salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes. psalm [119:155]
commercial: as dizziness may be a side effect of (insert prescribed medicine here), do not operate heavy machinery before talking to your doctor.
why is it that when i hear medicine commercials say, “heavy machinery”, immediately, my mind goes straight to forklifts, bulldozers, and excavators? in reality the spokesperson is talking about things we use every day like cars and treadmills. the same thing happened when i read the word wicked in this verse. my mind went straight to what could be considered the most heinous of crimes. yet so quickly i negated the daily “crimes” (sin) i commit- my wickedness.
wickedness is often thought of as an internal longing or an act(ion). however, the psalmist shows us that wickedness is a lack of pursuance of God. that is what it boils down to.
how do we turn away from our individual wickedness? first, let’s give God glory because he gives us the opportunity to repent from our wickedness!! if the wicked do not seek the Lord’s statues, then the inverse must be true- those who seek his statues find true salvation in God. therefore, in order to turn from our wickedness, we must turn from our me-dependent mindset and shift to God-dependent lifestyle.
thomas keating gives us a practical step to turn from wickedness by saying, “the spiritual journey is not a success story or a career move. it is rather a series of humiliations of the false self”. although, it is not about how we turned from our old ways, but it is about a God, our God, who is willing to save.
romans 6:13- do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
~ angela younger