2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
For a long time now, I have had the idea to write about PS 119. This is the longest of the Psalms, and there are some really interesting features to it. This Psalm has twenty-two sections, one for each letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet doesn’t have numbers like the numbers we use. Instead, each letter also represents a number. That isn’t all. Each letter also has a spiritual value associated with it. The Lord seems to be directing me to write a series of devotions that looks at this remarkable Psalm, an acrostic poem with sections for each Hebrew letter in which the Lord reveals Himself to us. After reading PS 119, I looked it up in a commentary that I trust. There seems to be another level of understanding available here too. Each section has something to say about God’s word. This struck me as real spiritual treasure worth mining. As this series unfolds, I hope you will agree.
The first section is for the Hebrew letter, aleph. It is PS 119: 1-8 and deals with both the Law of the Lord and the blessedness of obeying the word. It reveals His strength as Creator and King. “Happy are those whose lives are faultless, who live according to the law of the Lord. Happy are those who follow His commands, who obey Him with all their heart. They never do wrong; they walk in the Lord’s ways. Lord, you have given us your laws and told us to obey them faithfully. How I hope that I shall be faithful in keeping Your instructions! If I pay attention to all Your commands, then I will not be put to shame. As I learn Your righteous judgments, I will praise You with a pure heart. I will obey Your laws; never abandon me!” In reading the author’s words here, the pattern emerges in this poetic prayer of the two parallel truths: God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility to respond to it. Any personal resolve must be uplifted by spiritual responsibility to God. In other words, we need to know God’s commands and accept that He is sovereign, holds the ultimate right to our total loyalty. Once that is accomplished, we must be willing to obey these commands even if it is inconvenient, appears dangerous to us, or we don’t fully understand them. God, in return will grant us happiness. While it isn’t said here, those of us who have experienced God through their obedience know that we will get a lot more, His protection, His fellowship, His provision, and the list goes on.
This covenant relationship between God and us is not simple, but it is clear. What complicates it is man’s frequent inability to obey fully or to understand the limits and extent of the parallel truths. Often we don’t understand the big picture that God sees and refuse to trust Him completely. There are times, as in the case of Abraham being asked to offer Isaac as a sacrifice on the altar [GN 22: 1-18] where God tests faith in preparation for His larger agenda. In Abraham’s case, that was to establish the Jewish nation. We are not always allowed to see the larger agenda, so we are called upon to understand that God’s plan is always righteous, and we are to trust Him. GN 22: 18 supports the comments made in PS 119: 2. GN 22: 18, “All the nations will ask Me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants-all because you obeyed My command,” [the Lord’s angel said to Abraham].
There is no reason to question the consistency of the messages God has for us in the Scriptures. That is driven home to me every time that I hunt for Scriptures that interpret Scriptures. I am convinced that studying the Bible this way is the best way for us to see God’s inspiration of all the humans who wrote what we consider canon. God directed the Son to deliver the very same message found in PS 119: 2 in His sermon on the mount in MT 5: 6, “Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully.” The story of Joseph’s difficulties with Potiphar’s wife comes to mind as an example. GN 39: 6-10, “….Joseph was well-built and good looking, and after a while his master’s wife began to desire Joseph and asked him to go to bed with her. He refused and said to her, ‘Look, my master does not have to concern himself with anything in the house, because I am here. He has put me in charge of everything he has. I have as much authority in this house as he has, and he has not kept back anything from me except you. How then could I do such an immoral thing and sin against God?’ Although she asked Joseph day after day, he would not go to bed with her.” We know that Joseph had to go through many troubling events before he was rewarded with the Pharaoh’s trust and a loving reunion with his family. But, he did come to know real happiness, because of his obedience to the Lord. He is one example out of many in the Scriptures.
PS 119: 6 is a very revealing citation. “If I pay attention to all your commands, then I will not be put to shame.” The story of King Hezekiah of Judah comes to mind. 2 CH 29: 2, “Following the example of his ancestor King David, he [Hezekiah] did what was pleasing to the Lord.” 2 CH 32: 1-23 tells the story of how Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem found themselves in an awful predicament. Emperor Sennacherib of Assyria was leading his troops from the north after they already had control of the northern kingdom of Israel in an assault on Jerusalem in an effort to capture it too. The Judeans were badly outnumbered. Hezekiah went to Isaiah, God’s prophet, and they prayed to God for help together. Isaiah told him not to worry and to retire for the evening. The next morning, they found the Assyrian soldiers dead just outside the walls of the city. It was not God’s time for Judah to be taken. You can find other accounts of this same exciting story of faith in 2 K 18: 13-37; 19:14-19, 35-37; IS 36: 1-22; 37: 8-38. Obeying is often not easy to do, but it will be rewarded. We all know that many of the kings of the period of the monarchy in Israel’s history gave in to the idolatrous practices of countries surrounding her and the awful prices that were paid for this evil. Hezekiah took the same narrow gate that Christ spoke of in MT 7: 13-14.
PRAYER: O Lord, You alone have the authority to be the Lord of our lives. This is Your right to exercise over us, and we must understand, trust, and obey You. You are a righteous God with a loving agenda for mankind. If we will only have faith in You, we will experience that love from You by obeying Your commands. You speak to us through the Scriptures in an effort to reveal Yourself to us. We are commanded to pray to You, because You love us enough to care about our concerns and to want to offer us righteous guidance. You created us for Your pleasure and love us enough to want to show us how to please You. We dedicate ourselves to worshipping, adoring, glorifying, praising, and honoring You, because You deserve nothing less than that from us. When we are truly obedient, You grant us the peace that goes beyond human understanding. That is real happiness, Dear Lord. We seek it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Tomorrow, we will see what the section of PS 119 that represents the Hebrew letter beit reveals to us. In the meanwhile know that our loving Lord will never abandon us. Be encouraged that He knows it is often difficult to obey His commands, but that we must do this to serve his always righteous agenda for us. His will and His timing is best. Peter and I send you our love today and always.
Grace Be With You,
Lynn