Psalm 119:33-40 ה (He)

A journey through Psalm 119

Stephanie Loomis

May 12, 2026

Psalm 119:33-40 ה (He)

Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes;

and I will keep it to the end.

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law

and observe it with my whole heart.

Lead me in the path of your commandments,

for I delight in it.

Incline my heart to your testimonies,

and not to selfish gain!

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;

and give me life in your ways.

Confirm to your servant your promise,

that you may be feared.

Turn away the reproach that I dread,

for your rules are good.

Behold, I long for your precepts;

in your righteousness give me life!

(ESV)

Close-up of gold glitter spilling from a small jar onto a surface, with soft pink and gold light creating a blurred, shimmering background. — Photo by Alexander Grey. Unsplash

Shiny Things

Humans are easily distracted. It began when Eve and Adam saw that the fruit of the forbidden tree was both beautiful and a shortcut to all wisdom. Every act of rebellion after that first fruit is a quest for shiny things: power, control, and riches. John wrote, “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world“ (1 John 2:16 ESV). These shiny things lead down a path to destruction and we see evidence every day in the news. It’s a vicious cycle that never ends well.

Shiny things appeal to our vanity and ultimately rob us of our vitality. Nebuchadnezzar looked across his kingdom with self-gratifying pride and found himself alone and insane, eating grass and living with animals (Daniel 4). Uzziah started well, but eventually considered himself above the law of God and was struck with leprosy, excluded from society and the house of the Lord (2 Chronicles 26). Haman imagined the richest and best honors for public affirmation and was humiliated when what he assumed was for himself was actually for Mordecai (Esther 6). The Pharisees were condemned for their love of honor and prestige, saying that they had already received their reward (Matthew 6:2, 5; 23).

Steadfast Goodness

The only way to break away from chasing after shiny things is to focus our attention on God’s Word. The psalmist begged that God would turn his heart and his eyes away from selfish and worthless things and toward life through righteousness. The heart represents our central essence, the thing that drives and motivates us. The eyes are the portal through which the temptations of shiny things enter our minds.

We cannot, of our own strength, keep ourselves pure; we need the Lord, Himself, to incline our hearts and turn our eyes toward Him.

We know the way because it is revealed in the law. Spurgeon wrote,

He would know that path of holiness which is hedged in by divine law, along which the commands of the Lord stand as sign posts of direction and mile stones of information, guiding and marking our progress. The very desire to learn this way is in itself an assurance that we shall be taught therein, for he who made us long to learn will be sure to gratify the desire (3890).

Jesus offers abundant life, not as a reward for our activities or as an object of desire, but as a gift from His steadfast goodness and grace (John 10). Abundant life is marked by contentment and deep joy. It may not be shiny—it usually comes packaged in brown paper rather than tinsel and glitter—but it is fulfilling and enduring.

When we focus on the commands of the Lord, looking deep into His steadfast goodness through them, we make ourselves teachable. Even if we don’t always understand what He is teaching, we can continually remember His mercy. Isaiah said,

I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love (Isaiah 63:7 ESV).

Remembering His faithfulness keeps us from longing after shiny things because He offers a life far more valuable than power, control, or riches could bring. His ways are righteous and eternal. His reward for our obedience is fullness of life and abiding peace. The shiny things of this world cannot begin to compare to the richness of life in Christ.

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Post from 2020:

05-12 He 33-40

I’m currently listening to the Bible’s history books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Two phrases stand out to me about the rulers of Israel and Judah: “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” and “He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” No recorded king was in the middle, sitting on the fence trying to decide whether he would serve the Lord or the people and their myriad gods. Sometimes righteous kings ruled a long time (Joash- 40 years); sometimes the wicked prevailed ( Manasseh-55 years). Righteous fathers sometimes had evil sons, and evil fathers sometimes begat righteous sons. Righteousness and evil were determined by the decisions each king made.

The psalmist in this passage identified the most important distinction between the righteous and the unrighteous: acknowledging their utter helplessness without God. The kings who prayed,”teach me Your laws” found life, while the kings who followed their own council ultimately found war, disease, and death without honor.

Ancient kings in the Middle East may have had more power than we, but we have the same decisions to make: whom do we trust? From whom do we derive hope? Current events make clear to us whom we choose. Too many believers trust in government proclamations, spiritual leaders, community pressure, or social media to guide our decisions. We ignore the psalmist’s counsel to look to God’s promise, precepts, and statutes. God has given us minds to think. We are able to look at information and be wise (James 3:13-18) without treating others scornfully and engaging in pointless arguments (James 4:12; Galatians 5:25-26).

What is righteous in our lives is not of ourselves, but is from God. No matter the times, we who say we belong to the Lord must continually ask for His wisdom and delight in His law. His promise is good, and His righteousness gives life.

A NOTE:

Psalm 119 is too rich and too vast to leave to my own thoughts. Six years ago I was content to share my personal responses as I navigated the events of the summer of 2020, but since then, I have learned to frame my responses in light of scholarship and thoughtful research.

Psalm 119 is also too rich and too vast to delve deeply into centuries of scholarship for anything less than a multi-volume publication, the scope of which is beyond a simple devotion on Substack. For this project, then, I have decided to limit my external references to a few trusted sources that will be listed in the “References and Resources” at the end of each article. Primarily, I will rely on the wisdom of Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s treatment of Psalm 119 in The Treasury of David: The Complete Seven Volumes, the NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, and Blue Letter Bible online for its translations. Bible Gateway has extensive resources and I will include those as I use them.

Defaulting to Grace

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