Pure Ways

                                             How can a young man keep his way pure?

By keeping it according to Your word.
 With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
I have treasured Your word in my heart,
So that I may not sin against You. (Psalm 119:9-11)

 

              I believe it is in the book The Practice of the Presence of God in which Brother Lawrence writes about times in which his finding himself imperfect and incapable of being otherwise. As I consider today’s passage, so like the passages from the past few days, and the question of really believing what we claim to believe, it seems that we return to the same challenge. Indeed, it is the same challenge that Paul wrote about in Romans 7.

          We want to be perfect. We want to keep our way pure. We get up in the morning with every intention of seeking God with all our hearts, and treasuring His  Word and His Spirit in our hearts, and three seconds later we’re caught up in the hustle and bustle of life: the dog wants out, or in, or out, or in; our stomachs are reminding us that it’s breakfast time, there are e-mails to answer, etc. The day whirls on and ends with our feeling that we accomplished nothing – and worse, that among the things we failed to accomplish are keeping our ways pure, living in accordance with His Word, and treasuring His Word in our hearts.

          What Brother Lawrence suggests is that we should take these matters to God. We have failed. We cannot help but fail unless He gives us success. Having done this, Brother Lawrence suggests that we put the matter behind us and set our sights once again on God, because it is as we move toward God that all of the rest will follow after.