Reshaped by God
Do you like DIY projects? If you’re anything like me, you tend to make things worse. You know what's crazy? We actually think we can fix ourselves like a DIY project. We really believe that. Like somehow if we just try hard enough, if we just get disciplined enough, if we just follow the right steps—boom!—we'll become these amazing Christians. But in Psalm 119:33-40, this psalmist just destroys that whole idea. He's not coming to God with some impressive spiritual resume. He's not making these big promises about how awesome his faith is going to be. No—he's desperate. He's on his face before God saying, "I can't do this. I need You to change me." And that's exactly where God wants us. Because here's the reality that should shake all of us: No amount of self-help, no amount of trying harder, no amount of gritting our teeth is going to transform you. Only God can do that. This is the only stanza in all 22 that contain a petition in every verse (9 petitions in all). This stanza is delineated with the Hebrew letter “he” ה. It carries with it the meaning of “to show or reveal,” and signifies the breath of God, which is what this whole stanza is about, God must reveal Himself and His Word to us.
1. God must teach us before we can follow. (33-34)
Verses 33-34 say, "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."
We can't obey what we don't understand. The psalmist isn't assuming he already knows what to do. Look at his words carefully—teach me…that I may keep your law. We don't naturally know how to follow God. We think we do. We assume we can figure it out on our own, but that's a lie we tell ourselves. And that's why so many of us struggle. We jump straight to trying harder, thinking, "I just need more discipline. I just need to get serious about my faith." So we push forward with willpower and self-determination, but we don't actually stop and ask God to teach us first. Each of us, though we’re free, we’re bound. As H.B. Charles says, “The freedom of the will permits us to do as we wish. The bondage of the will prevents us from doing as we ought.”
And we need this so badly. Too many of us try to obey without ever asking God to teach us. We need the why, not just the what. We show up to church, we listen to sermons, we skim through Scripture, but we're not really seeking understanding. We just want a checklist. We want quick, simple steps to follow so we can feel like we're being good Christians. But Jesus didn't say, "Follow these five steps and you'll be fine." He said, "Follow me." He wants relationship before rules, transformation before obedience. Because if you don't actually know the heart of God—if you don't understand His ways—then all your obedience is just empty religion.
Think about the Pharisees. They're the perfect example of what happens when you skip this vital first step:
They knew the law, but they didn't know God.
They memorized the rules, but they missed the point.
They obeyed, but their hearts were far from Him.
And that should terrify us. Because it means you can spend your whole life trying to be good and still miss Jesus completely. You can look religious, know all the right words, do all the right things, and yet never actually have a transformed heart.
Understanding fuels wholehearted obedience. The Hebrew word for "understanding" means to discern, to grasp, to deeply perceive. This isn't about memorizing facts or learning religious routines. It's about seeing God's ways—the true heart of the matter—so clearly that you actually want to follow Him. James Montgomery Boice says, “The writer is asking for two things that he lacks: understanding and the ability to do what he understands.”
Obedience without understanding is exhausting. If you're just following rules without knowing the heart of God, you'll burn out. You'll become a Pharisee, obeying out of duty instead of delight. But when God teaches you, when He opens your eyes, when He gives you understanding, obedience stops feeling like a burden. It becomes a response to grace. It becomes the natural overflow of a heart that has been changed.
Think about how you fight sin. Not by sheer willpower. You fight sin by seeing something better than sin. You walk away from the things that destroy you because you finally see the beauty of God's ways. That's why the psalmist asks for understanding. He doesn't just want to obey out of fear or obligation. He wants to obey because his heart has been transformed by the truth of God's Word.
We need God to transform our heart. It's like trying to perform surgery on yourself. Just as you wouldn't attempt to remove your own appendix, we can't transform our own hearts. We need the Divine Surgeon to do the deep internal work that's required.
Ask yourself this: Have you been trying to obey God without actually asking Him to teach you first? Have you been frustrated with your spiritual life, feeling like you're stuck in the same place? Have you been trying to do the right things, but your heart isn't really in it? If so, then maybe you've been skipping the first step. Maybe you've been trying to change yourself instead of asking God to transform you.
2. God must guide us before we can delight in Him. (35-36)
Verses 35-36 say, "Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!"
The psalmist isn't just saying here, "I love God's commands." He's saying, "I delight in them." That's a big deal. Because if we're honest, that's not our default setting. Most people don't naturally delight in God's commandments. We resist them. We see them as restrictions, not joys. We treat them like obstacles standing between us and what we really want. But the psalmist isn't fighting against God's ways—he's running toward them.
Walking in God's ways requires His leading. Without God's guidance, our hearts will drift. Before he can truly delight in God's ways, he has to be walking in them. We don't just wake up one day with a passion for holiness. We don't stumble into loving God more than the world. That kind of heart change requires God's intervention. Our hearts won't choose God naturally. The psalmist isn't just asking for guidance—he's asking for a heart transplant. He knows his heart is not naturally bent toward God. The default setting of the human heart is not holiness. It's selfishness. It leans toward comfort, control, money, recognition, security—all the things we chase when we're left to ourselves.
That's the scary part, isn't it? We are born curved inward, obsessed with ourselves. Left alone, we don't seek God—we seek whatever benefits us most. That's why Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" So what does the psalmist do? He begs God to incline his heart toward Him.
3. God must change our focus before we will change our lives. (37)
Verse 37 says, "Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways."
