Text: Psalm 119:9-20
How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have declared All the judgments of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word. Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law. I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me. My soul breaks with longing For Your judgments at all times.
Devotion
No one kept God’s Word as our Lord Jesus did, and no one can keep his way as clean as He. He loved His Father’s will and rejoiced in it and hid His Word in His heart, and He is beloved of God and delightful and charming more than any other of those born of men. We will always try to be like Him! Dear young people, do you rejoice in God’s Word? If not, then you are on an impure and unclean path; the track you follow does not lead to the home of light and glory. Turn around and hold the Lord’s Word dear. You have a Bible, which you received as a Baptism gift or for Confirmation. If not, then still there is a Bible in your home, or you can get one yourself. Begin to read it daily: first the New Testament in order, then the books of Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets, then the New Testament again, and then the whole Bible. Read carefully. Ask God to enlighten you, so that you understand the Word, and obey it with an honest soul. Do not neglect the Divine Service,3 and do not let the devil take the Word away from you, while you are listening or when you go home. I urge you by God’s love and your precious Baptismal covenant, follow my advice, keep the Word in your heart. Don’t you want to keep your way pure? Shouldn’t you want to be like Jesus? You strive for life and happiness and think you find it in the pleasures of the world. David rejoiced in the Testimony of the Lord, delighted in His will, and with the deepest yearning of soul prayed to see the wondrous things in the Law of the Lord, so that he might live and keep God’s Word. Shouldn’t you do the same? Truly, it is your sworn enemy who closes your heart to God’s Word. You are God’s child from the time of your Baptism: the Father loves you, Jesus loves you, the Holy Spirit loves you, and the holy angels love you. Do not pollute your path with ungodly ways, but in sincerity, uprightness, and fear of God, say: “Lord, Your Word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.”
Closing Prayer
Yes, Lord, teach me the way of Your will, and I will keep it to the end. Avert my eyes so that they do not look for vanity. Keep me alive in Your way. Amen.
Hymn
Dearest Jesus, draw Thou near me,
Let Thy Spirit dwell with mine;
Open now my ear to hear Thee,
Take my heart and seal it Thine;
Keep me, lead me on my way
Thee to follow and obey;
E’er to do Thy will and fear Thee,
And rejoice to know and hear Thee.
Kingo: L 18:1 ELH 13:1 tr. C. K. Solberg;
tune: Werde munter