"Our Weapon Is Stronger"

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:9-11
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Have you ever wondered how people can tell your having a hard day? How about when your struggling? How do people know to ask, "Are you allright? Can I help? Do you need me to do anything for you?" How about when all they greet you with is, "What's wrong?" Actually, we don't really wonder about that. It's pretty easy to tell when someone has an issue going on in their life, or with you in particular. It is the face; the expression on our face tells the whole story. God puts it best when He was talking to Cain. Take a look!

...And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel an his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." Genesis 4:3-7

God is telling Cain that He sees by his face that there is a problem. He tells him that he has a choice to make because judging by his countenance, sin could take root in his heart. I looked up the word desire (8669) from 7783; in the original sense of stretching out after, a longing. (7783) a prim. root; to run after or over, i.e. overflow. When God tells him that, "sin's desire is for you." He is telling him that sin has a purpose. Its purpose is to stretch out, and to overtake the good in his life. Sin has one job, to overflow its effects into every area of our lives.

He also tells him something else. God ends his statement with words of encouragement. He says, "its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." People always act like they have no say in the matter. That sin is bigger and stronger, and that it can't be helped, but in this exchange with Cain, God is telling him to rule over it. Say no to it! Don't let it take root. Don't let it have full control.

In the verses above we see The Weapon that always works to stop the effects of sin in our lives! ...How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:9-11

Cleanse (2135) a prim. root; to be translucent; fig. to be innocent.

Heed (8104) a prim. root; to hedge about (as with thorns) i.e. guard; to protect, attend to.

If you want to stop the works of sin from overtaking, than this verse gives us the key. How can we cleanse our way? How can we be innocent? By taking heed to His word. The meaning of heed from the Strong's Concordance paints a pretty clear picture as to why even Jesus, when the enemy tried to tempt Him, used the word to put a stop to him. Jesus never sinned because He always applied the word, or as He put it ..."I always do the things My Father tells Me to do." He showed us, as our example, how to stay clean, and innocent of wrongdoing when He countered every attempt of the enemy with the word. The word will set a hedge of protection around you if you will attend to it. It will guard you and keep you walking in the ways of God, if you will do all that it says!

God warned Cain. Cain didn't listen, and ended up marked and living with the results! He ended up marked because He didn't choose to listen and act according to the words God spoke. He chose to sin. And when we sin, it overtakes and will also leave a mark in our lives. It quite often shows up on our countenance (expressions) for all the world to see. He could have heeded the words that God was speaking. He could have made another choice. We too have the option to follow hard after Him by applying and obeying His word to the choices we make. We can choose to rule over temptation the same way that Jesus did. We can choose to let the word and our desire to seek and serve Him with our whole heart win any battle that we might have over sin. Sin might have a desire for you, but remember the word is way stronger, and it always overcomes!