How shall a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
With my whole heart I seek You;
do not allow me to 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 declare
all the decrees of Your mouth.
I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies,
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on Your precepts
and keep my eyes on Your ways.
I will delight in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word. Psalm 119:9-16 (MEV)
In this section of Psalm 119 – Beth, the Psalmist contemplates how to stay pure. This is of vital concern for the Christian today. Take our language for example. Vulgar language is creeping into everyday language. You hear it at the park when a parent is talking to his/her child, it’s in the media, it’s in our schools (even elementary level), it’s in government official campaigns and it’s even in advertisement. When we are bombarded with vulgar language it is hard to stay pure.
You may be reading this and saying to yourself, Sandy, stop being such a prude. However, being a linguist, I understand more than most how language changes and reflects its culture. The increasing levels of vulgar language in everyday language is indicative of an increase in the vulgarity of our hearts. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile the man (Matthew 15:18).
We’ve all heard the saying, once a word is spoken, it can never be taken back. Words are more important than you think. After all, God spoke the universe and earth into being. In fact, the Hebrew letter beth means creation and house.
There are a couple of mnemonics for the formation of beth. First, the strokes represent three of the four directions. The directions are not set as we often set directions with north on the top. Rather, the directions symbolized by beth follow the basic direction of the pathway of the sun.The top stroke is east, the stroke on the right side is south and the bottom stroke is west. The left side of the symbol is north, but it is left open because north represents evil and we have an obligation to fight evil (Raskin, 2003). A second mnemonic for the formation of beth is to look at it as three pillars. The top stroke is the pillar of the Torah. The right stroke is the pillar of prayer, and the bottom stroke is the pillar of charity. It is used to teach the Jewish person that he/she is to study Torah, pray and show charity.
Within this letter, the purpose of Torah (Jewish law or instruction) is emphasized. The purpose of studying the Torah is to become one with God. He allows us to understand it, and thus be able to unite with Him. The beth, when representing the three pillars symbolizes a home for God. It’s important to denote that the meaning of home is a place to return to after finishing worldy affairs (Raskin, 2003). Thus, the God who creates, returns to His home after finishing His worldly affairs. It stands to reason then, that when we study Torah, and unite with God, we are able to return home with Him as well.
This analogy can be taken a step further. As we study God’s word, we are becoming pure. When we seek God with all our heart, then He makes our lives pure. As our heart becomes purer, the longer we study God’s word, it will be evident in our actions and our words. And now we are back to the original argument of being pure in our words.
Since the words we use are evidence of the purity of our hearts, we must examine what God’s word says about how to be pure. When we read the Bible and listen to what God is telling us, we are gaining wisdom from God, the creator of wisdom. Part of being pure is knowing how to find true wisdom. James 3:17 states, But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. When we are filled with this Godly wisdom, we are becoming pure. Paul, when writing to the Philippians tells us to not only seek wisdom from God, but to train our minds to focus on the good, …brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8.
The Bible not only tells us that we should seek God’s wisdom and meditate on His goodness, but also tells us what not to do so that we will remain pure. Do not lay hands suddenly on anyone, and do not partake of other men’s sins. Keep yourself pure. I Timothy 5:22
To the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Even their minds and consciences are defiled. They profess that they know God, but in their deeds they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and worthless for every good work. Titus 1:15-16
Paul writes to Titus showing him the difference between someone who is pure and someone who is not. Just as the pure person who reflects on things that are pure, becomes pure, the impure person is impure, first through his/her thoughts and then through his/her deeds. The impure thoughts lead to impure actions. This is also true of the pure person. Pure thoughts lead to pure actions. We need to train our minds to meditate on the good, and to reflect on the giver of goodness, God. When we do this, our actions will follow.
It is in our pure words that lead to pure actions that we show God’s purity. Paul writes, and this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all discernment, that you may approve things that are excellent so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, being filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God Philippians 1:9-11.
Part of the charge we are given as those who are pure in Christ is to help those in need. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world (James 1:27). In other words, we are to help those in need. We are called into the messiness of people’s lives to help and be the light of God. However, we are to make sure that we are allowing God to use us to influence society, and not be influenced by society itself. Peter explains how we can accomplish this. Know, that it takes God’s power, and we should never rely on our own selves.
Since your souls have been purified by obedience to the truth through the Spirit unto a genuine brotherly love, love one another deeply with a pure heart, for you have been born again, not from perishable seed, but imperishable, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. For
“All flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and its flower falls away,
but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
This is the word that was preached to you.
Therefore put away all wickedness, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking. As newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow, if it is true that you have experienced that the Lord is good. Coming to Him as to a living stone who is rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house as a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ I Peter 1:22-2:5.
Isn’t it exciting to notice, that as we keep ourselves pure in our work for God that we living stones, being built into a spiritual נ, house, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ? It seems that Peter is adding Jesus Christ to the Hebrew letter נ, overcoming the evil of the north side of the letter by filling it with the purity of Christ. We, ourselves can never overcome the evil in this world and build a pure home. However, with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who took the sin of the world on himself, we can be pure before God, and join Him in the ultimate house of purity in Heaven.
If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does righteousness is born of Him. Consider how much love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now are we children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure I John 2:29-3:3.
“As those taught by the Spirit, believers know an entire system of truth and life that remains hidden to those who are in the world. Essential to this is knowing that although for the time being it may not be outwardly recognized, we can still be sure that we are “children of God” and “born of him.” The public revelation of this truth waits for the public revelation of God Himself “when he appears,” at the Second Coming. True children of God will bear the family likeness, both now, as our hope lends our lives a focused purity resembling His, and at the end, when “we shall be like Him.” Only then will our knowledge of Him be complete, but even now our knowledge that “He is righteous” will bring increasing righteousness to our own lives (ESV Reformation Study Bible notes on I John 2:29-3:3).”
Resources
Raskin, A. 2003: Letters of Light. Sichos Publishers.
Sproul, R. (Ed.) 2020. ESV Reformation Study Bible, (Kindle Ed.). Reformation Trust Publishing.
Photo Credit: NASA, March 20, 2020. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/quasar- tsunamis-rip-across-galaxies
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