Teach me. Give me. Direct me.

It was another Sunday, and I had been taken to yet another church service. I didn’t dislike going to church, but there were parts of the service which were quite frankly boring. I can remember one Sunday holding open one of the pew Bibles as it was read from the front. All that was going through my mind was ‘when are we going to get to the end?’. As a child the Bible seemed irrelevant, dull and something for the big people. I now look back and wish someone had shared with me what the Bible truly is about. That it’s not irrelevant, it’s not dull, and it certainly isn’t only for the big people. In fact if we really think about it, the Bible is the most exciting book that has ever come into existence. How is that you say? Simply this, the words in the Bible are God’s words. It is through the pages of Scripture where we can hear the living God speak. Think about that. The One who made the universe, the One who created all things, the One who knows you better then you know yourself. You can hold in your hands words that this God has purposefully fashioned to be. I love these three verses from Psalm 119:


Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,
that I may follow it to the end.
Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.
Psalm 119:33-35

These three verses offer a helpful pattern of prayer for the one who comes hungry before the words of the living God. Three verses; three pleas. Teach me. Give me. Direct me.



Teach me

Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,
that I may follow it to the end.

Praying that God would teach us not only what his decrees are, but also teach us the way of his decrees. That he would teach us his ways so that we might walk the path that leads to eternal life. We live in a world with so many competing ways, so many competing ‘decrees’. Every day we are bombarded with messages from the media and the surrounding culture to follow their ways. With each new day, this verse helps us redirect our lives in the way of the Lord, but we can’t do this on our own, we need him to teach us, and so we say - teach me.



Give me

Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.     

As God teaches me to follow his ways, we need to ask him to give us understanding. If someone tells you to do something yet you don’t understand why, it is very unlikely that you will obey what you’ve been asked to do. Keeping God’s law and obeying it with all our hearts doesn’t come naturally to us. We need to ask God to give us understanding so that we not only see the value of keeping his laws, but we also begin to grow a deeper desire to do so. If I truly understand the goodness of God’s laws, obeying them will gradually move from a duty to a delight. God’s desire is that ALL my heart is obedient to his ways. Without his help I have neither the ability or desire to be obedient, and so we ask - give me understanding.



Direct me

Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.

We live in a world filled with delights. However when we stop to think about it, how many of us view the commands of God as a source of delight? Probably this is the last place we look, but the Bible says otherwise. The Psalmist asks God to direct him in the path of his commands - why? - because in them he finds delight. This is true for us and should become a daily plea as we sit before the pages of God’s word. For as he teaches us to obey his word, as he gives us understanding in his word, the more hidden delights we begin to discover. Where do you go to find delight? The Bible reminds us that every delight, every good thing, comes from the very hands of God. It should therefore not surprise us that an even greater delight is to be found in the author of all delights. It is therefore as we seek direction down the path of his commands, that we find such delights, and so we ask - direct me.