I. The Bible makes a great deal in its teaching about the ways of men. And nothing is plainer than that it contemplates as great a variety of ways as there are kinds of men. "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse hisway? "Not any way, not somebody else's way, not the old man's way, not the way of the man in mid-life, but his own way: the young man's way. Your way is a way of hope. Your face is towards the future. You have all the possibilities still before you. Every step, therefore, is solemn, is of everlasting importance, may be a step into blessedness or a step into woe.
II. Try, next, to understand what is meant by "cleansing the way." It is the cleanness which is part of God's life which is intended. God is of purer eyes than to look upon sin. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever. It is the cleanness which is also the holiness of God cleanness from sin, from evil, from guile, from insincerity. And the question, read in the light of this explanation, means, "Wherewithal shall a young man lead a holy life, like the life of the holy God? Wherewithal shall he make his way the way of a saint?"
III. The answer to this question is, "By taking heed thereto according to God's word:" by taking God's word as the light, the guide, and the director of the way; by considering your steps in the light of that word; by taking that word as the chart, the pilot, and the propeller of your way. (1) A great practical step has been taken when you see that you are to a certain extent God's stewards over your own life and character. (2) Another great step is taken when you see that there is a contrast between the light of God's word and the life on which it falls. (3) The next step places you face to face with the grand choice submitted to every soul who follows God's word: the choice between the life you are leading and the life which that light expresses.
A. Macleod, Days of Heaven upon Earth,p. 229.
References: Psalms 119:9. A. P. Peabody, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 198; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xxix., p. 315; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 196; F. Tholuck, Hours of Devotion, p. 519. Psalms 119:9-11. H. Allon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 40. Psalms 119:9-12. H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xxiv., p. 90.