My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy Word. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me they statutes~Psalm 119:25-26: The Psalmist opens the 4th Hebrew Alphabet of Psalm 119; Da-Leth with what I believe to be his own personal struggles in the world. In the opening words of (V25) there is a personal acknowledgement and recognition of the condition of his soul; then in (V26) there seems to be a personal confession of his condition to the Lord. The closer that we walk with the Lord in our Christian lives, and the more that we desire godliness and holiness; the more we will be aware and recognize and acknowledge when we are NOT walking with the LORD in godliness and holiness; and even when we are NOT wholehearted toward God as children of God. They are ONLY the "truly blessed of the LORD" who are wholehearted in their daily seeking after Him.
The worst thing for any of us as Christians who are living in the world is to be completely at home in the world. Spurgeon "The serpent's seed can find their meat in the dust (of this world), but never shall the seed of the woman (Christ's seed) be this degraded. Many are of the earth, earthy, and never lament it; only the heaven-born and heaven-soaring spirit pines at the thought of being fastened to this world" My soul cleaveth unto the dust: To Cleave is to be joined together as in marriage when a man and woman become one flesh. To cleave also means to adhere and to be fastened to. In one definition "cleaving" is likened to when two metals are soldered or welded together. But it also means to deliberately pursue and or, to closely follow. We deliberately cleave to what we want to cleave to. The Psalmist is struggling with earthly mindedness and with cleaving to this world. He feels that he is not only in the world, but of it; for he finds himself deliberately pursuing earthly and worldly things. He cannot seem to get his heart and mind to detach from the world. But the Psalmist is also teaching us about ourselves by his own acknowledgement and cry to the LORD. "My soul cleaveth to the dust"! If we would separate and be "parted asunder" from the dust (of this world), we must first acknowledge and recognize that are cleaving to it. If you want to know WHAT you are cleaving to from day to day; search and try your own heart: When it's time to come to the gathering of the saints on Sunday or Wednesday, are you struggling to get out of the world and gather with the saints? And when you are "gathered before the Lord" are you already looking past your time to sit in the presence of God and looking forward to what you have planned for the rest of Sunday and after the service? Or, when you open your Bible for daily devotions; is your mind everywhere else but "in the Word"? Are you rushing to "read your 4 chapters" ONLY to close the precious Word without having gathered anything from the Lord? I know, it's not an easy thing to come before the Lord, there is labor and spiritual stress associated with opening the Word for devotions and hearing the preaching of God's Word. The labor is in detaching from the world, mortifying your pride, and in sincerely opening your heart and mind to receive the Word of God. The stress comes from; "what are you going to DO with God's Word and commands"? What you just read/heard? Do you acknowledge and REACT and confess your sin? Or do you refuse to acknowledge your condition; try to forget what you heard; leave the Word or the sermon from the Lord the same way you came in, and continue to be satisfied with cleaving to the dust of this world. "My soul cleaves to the dust" is a cry to God for help from the Psalmist! This personal cry from him was GOOD! David, who I believe to be the Psalmist here did something about his condition: He cried: "quicken thou me according to thy Word" He realized; I do not possess the power of un-cleave myself from this world; "quicken THOU ME according to thy Word"! REVIVE me, grant me spiritual LIFE so that I might be parted asunder from the dust of this world and from the scraps of the god of this world. He confesses his sin to God: (V26): "I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes" I have recounted MY WAYS to thee, O LORD, I have acknowledged my sin, but I also confessed my sinful ways to thee, and you heard me. NOW, with thy quickening power, teach me thy statutes! What are you cleaving to (in the dust of) this world? The beginning of being parted asunder and separated from it is acknowledging, recognizing it, and crying out to the Lord, (admitting it to the LORD), and YES, confessing it.
Quicken THOU me; teach ME; MAKE me to understand THE WAY of thy precepts; I don't just want to understand thy Word, I want to understand the WAY of your Word! Strengthen THOU ME; REMOVE from me the way of LYING; grant me thy law graciously! I WILL run the way of thy commandments, when THOU shalt enlarge my heart!