Grace and Truth - Psalm 119:29 (5 Min Read)
Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!
Psalm 119:29
When we examine the lives of pagans and Christians, we may be surprised to find many similarities. There is certainly no Christian who does not practice sin. Christians get angry, refuse forgiveness, are slow to make amends with those they’ve wronged, and are not always as courteous or hospitable as they ought to be. We may even recognize some who hate Christ to be more kind than some Christians. But, what we must observe, is that the one stark difference between the heathen and those redeemed by Christ’s blood is that they who have Christ in them, struggle against this sin. The sincere Christian cannot stand to be near sin, let alone have it fester in his heart. Those who would be genuine Christians feel the burden of their sin and eagerly seek to have it removed. Here, notice David’s plea, “remove false ways from me.” He is desirous to have the way of lying and deceit to be removed and put away. Lying and cunning and being false were not things David was unfamiliar with. In his time he had deceived and cheated men, but here is the difference: those in Christ pray for their sin to be put away, and their hearts cleansed. They refuse to wallow in it and let it maturate within them until the conscience is seared, the heart becomes hard, the mind is made weak, and the ears are dulled.
One may ask, “but how does the Lord answer this prayer? How does one keep himself from falsehood?” The answer is what we expect it to be: God's perfect law (Psalm 19:7). David asks the Lord to teach him his law, graciously. Notice, the Lord teaches his law, we are not able to learn more than the Lord allows, and so pray, dear Christian, to be shown more and more of it. Those who love God’s law cannot help but be desirous to know more. But David also asks for it “graciously,” as a special token of God’s favor upon him. And observe, the Psalmist doesn’t ask to be put near other Christians or to have false people removed from his sight, in order to be obedient. Instead, he recognizes that obeying the Lord is a matter of one's own heart, not one's circumstances. But most emphatically, we must see what is just beyond view. Here, grace and truth meet. David pleads for the truth to be shown to him, graciously, and yet we know the man in whom grace and truth met perfectly: Jesus Christ (John 1:14,17). O’ dear Christian, if Christ be formed in you (Galatians 4:19) then you must desire truth, and run to God’s law, for it is Jesus Christ and his Gospel you must learn and it is sin you must weep over. No sooner does this happen and lies are expelled that the Gospel takes shape in our hearts.
