KEEPING PURE
Aug 28, 2025
Image by Sonika Agarwal from Unsplash
KEEPING PURE
Psalm 119:9 ESV
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.”
Not only is Psalm 119 the longest of psalms with 176 verses, it has in every verse a word for God’s Word: law, testimonies, ways, precepts, statutes, commandments, and so on. We can imagie a hammer driving home, with every blow, the same nail, again and again, till we get it: God’s Word in all and be all of life! The psalmist takes care to structure the psalm around the Hebrew alphabet, penning the 22 stanzas (eight verses per stanza), each corresponding to a Hebrew letter. He brings symmetry and beauty to bear upon dogma and truth.
In the second stanza, he asks a question, and answers it. Young people face temptations that compromise their purity. The beloved apostle John writes, “I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” (I John 1.14) John could well be writing with Psalm 119.9 in mind! Why should the young be especially vigilant against the sin of impurity, in particular sexual impurity?
A young unmarried couple was planning to take an overseas holiday together. They assured their pastor, “Don’t worry, we know our limits; you can trust us.” The pastor replied, “I trust you, but I don’t trust your hormones.” Sexual as well as other impulses within us, especially the young, are turbulent and wildly unpredictable. As the song Love Changes Everything puts it, “Love bursts in, and suddenly /All our wisdom disappears/ Love makes fools of everyone/ All the rules we make are broken….”
Only the Word of God can stand as a bulwark against the overpowering tide of temptation. As Jesus quoted Scriptures against Satan’s onslaught (Matt 4.1-11), we should do likewise. The psalmist testifies (Ps 119.11): “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” The question is not whether we will do it, but whether we want to do it. Here is where the psalmist challenges us, “Do we love God’s Word, as we claim to love God.
Read the 176 verses and be overwhelmed by his wholehearted devotion to Scriptures which, when read, remembered and applied, will keep us from sin.
Keep the Word and it will keep you.
