9/27/20 Sunday
Journal Ps 119:1-24 (all references are from the ESV; changes in punctuation are mine)
Scripture: “Oh, that my ways be steadfast in keeping your commandments…With my whole heart I seek you…With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight…I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eye on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word…My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times…Your testimonies are my delight…” excerpts from Ps 119:5; 10; 13-16; 20; 24
Observation: Check out the longing the Psalmist has for His Word!! He writes a song of praise using definitive action words and describes a desperation in knowing more.
Where does this describe me?
Analysis: I guy I know, in answer to a question, said this about idols once upon a time: “When I have an opportunity to think about ANYTHING I want to think about, what do I think about? Whatever that is, whenever that is— that is the desire of your heart.”
Psalm 119 is broadly about the Supremacy of God’s Word; the utter delightfulness of finding myself in it. The Psalmist is wrapping himself in positive declarations of savoring the Word of God.
I don’t. Not all the time anyway. Really, out of all my waking minutes of each day, only a few, a small percentage is “delighting in His commands; mediating on His precepts” and the like.
In fact, most of the time my mind wanders into ANYTHING but the Bible. It is like there is a strong tide, a current, that takes me anywhere away from the things of God, especially His Word, His doctrine, His precepts.
I hit on this the other day while writing (an unabashed plug for all to practice writing—you never know what the Holy Spirit will bring to light): I have practiced faith like it was an exercise of being pig-headed, obstinate, jaw set, arrogant stubbornness. Ok, if I didn’t know any better, but if days, weeks, months, and years go by and I am still confessing and practicing faith by being stubborn—that isn’t ok.
John Calvin: “Faith is ultimately a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”
Faith is never given to the statement, “I don’t have to understand, that is what faith is for…” This is idolatry.
The Psalmist(s) of Chapter 119:1-24 writes implicitly of two things: 1) the plain statements of where I fall short, and; 2) the target of what I should long for.
What is more preferable for me?
Prayer: Father, the longer I want to walk in Your Ways, the more I want to walk in Your Ways. This statement sounds goofy but, for me, it is accurate. I am not satisfied in my pursuit of You, but, man alive, You do satisfy my soul. You are the bread of life. Your word is like honey on my lips, the treasure for my soul. AMEN