Spiritual Muscle-Memory

I love watching top musicians playing their instruments. A concert pianist playing Chopin is a miracle. How do they manage to hit all the right keys at such speed and with such precision? A cellist, a flautist, a guitar-player – whatever the instrument, it’s just as amazing. They’ll tell you that it’s all down to muscle-memory. Practice something enough and your fingers begin to move, as it were, automatically. I don’t play an instrument, but I do tie up my shoelaces. Children struggle at first but soon they find their fingers tying the knot without them thinking about it. That’s muscle-memory. It means that musicians and shoelace-tiers can do what they do with complete confidence.

Today’s verse is about what I would call ‘spiritual muscle-memory’. David says that he ‘seeks God’s precepts’ – ‘precepts’ means detailed instructions. In our walk with God, ‘seeking’ his precepts is vital. It’s much more than just ‘looking for’, as when, as children, we played hide-and-seek. Seeking God’s precepts means studying them, applying them and following them so that they become our well-trodden pathway of life. When David says he seeks God’s precepts, he’s talking about developing ‘spiritual muscle-memory’. He’s walked this path of obedience so many times that it has become second nature to him.

As he does this, David says, ‘I will be secure’. This could be translated I will walk about in a wide place. I like that! It implies freedom as well as security. I think the two go together. You’ll never experience real freedom if you don’t feel secure. How do we get this freedom and security? By seeking God’s detailed instructions.

A piece of music has thousands of notes. A good performance plays every note with precision. The music is the composer’s detailed instructions. By the time it comes to giving their concert performances, musicians will have played the music so many times that it is etched into their memories and their fingers will move with perfect precision. When they talk about what they do, they always say that they do it because they love it; they love the music, and they love performing it. They are in their element. As you watch them you can see that they feel truly liberated.

When we seek God’s precepts, we are making a habit of conforming every bit of our lives to His revealed will. We do it because we love Him and so we love to follow His ways – to play His music. It becomes second nature to us. We are in our God-given element. We have spiritual muscle-memory. We feel safe, secure and free.