Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Psalm 119: 1-88.
Today, we find ourselves in Psalm 119. I think a little background from the ESV Study Bible might help us understand this massive Psalm:
"This psalm celebrates the gift of God's Torah, or covenant instruction, as the perfect guide for life. It thus belongs conceptually with Psalm 19 and overlaps with such wisdom psalms as Psalm 1 and 112. It is far more extensive, and far more elaborate, than they are; it is the longest psalm (and the longest chapter in the Bible, longer than many of the books) and the most carefully structured. By singing and praying its contents, one expresses heartfelt admiration to God, who has so lovingly bestowed this great gift upon his people, and fervent yearning for one's personal life to reflect the loveliness and goodness of the Torah. The psalm's structure observes a strict acrostic pattern: there are 22 stanzas of eight verses each, following the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet in sequence. Within a stanza, the first word of each verse begins with the same letter, the letter to which the entire stanza corresponds. This pattern severely limits the author's liberty in sustaining his flow of thought, but this does not hinder the psalm from accomplishing its goal, which is to enable God's people to admire his Word so strongly that they will work and pray hard to have it shape their character and conduct. The cumulative impact of the psalm is huge."
Would you mind if I make a disquieting statement?
It seems now impossible to me that an unfeigned lover of God might so be without a profound yearning to continually bathe in God's word seeking the promised transformation of the heart, and the profound joy of His pleasure and presence.
Let that sink in a minute.
For over 50 years, I called myself a Christian, tried to live a good life, went to church, paid my tithe, but never diligently sought God's direct line of communication to me (the Bible).
I came to my relationship with God thinking, profoundly misguided I might add, that I would accomplish God's favor through my own efforts. However, the whole of the Old Testament, and certainly the testimony of those therein, screams to us that we are utterly incapable of God's pleasure through our own efforts.
So, how do we accomplish this?
Carefully read Psalm 119, and you will find that the Psalmist is seeking a transformation, an opening of the eyes/heart from God.
The Bible speaks of becoming a new creation, a new miraculous birth initiated by God, through faith, and by the Holy Spirit. Once we take this step of faith, then we become a babe in the faith.
Without seeking God through his word, it is certainly possible to remain a babe for the rest of our natural lives. As the Bible says, "we can barely escape the flames".
But, what a horrific place to be. Satan easily taunts babes. Furthermore, the infinite beauty of Messiah is only found when we faithfully, and continually find ourselves diligently seeking God's face.
Is not the easiest prayer for God to answer the one where we ask him to teach us more of Him?
Let's all slowly digest Psalm 199, and cry aloud verse five:
so that I can obey your laws."
