own life.

So, what does the psalmist do? To put it succinctly, he seeks, hides, recounts, rejoices in, mediates on, delights in, and does not neglect God’s word.

In addition, there seems to be a pattern. In the end, there is pure and simple delighting in the word of God. This is an important point to emphasize, because talk of purity in our day and age is usually not coupled with the idea of delight, but rather words like austerity, mortification, and self-denial. However, when we consider what purity offers, there may be no better word than “delight.”

Why? The answer is simple. In purity we are able to experience God himself, the author of all pleasure. Apart from God, the pleasures are only derivative and therefore never satisfactory. This is why the pursuit of sin is always more fulfilling than the sin itself. The committing of sin leaves us hungry, empty and full of shame. God, on the other hand, satisfies deeply.

One more thought. We grow in purity, when we delight in something more pleasurable, God himself.