Psalms 119:33

STROPHE 5

A PRAYER THAT GOD WILL TEACH HIM THE LAW AND THAT HE WILL TURN THE PSALMIST TO IT AWAY FROM COVETOUSNESS

He

"Teach me, O Jehovah, the way of thy statutes;

And I shall keep it unto the end.

Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law;

Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

Make me go to the path of thy commandments;

For therein do I delight.

Incline my heart unto thy testimonies,

And not to covetousness.

Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity,

And quicken me in thy ways.

Confirm unto thy servant thy word,

Which is in order unto the fear of thee.

Turn away my reproach whereof I am afraid;

For thine ordinances are good.

Behold, I have longed after thy precepts:

Quicken me in thy righteousness."

"Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity" (Psalms 119:37). In spite of the general monotony and constant repetition in the psalm, almost every strophe finds a line of significant fresh and challenging thought. This is such a line.

The lust of the eye entered into the temptation of our mother Eve; and Satan did not overlook the power of it when he tempted the Son of God in the wilderness, showing him "all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them." Here the psalmist prays that God will control what he is tempted to "look upon."

The Lord has commanded, "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red" (Proverbs 23:31). There are also many other things upon which those who wish to live righteously simply should not allow their eyes to linger. Isaiah commended the man who, "shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil" (Isaiah 33:15).

And Job has this: "I made a solemn promise never to look with lust at a girl" (Job 31:1, the Good News Bible).