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Beginning with the End (Psalm 119:33)

Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall observe it to the end.
Psalm 119:33

Life moves at a very fast pace, so much so that we can lose sight of where we are going! The psalmist is looking at the whole of life. He wants to learn the way of God’s statutes so that he can observe them to the end.

Jonathan Edwards said it this way in his 17th resolution “Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.”

When you get to the end of your life, what do you want to have accomplished? How do you want people to remember you? If you reflect on the last 5 years of your life, what would you say has defined your life? Jesus made it clear in John 15 that Christians should bear much fruit for the glory of God. If your life is bearing much fruit, you won’t need a magnifying glass to find it!

There is a lot packed into this verse:

  • What the psalmist wants: teach me
  • Who he wants to be taught by: Yahweh
  • What he wants to be taught: the way
  • What he wants to be the source of knowledge: God’s statutes
  • Who he wants to apply it to: “I” (himself)
  • What he will do with the knowledge: observe it
  • How long he will observe it: to the end

Most people have desires that they would like fulfilled in this life. For some that could relate to education, employment, getting married, having children, etc. Others have specific financial goals along with particular plans for how they might spend their money. The psalmist was very focused on what his life would be like spiritually. He was determined to finish well and understood that finishing well in the future means living right in the present.

Take time to reflect on your life. Consider the biblical knowledge that you already have. Are you living in obedience to what God has already taught you? Are you striving to learn more from God so that when you come to the end of your life you will have finished well? Have you lived the past few years with priorities that you know God is pleased with? If not, now is the time to reevaluate your life and priorities! You don’t want to wait another five years and find that you have still not made significant spiritual progress.

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Rocky Wyatt

Rocky Wyatt came to know the Lord as a young teenager and began working in youth ministry when in college. After serving in churches in Utah, California and Colorado, Rocky moved to Texas to serve as Youth Pastor at Countryside Bible Church. He served there for 26 years where he eventually moved from youth ministry to serve as an Associate Pastor.

Over the course of his ministry, Rocky has always had a desire to train men for pastoral ministry in the context of the local church. In 1992 he started XL Ministries, an organization that is committed to helping churches establish intensive internships for pastoral training. In 2020 he left his position at Countryside Bible Church to become the Executive Director of XL Ministries and now works full time assisting churches in training men for ministry.

He is co-author of The Youth Ministry Training Manual, a textbook for training youth pastors, and has also written multiple other resources for use in various local church ministries. He is currently working on a book to encourage churches to take the primary responsibility to train pastors.

Rocky is married to Pamela, has two sons and daughters-in-law, and ten grandchildren. 

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.1 Corinthians 15:58