What we look at shapes who we become. Our eyes are always leading us somewhere. The psalmist isn't just asking for better habits—he's asking for a total shift in vision. Most of us aren't out here openly rejecting God. We're just distracted. We spend hours consuming content that doesn't build us up, doesn't stir our affections for Jesus, doesn't deepen our faith—it just fills space. When we spend our time looking at the world, we begin to look like the world. If not in our actions, at least in our hearts—in our desires—in the things we long for to fill us and fulfill us—in what we seek to give us life.
Think of a child learning to appreciate healthy food. Initially, they might prefer candy and resist vegetables. But as a parent gradually introduces nutritious options and helps them understand their value, their tastes actually change. Similarly, God doesn't just give us rules - He transforms our spiritual appetites so we actually desire what's good for us.
Life comes from God's ways, not the world's. It's not enough to just stop looking at what's worthless—you have to start looking at what gives life. We fill our minds with worthless things. We binge-watch shows that numb us. We scroll for hours, consuming post after post, feeding our minds with comparison, lust, anxiety, and discontent. We chase after success, money, influence, comfort—things that look important but leave us empty.
Jesus says, in Matthew 6:19-21,
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Because of that, and knowing our tendency to look at the worthless things of the world, the Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 3:2-4:
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
The psalmist gets it just like the Apostle Paul does. He knows that his eyes determine his direction. If he keeps looking at empty things, his life will follow. That's why he prays, "God, turn my eyes away." Because he knows he can't just look away on his own—he needs God's power to change his focus. We aren’t just quick to lose focus, but we’re also quick to forget.
4. God must confirm His promises before we can stand firm. (38-39)
Verses 38-39 says, "Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good."
We need reassurance from God. The psalmist isn't asking God for something new. He’s not looking for a fresh revelation or some emotional experience to make him feel better. He's asking God to confirm what has already been spoken. He’s standing on the promises of God, but he knows something we often forget—our hearts are prone to doubt, and we need God to strengthen our faith.
There are moments when we need to be reminded of what we already know. We can recite Bible verses about God's faithfulness, we can talk about His love, we can say we trust Him—but when life hits hard, when doubts creep in, when fear takes hold, we need God to confirm His promises in a fresh way. We need God to remind us in our hearts why we believe those things in our heads.
It's like learning to walk or learning to ride a bike. A child doesn't just need to know theoretically how to walk. They need their parent's constant reassurance, steady hands, and presence to build confidence. Similarly, we need God's ongoing reassurance and presence to stand firm in faith. And our confidence is in the goodness of God. Since God is good, His rules are good.
Confidence comes from God's goodness. We love to talk about faith when it's safe. We love standing for Jesus when there's no cost. But the moment faithfulness puts us at odds with the world, the moment obedience makes us unpopular, the moment we realize that following Jesus means we will be misunderstood, criticized, and even hated—that's when we start to feel the weight of reproach. But we have no fear standing against the world, even if they say we are on the wrong side of history, because we know the truth. God is good, so his rules are as well.
I love how H.B. Charles puts it:
The source of scripture is good: God.
The content of scripture is good: truth.
The standard of scripture is good: righteousness.
The message of scripture is good: salvation.
The theme of scripture is good: Jesus Christ.
The destination of scripture is good: heaven.
The purpose of scripture is good: the glory of God.
5. God must renew our desires before we can truly live. (40)
The final verse, verse 40 says, "Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!"
There's something powerful about longing. When you really crave something, it consumes you. It shapes your decisions. It influences your actions. The psalmist is talking about that kind of hunger—but it's not for food. It's for God's Word. He's not just casually interested in Scripture. He longs for it. He craves it. He can't be satisfied with anything less.
Your soul is always feeding on something. If you don't hunger for God's Word, it's because you've been filling yourself with something else. And if that's where you are right now, don't settle for spiritual apathy. Don't accept a weak hunger for God as normal. Ask Him to renew your desires. Pray, "God, make me long for your Word. Change my appetite. Make me crave holiness more than I crave comfort."
Think of someone who's lost their sense of taste due to illness, like Covid. They know intellectually that food is good, but they can't enjoy it. Only when their taste buds are restored can they truly delight in eating again. Similarly, we need God to restore our spiritual taste buds so we can truly delight in Him.
Because when God awakens that hunger in you, everything changes. His Word stops feeling like a chore and starts feeling like oxygen. His presence stops feeling distant and starts feeling like home. His righteousness stops being something you try to achieve and starts being the thing that gives you life.
This isn't a pep talk about trying harder. This isn't a checklist for spiritual success. This is a cry for rescue. The psalmist knows the truth that most of us avoid—we can't change ourselves. We can't force ourselves to love God. We can't white-knuckle obedience. We can't make our hearts hunger for His Word.
And that’s where Jesus comes in. Jesus doesn’t just show us the way—He is the way. He doesn’t just teach us truth—He is the truth. He doesn’t just tell us where life is found—He is life. This whole passage is a shadow of what Jesus came to do. He didn’t come just to improve our behavior. He came to make dead hearts alive. To take people who were lost, blind, and selfish, and remake them into people who love God and delight in His truth. He didn’t come to hand us a set of rules and say, “Good luck.” He came to transform us so completely that we would actually desire to follow Him.
So if you feel stuck, if your heart is cold, if your desires are all over the place, the answer isn’t to try harder. It’s to pray this prayer. To throw yourself at the feet of Jesus and say, “God, I can’t do this. Change me.” Because when God reshapes you, everything changes. You don’t just follow Him—you love following Him. You don’t just read His Word—you crave it. You don’t just obey—you delight in obedience.
So stop trying to fix yourself. Stop carrying the weight of your own transformation. Let Jesus do what only He can do. Let Him reshape you today.
