PUT FALSE WAYS FAR FROM ME ...

Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! Psalm 119:29
A confessional petition in the first part of this verse. With these words, the Psalmist asks the Lord to do for him what he cannot do, put false ways far from himself.
This begs the question: “Where do these false ways come from?”
It would be easy to point to any number of false teachers, prophets, and the like. If this were true, one would only need to flee such bringers of false ways.
No, the false ways that I, like the Psalmist, would have the Lord put far from me, are not the ways of others, but the way of me, myself and I.
Sinful from the time my mother conceived me (Ps. 51), I find that sin, my sinfulness, is always right here with me, taking me captive to its false ways. It matters not how much I may know the ways are false, nor how much I may know the way of truth. No amount of knowledge or understanding of my condition or situation, will ever enable me to sever myself from my false ways. I need to be rescued from my own falsity in sin (Rm 7).
The first petition in this verse is a cry for such a rescue. In praying that the Lord put false ways far from me, I, like the Psalmist, am praying that the Lord deliver me from me, put me far from me, keep me far from me, save me from me.
It is only because the Lord has graciously taught me His Law, that I am able to know myself and pray for such deliverance. It is the Law of the Lord that reveals truth from falsity, and it is that same Law which teaches me I need the Lord to do for me, what I cannot do for myself.
No place does the Lord teach me the fullness of His Law for me so graciously, as He does on the cross. For it is on the cross the Lord Himself reveals what the Law says about me and to me, as He suffers its fullness to put it and my falsity far from me.
But in regards to this petition, how far as the Lord removed me and my false ways from me? As far as Jesus.
Yes, it may seem as if the distance is no farther than a film of water and a word, but Jesus is that Word, and by it, He is in that water coming between me the sinner, and the new me He has created in Himself and His ways.
Yes, it may seem as far as if the distance is no farther than the thickness of a piece of bread, a sip of wine, and a word, but Jesus is that Word, and by it, He is in that bread and sip of wine, getting between me the sinner and the me He’s made to live in Him.
And what distance can the words of a man put between me, my sin, my falsity and the me that He has made in Himself? The full distance of Himself, for Jesus has called that man to put Him between me the sinner, and the me He’s set free to live in Him.
Wonder of wonders, that Jesus, the Son of God, humbles Himself unto my humanity and my falsity on the cross, so that in my humanity I might live in Him Who is the way and the truth and the life – for me.
How far has he delivered me from my falsity and false ways? - as far as the east is from the west, as far as life is from death, as far as eternity is from time and as far as the truth is from the false.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!