God's Word and Your Transformation
One of the foundational tenets of biblical counseling is the sufficiency of God’s Word to address every problem and circumstance of life.
While the Bible does not address every detail of life (it doesn’t instruct us on how to remove computer bugs any more than it instructed the ancients on how to eradicate a locust infestation), it does address the heart attitudes when either inundated by crawling creatures or perplexed by digital demands. The Bible provides us with detailed instructions on how to cultivate godly disciplines and responses in every kind of situation.
Some counselees will be unconvinced of this help from the Bible. They will be tempted to believe they need their circumstances changed more than they need heart transformation. They will protest that they have been treated unfairly and they simply need justice (or retribution). They will assert that they have merely had bad luck and they need the correcting help of some good fortune. They will be enticed to look at changing their outward situations while leaving their inward desires and beliefs unchallenged and unchanged.
The Bible repeatedly asserts, however, that we are in greatest need of change. While it may be permissible to change jobs, replace cars, make legal appeals, or resist persecution, what each person needs most is to be inwardly changed—to have desires, longings, motives, and thoughts changed.
The Bible is filled with many passages that help the inner man (the desires and thoughts that we often summarize with the word “heart”) change. One passage that has been particularly useful for me in my own life, as well as in my counseling ministry, is Psalm 119.
Psalm 119 is not only the longest chapter in the Bible, but it is also arguably the richest section of Scripture about Scripture. In it, the psalmist not only expounds the character and power of the Word of God, but he also exemplifies how we should respond to what we take in as we read. The responses articulated in the psalm will help the counselee (and also the counselor!) recognize the need for his heart to be changed.
While reading this psalm a decade ago, I wrote down all the different ways the psalmist responded to the Word of God—what he did with what he read. While the list is likely not complete, it does offer insight into all the different ways the psalmist thought about Scripture. Notice as you look at the list below that these principles divide into “actions” (e.g., believe, keep, meditate on, observe/obey) and “attitudes” (e.g., account as worthy, delight in, esteem, love, regard, treasure). Here is a lesson for our counselees: as they read, the Lord desires not only obedience to His Word, but also a delight in and valuing of His Word.
After you have your counselee read the Scriptures with weekly homework assignments, it might be helpful to exhort them to take a few minutes each day and think about one or more of these principles and ask how they can use these responses to apply to what they have read. For example: What should I not forget? What should I obey? How should I worship the Lord? For what can I give thanks? Who can I tell what I’ve read? What should I weep over for not keeping?
Whether the counselee has sinned, been sinned against, or is suffering from living in this sinful and broken world, there will be responses in Psalm 119 that will help him see the power of the Word to encourage and guide him with his responses, as well as power to guide him to transformed heart attitudes and desires.