What’s the one thing you desire most? I would like to say that my one thing is to honor and serve the Lord, but many times my days are so wrapped up in my own pursuits that the Lord is put somewhere further down the line. Just bein honest folks – if we aren’t honest with ourselves we can’t and won’t serve the Lord the way we know we should.
“Lord, teach me your laws, and I will always follow them. 34 Help me understand your teachings, and I will follow them. Obeying them will be my greatest desire. 35 Help me follow your commands, because that makes me happy. 36 Give me the desire to follow your rules, not the desire to get rich. 37 Don’t let me look at worthless things. Help me live your way. 38 Do what you promised me, your servant, so that people will respect you. 39Take away the shame I fear. Your laws are good. 40 See how much I want to obey your instructions! Be good to me, and let me live.” Psalm 119:33-40
David had a “one thing” mentality. The Bible says that David was a man after God’s heart. He wanted to serve God will all his natural ability but that wasn’t enough, he wanted more. He knew he needed God’s help if he was truly going to follow God’s word.
David didn’t just sit by each day and have harps playing in the background, eating grapes and contemplating the greatness and vastness of God. His life was full – he had a kingdom to run, he had wives and children, there were enemies to defeat and battles to be won. Yet his priority was God’s word – he wasn’t seeking wealth or power – but those things came to him. He was “seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things were added to him.” David was living the very thing that Jesus taught but he was living it hundreds of years before Jesus delivered the message.
I’ve heard people say, “I don’t really study the Old Testament, there isn’t much in there for me.” Well, that’s all that David had! In fact, he had the first five books of the Bible and then the book of Job; the rest of it was being written as he lived it and after his death. He took God’s command to Joshua seriously – meditate in the book of the Law day and night and then you shall be prosperous and have good success.
David search the Scriptures daily and his advisors did as well. His writing of the Psalms let’s us see how vitality important he knew them to be.
“God blesses those people who refuse evil advice and won’t follow sinners or join in sneering at God. 2 Instead, the Law of the Lord makes them happy, and they think about it day and night. 3 They are like trees growing beside a stream, trees that produce fruit in season and always have leaves. Those people succeed in everything they do.” Psalm 1:1-3 CEV
Have you ever sat and looked at a single day in the life of Jesus? Talk about a full schedule. From the time He got up until late at night he was busy. His daily life was filled with walking, sailing, healing, teaching, facing his critics and then raising the dead. When he did take time to pray and be alone, people would seek him out and interrupt his prayer time. He had learned the Scriptures from his youth and was living them out each and every day.
Jesus said “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” John 6:38
It’s not that we have to do nothing but study God’s word all day long. It’s that we live what we read. Reading one verse and living it all day will have more of an impact on our lives and the lives of others than reading chapters and walking away and not having it change us.
I like this next part in today’s verses. “Don’t let me look at worthless things. Help me live your way.” There was a time that David looked at worthless things and it got him into a lot of trouble. He was up on his roof top and looking down he saw Bathsheba – he committed adultery and murdered her husband all because he was looking at the wrong things. He knew firsthand how destructive it can be to take your eyes off the Lord. It begs the question “what worthless things am I looking at”?
Lord, my heart’s prayer is this – don’t let me look at worthless things but let me focus on You.
Like David, our goal should be to live in a way that people know we are depending on the Lord, trusting Him and making God’s way known to the people around us. He was God-minded and his “one desire” was to know God more.
Don’t just read the Word today – live it!
Love your thought about reading one verse a day and living it, being better than reading chapters and taking away nothing. Studying scripture can become something to check off on our to-do list. Lord help us to study your Word so we will be conformed by it, and closer to you.
God’s word is life changing if we allow it to be.