Turn My Eyes from Worthless Things: Psalm 119:33-40

Turn My Eyes from Worthless Things

Psalm 119:33-40

The glowing screen on my phone projects into my eyes the desires and loves that live in the most abstract corners of my heart and soul, finding visible expression in pixels of images, video, and text for me to see and consume and type and share. This means that whatever happens on my smartphone, especially under the guise of anonymity, is the true exposé of my heart, reflected in full-color pixels back into my eyes.
Tony Reinke, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You 

Screens. Screens. Screens. It seems everywhere we turn in our homes and elsewhere we are inundated with screens. Handheld devices. TVs. Computers. In our society, and increasingly many more, digital devices with immediate access to anything our heart and eyes desire is becoming the norm. This is not a post about the absolute evil of technology, because technology and our access and sharing of knowledge and information has proved useful and instrumental for good purposes. However, for many of us, the helpful, accessible, and useful has turned into the addictive, consuming, and worthless.

In Psalm 119:37, the psalmist prays, “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.” Twice in this short section, he asks God to give him life (119:37, 40). The connection I see between turning from worthless things and the request for life is that when we give our attention to worthless things, life is robbed from us or we willfully choose to let it slip by. We lose time. We forfeit relationships. We feed ourselves with temporary satisfaction instead of investing in those things which cannot be lost. Screens are only one life-taker. Obviously, in the psalmist’s day, there were no screens, so there are other worthless things that can fill our attention. Whether it’s phone usage or pornography, binge-watching or a quest for knowledge, laziness or excessive exercise, whatever might be a snare, we need the Lord’s help in turning from what is worthless and instead “to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him” (Colossians 1:10). 

How can we determine if what we are consuming is worthless? 1) is it sin? 2) am I spending an inordinate amount of time on it? 3) is it truly resting, refreshing, and life-giving? 4) does it cause me to enjoy God and His good gifts more? 5) is it harmful to someone else or neglectful of another responsibility? 6) what is my motive in spending time on this activity? 7) is it hard for me to turn my eyes away from certain things? Thinking through some of these questions (and others) and evaluating our habits can help us to see what has slipped to worthless, life-robbing pursuits. We can certainly enjoy the good gifts God had given us, but we must also be careful that we are not abusing these good gifts and becoming ensnared by them.

The psalmist makes eight requests of God in these eight verses, which we will use to shape our prayers regarding the turning from worthless things. 1) Teach me your statutes (119:33). We need the Lord to replace our worthless pursuits with His worthy Word and obedience to it. 2) Give me understanding (119:34). We need the Lord to give us spiritual understanding which leads to a whole heart desiring to observe and keep God’s law. 3) Lead me in the path of your commandments (119:35). When we’ve become enamored with what is worthless, we’ve strayed from the way in which we should walk, and we need to Lord to lead us back to His way and continue to guide us and keep us. 4) Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain (119:36). The pursuit of what is worthless is, at the heart, selfish gain. We do we want to do, no matter the cost. Instead we need hearts inclined to “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit” (Philippians 2:3). 5) Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things (119:37). Sheer willpower cannot overcome idols. We need the Lord’s help in turning our gaze, attention, and affection away from what is worthless. 6) Confirm to your servant your promise (119:38). We ask God to establish the truth of His promises. We must believe that what God declares worthy of our time and attention can be trusted. We must believe that when God says He rewards those who diligently seek Him, He will! So we pursue God’s ways while we ask Him to confirm in our lives the truth of His Word. 7) Turn away the reproach that I dread (119:39). Reproach expresses disappointment or disapproval. Perhaps disappointment and disapproval have happened as a result of worthless pursuits, like the pursuit of pornography. But maybe this is reproach because there has been a turning from what is worthless and rejection has been the result. Either way, this is a plea for mercy. And finally 8) Give me life (119:40). We ask the Lord for life. We exchange the gazing at worthless things with a longing for His precepts. We exchange life-wasting pursuits with life-giving ones. We must act. And we must depend on God’s help. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭12‬-‭13‬).

Let’s pray through this portion of Psalm 119 for ourselves and a loved one to turn from what is worthless and turn to the Worthy One.

119:33:34 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.
 Pray:
▫️The Lord would teach us about ourselves and if there are worthless things we place before our eyes regularly. Take a few minutes to ask the Lord to search your heart and life for any worthless pursuits. Is there a loved one that is entangled in something worthless? Bring that to the Lord also.
▫️The Lord would teach us the worth of His Word and His ways and we would turn away from the idolatrous pursuits and pursue what is truly valuable. 
▫️We would keep His statutes throughout our entire life. We would be faithful and obedient to what He teaches us through His Word.
▫️The Lord would increase our understanding of the things our hearts love and increase our understanding to see His ways as more worthy of pursuing than what we have previously chosen.

119:35-36 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
Pray:
▫️The Lord would help us discern where we have erred and He would lead us in the path of His commandments. 
▫️He would change what we delight in. Is there something sinful that we have come to love? Is there something good that we have neglected? Confess that now.
▫️We would recognize when and how we have pursued selfish gain, and we would instead have a heart of humility that does nothing from selfish gain or conceit. 

119:37-38 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. 
Pray:
▫️The Lord would give us and our loved one the strength and desire to turn from whatever worthless thing we have pursued. 
▫️The Lord would give us strong affections for what is worthwhile, holy, and profitable. 
▫️He would confirm His Word to us. As we seek to submit this area of our lives to Him, He would show us the truth of His promises to us. 
▫️Fear of the Lord would grow in our hearts.

119:39-40 Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!
Pray: 
▫️In mercy, the Lord would turn away the reproach, disapproval, and disappointment that have resulted because of consuming what is worthless or the reproach that we fear may happen as a result of turning from worthless pursuits. 
▫️The Lord would give us His life through His precepts and we would long for Him to be our life and His Word the guiding principle of our lives.
▫️We would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him in all areas of our lives (Colossians 1:10). 
 
May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All right reserved.



Photo credit to alex_andrews.

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