I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!  Psalm 119:8

Have you ever given a ‘yes’ to something while knowing, even as the words left your mouth, that you were stepping in over your head?

That is how this verse feels to me. David makes a bold promise: “I will keep Your statutes.” I can almost hear him take in his breath before he says it. It is the language of love, but also the language of holy inadequacy. Who can truly keep God’s statutes? Who is sufficient for this tall order? And yet David loves Him enough to offer his obedience, even knowing how fragile the human heart can be. So almost in the same breath, he adds, “Do not utterly forsake me.” He knows his need. He knows that sincere intention is not the same as sustaining power. Without the nearness of God, he will not stand.

And isn’t that the posture of every true child of God?

Everything God asks of us drives us beyond ourselves. His ways are too high for the natural mind. His commandments are not sized to human strength. His callings are God-sized. Even the greatest commandment, ‘to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind’, reveals how unable we are apart from grace. We mean it when we say we love Him, and yet our loves are so easily seduced. The glitter of Babylon still catches our eye. Lesser things still charm us. Our first Love is betrayed in a hundred subtle ways.

So this verse becomes not only David’s confession, but mine. I come again today and say, with as much sincerity as I can gather, I will keep Your statutes, Lord. But I do not say it with self-confidence. I say it with dependence. Stay close to me. Hold me up. Teach me. Correct me. Strengthen what is weak in me. Because if You leave me to myself, I will wander.

Today is a new day, and once again, I will take a deep breath. I will walk in Your ways, but only because Your Holy Spirit will walk with me. Do not leave me in my frailty. Keep me near enough to obey.  Amen