Converted

June 16—Psalm 116-119:56

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law. I am a stranger in the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me”(119:18-19).

It is a gradual shift for some. A dramatic crisis for others. In every salvation story, there comes a point where the soul turns. We are converted. (Greek, strepho, “to turn”).

Revolutionary. Life-giving moment. The soul turns away from self and the world to a focus on God.

Psalm 119 is a testimony of a converted (turned) person who happily lives and rests and serves in this new perspective. Please note the use of the first person in this Psalm. “I shall give thanks to you with uprightness of heart,” v. 7. “I wait for your word,” v. 114. He is not describing how all people live. He is giving us his unique testimony as a turned person.

The convert has a new identity. He is no longer validated by the approval of the world, or overly discouraged by its disapproval. His meaning and assignments come from Heaven. “You are not of this world,” said Jesus to His disciples.

The convert has a new focus. “Your word have I treasured in my heart,” says this person on a journey in v. 11. “I will meditate on your precepts” (v. 15). The steady message of Psalm 119 is the value and beauty of God’s word. Like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, converted people desire to hear and do God’s will.

The convert experiences new energy. “Your word has revived me,” he says in v. 50. The common experience of every Christ-follower is to find correction and energy and encouragement in God’s word. “Were not our hearts burning within us as He spoke Scripture to us?” said the disciples in Luke 24.

Those who claim Christ without this inward turn deceive themselves. In our thoughts, in our affections, in our hopes and loyalties, a new direction is required. Friend, are you converted?

“Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Jesus, Matthew 18:3).

“The Master has called us, in life’s early morning, with spirits as fresh as the dew on the sod: we turn from the world, with its smiles and its scorning, to cast in our lot with the people of God” (Sarah Doudney).

“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other”(Isaiah 45:22).