Last week, in my progression through the Psalms, I got to Psalm 119. I love that psalm, but I only read it in small chunks so I don't miss anything.
I read verses 1-8 that day and thought, "I need to blog about this". But then I began to do the intellectual thing of looking up the Hebrew meanings of the English words and got bogged down. Suddenly I lost all interest in blogging my original, more spiritual, less intellectual thoughts when I read it through devotionally.
Stay with me now, I'll get back to Psalm 119!
Today, I had minor surgery to remove a benign cyst. I wasn't concerned at all about the surgery because I would be happily unconscious throughout! However, I had a procedure beforehand that sounded unpleasant for which I would only have a local anesthetic, so I was anxious about that.
To increase my anxiety level a bit more, they delivered me to the ultrasound lab way before the doctor arrived to do the procedure, so all I had to do was sit in the hall all alone and think. Usually a dangerous thing for me! But this time, the thinking was comforting, and that takes me back to Psalm 119:1-8.
Because I'm never far from being the "teacher", let me give you a little background (from my Life Application Bible) on the Psalm before I tell you how much, and why, it blessed me.
Back to Psalm 119:1-8, which says this:
v. 6 Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands.
Because if I were, then I wouldn't have to be ashamed (Heb. "disappointed") when I consider (Heb. "look intently") your commands, Lord and how far I fall in trying to keep them!
When I read this psalm last week I thought: unlike the psalmist who was aware of the necessity of obeying God's law, yet failing to do so, and being concerned that that would cause the Lord to forsake him - I had no such concern.
Jesus has rescued me from this body of death - that WANTS to do God's will, obey His commands and seek Him wholeheartedly - emotions, intellect and will - but continually FAILS to do so!
Because Jesus has paid the penalty for my sin, I am His and He is mine - eternally! Through His indwelling Spirit, He has also given me the power to say no to sin - there is nothing I can do or fail to do that will change the fact that in His eyes, I AM blameless and complete, not because I no longer sin, but because HIS righteousness has been credited to my account, by His grace, through faith!
Today as I waited for the procedure alone, I was also grateful for the reality that even when I am separated from loved ones, needing to go where they cannot go, I am NEVER alone. Jesus will never "utterly forsake me", EVER.
To be rescued from this body of death by the Lord Jesus Christ is to NEVER be forsaken. Thank you, Lord Jesus!
I read verses 1-8 that day and thought, "I need to blog about this". But then I began to do the intellectual thing of looking up the Hebrew meanings of the English words and got bogged down. Suddenly I lost all interest in blogging my original, more spiritual, less intellectual thoughts when I read it through devotionally.
Stay with me now, I'll get back to Psalm 119!
Today, I had minor surgery to remove a benign cyst. I wasn't concerned at all about the surgery because I would be happily unconscious throughout! However, I had a procedure beforehand that sounded unpleasant for which I would only have a local anesthetic, so I was anxious about that.
To increase my anxiety level a bit more, they delivered me to the ultrasound lab way before the doctor arrived to do the procedure, so all I had to do was sit in the hall all alone and think. Usually a dangerous thing for me! But this time, the thinking was comforting, and that takes me back to Psalm 119:1-8.
Because I'm never far from being the "teacher", let me give you a little background (from my Life Application Bible) on the Psalm before I tell you how much, and why, it blessed me.
“Psalm 119 is both the longest psalm and, with 176 verses, the longest chapter in the Bible. Some suggest it was written by Ezra the priest after the temple was rebuilt (see Ezra 6:14-15) as a repetitive meditation on the beauty of God’s Word and how it helps us to stay pure and grow in faith.
Psalm 119 has 22 carefully constructed sections, each corresponding to a different letter in the Hebrew alphabet and each verse beginning with the letter of its section. Almost every verse mentions God’s Word. “
Back to Psalm 119:1-8, which says this:
v. 1 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, and who walk according to the law of the Lord.
I looked up the word "blameless", translated "undefiled" in the King James Version of the Bible, and found that its Hebrew meaning is: "without blemish", or "complete". The thing is that I know that "blameless" is not a word I would ascribe to myself, nor, most likely, would the psalmist ascribe it to himself either.
No one is more knowledgeable about my failings than I am - although I can be self deceived! But ask God, or even my family - and you'll get the REAL scoop! Uh, blameless, no! I'll have more to say about this later.
The Hebrew word for "walk" has the meaning of "to behave oneself" and "following", and "continuing on". So walking according to the law of the Lord, which I interpret to mean God's Word, is a continual action that lives itself out in a life.
v. 2 Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.
There is a reward for those who keep God's commands (statutes, laws, ordinances) and who seek him with all their heart! They are blessed!
But here's the rub! The psalmist couldn't keep God's statutes with any degree of blamelessness any more than I can - not because he's not as "spiritual" as I am, but because we are both sinners! And he probably had as much success seeking God with all his heart (this heart seeking involves our whole being - emotions, will and intellect!) as I do! I regularly can go for days being busy and giving God little thought at all!
The sad but true reality is, we all miss out on the fullness of God's blessings because we don't keep His commands and we don't seek Him wholeheartedly!
v. 3 They do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways.
Ah, there it is again, that absolute "they do NOTHING wrong"! So not true of me!
v. 4 You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.
But the Lord laid down His precepts EXPECTING that they are to be FULLY obeyed! So what's a woman (or a psalmist or a human being) to do?????
v. 5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!
I don't know whether the psalmist meant for verse 5 to be a lament, but that's the way I "hear" it. There seems to be a longing there my own heart can echo: Oh, how I WISH that I were steadfast (Hebrew meaning: wholehearted) in doing what you want me to do Lord! But I'm just not!
v. 6 Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands.
Because if I were, then I wouldn't have to be ashamed (Heb. "disappointed") when I consider (Heb. "look intently") your commands, Lord and how far I fall in trying to keep them!
v. 7 I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws.
This has the meaning of: I will praise you with a heart of understanding as I become skilled in your righteous laws.
v. 8 I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me.
This is the verse that had the biggest impact on me when I read it and was brought home again today as I waited alone for the pre-surgery procedure.
Again, I'm "hearing" something I thought the psalmist was saying when I first read it and before my intellectual searching set me on another course of thinking. I'm going to share it the way I "heard" it.
The Psalmist says, "I WILL obey your decrees. . .". Ah, but what about the lament of verse 5: Oh that I were steadfast in doing so!
The psalmist must have realized the same disappointment and frustration I feel - in my heart, I WANT to obey. . .but at the same time, I continually fail to do so!
He goes on to say, as I "hear" it: (so Lord when I do fail, which we both know I will!), "do not utterly forsake me!"
This was the same lament of the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:
"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do. . . . I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. . . . . What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through the Jesus Christ our Lord!"
Jesus has rescued me from this body of death - that WANTS to do God's will, obey His commands and seek Him wholeheartedly - emotions, intellect and will - but continually FAILS to do so!
Because Jesus has paid the penalty for my sin, I am His and He is mine - eternally! Through His indwelling Spirit, He has also given me the power to say no to sin - there is nothing I can do or fail to do that will change the fact that in His eyes, I AM blameless and complete, not because I no longer sin, but because HIS righteousness has been credited to my account, by His grace, through faith!
Today as I waited for the procedure alone, I was also grateful for the reality that even when I am separated from loved ones, needing to go where they cannot go, I am NEVER alone. Jesus will never "utterly forsake me", EVER.
To be rescued from this body of death by the Lord Jesus Christ is to NEVER be forsaken. Thank you, Lord Jesus!
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