Go to God and Start With His Word

Psalm 119:9-16 (ESV)
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! 13 With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

At our coffee time at Black Sheep Coffee in Sioux Falls, I had a conversation a number of months ago with fellow pastors. When speaking about what the Christian life is and how to live it one pastor made a comment about how pastors need to get away from suggesting only reading the Bible as a solution for sinful lives. It wasn't that he was suggesting not to read the Bible but he felt that there was much more to it than that. In other words, if someone comes up to me with a sin issue I should do more for him than just referring him back to reading, meditating on, and applying scripture to his issue. On the surface I can agree to this thought. But today I read the passage above from Psalm 116:9-16. It seems very clear from this passage that in order to keep my ways pure from sin or from leading away from God I need to live according to God's word. In fact, there are quite a few references just in these eight verses to following the word of God.

"I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you" (11).

"In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches" (14).

"I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word" (16).

I do feel there are other ways in addition to reading, meditating, and applying the Word of God (accountability partners, prayer, confession, etc.), but it seems that the best way to deal with our sinfulness is to go to God's Word, hid it in our hearts, and use the power of God through those words to change our hearts and minds for Christ Jesus.

So, where should we lead people who are struggling with sin? Directly to God's Word for strength, endurance, and hope. I can't think of a better place to send them. Can you?