Thinking Should Lead to Turning

Psalm 119:59 – “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.”

In this verse, the psalmist gives us an example of the path of spiritual revival. There are two actions given in this exercise: reflection and repentance. He first says, “I thought on my ways.” He reflected about his life. This is great counsel for all of us. We need to think seriously about our ways. Our ways could include our thought lives, our priorities, our leisure activities, our goals, our attitudes, etc. All of these things constitute our ways. “I thought on my ways.”

The writer was willing to give serious thought to the direction he was going. In all reality, we may continue in paths that are not really glorifying to God, because we do not take the time to think seriously about what we are doing. It is in meditating on our ways that our attitudes can change from excusing or justifying our sins to hating our sins. At this time of the year, many companies and businesses are doing their annual inventory, assessing their success and evaluating their effectiveness. As Christians, we should also take periodic inventory. Am I doing the things I should be doing? What needs to be removed from my life? Are my attitudes becoming more like the Savior? We need to think on our ways.

After the writer reflected upon his ways, he said, “I turned my feet unto thy testimonies.” Apparently, he saw things in his ways that he knew needed to be changed, and then turned in a better direction. Thinking about our ways is good, but it is not enough. We must be willing to turn our feet accordingly. This is an example of repentance.

Repentance involves a change of mind that results in a change of direction. If we seriously admit that our ways are not pleasing to God, we should turn away from them and turn to what we know God wants us to do. One cannot turn from something without turning toward something. The psalmist turned “unto thy testimonies.” That should be the direction we are also turning. When we think on our ways and realize we are incorrect, careless, or disobedient about something, we should turn to the perfect record of what is pleasing to God – His Word.