Psalm 119

I'm reading thru the Psalms this year, and 2 days ago I reached Psalm 117 (the shortest of all at only 2 verses), which reminded me of the upcoming longest one of all -- Psalm 119, which I read this July 4th morning.  Since today is a holiday, I looked forward to getting up early and really spending some time in this Psalm.  Since it was a beautiful morning I broke out the hammock to enhance my enjoyment of reading this Psalm in the peaceful early morning outside under the trees in my backyard.

God's Word richly spoke to me this morning.  And drawing on some of the commentaries I am using in my study of the Psalms (Tim Keller's "The Songs of Jesus: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms", and  Warren Wiersbe's "Prayer, Praise & Promises: A daily walk through the Psalms ), I wanted to capture some additional insights by journaling/blogging on this wonderful Psalm.

This Psalm celebrates the gift of God's law, his covenant instruction for his people, and how God lovingly instructs us in the way to enjoy fullness of life.  The key to knowing God is to delight in God's Word as the psalmist reminds us throughout this lengthy Psalm in using different words to describe the law (such as statutes, rules, commandments, precepts, testimonies, Word, Torah) in nearly every verse.  This Psalm is structured like the Hebrew alphabet - each letter is represented by a section (or stanza) containing 8 verses (22 letters x 8 verses each = 176 verses total).  It's as if God were saying, "Here are the ABCs of how to use the Word of God in your life."

Psalm 119 begins with this promise:

Knowing God's Word is the first step; walking according to the law and keeping his statutes is where I continually fall, but the Word of God is living and active and I cling to the promises I read in the Bible about God's forgiveness of my sin through Jesus's sacrifice for me.

As verse 2 concludes, in seeking God with all my heart, this action is reflected in my desire to begin my days by hearing from God daily thru his Word.  And the unique thing about the Psalms is not only God speaking to us, but also God giving us a way to speak to Him, namely through the prayers of David.  Fellowshipping with God should involve both reading and praying, and so often I make time for only one or the other.

Colossians 3:16 says the words of Christ should "dwell in us richly". Memorizing scripture is hard for me, but it's always refreshing to read the Bible and come across verses that are so familiar (even if I couldn't recite it), yet echo God's truth so clearly as if it were once stored in my head and has now moved fully into my heart.
Psalm 119:11 speaks to this desire:  "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."

Verse 32 spoke to me this morning.  I'm into running -- or, really more into exercising and eating healthy these days.  This desire has become a conflicting struggle in my mornings as I try to fit both working out and quiet time in before getting ready for work.  My prayer is to begin praying more "as I run" (like when I'm on the treadmill at Orange Theory) in order to extend this time with God in the morning.  Think of it as asking God to enlarge my heart spiritually as I exercise my body physically. Warren Wiersbe writes further on what it means to have an enlarged heart (Open, Obedient, Occupied): Open to God's truth; Obedient to God's will; Occupied with God's glory - an enlarged heart is a happy heart with expanded horizons; some people have small and narrow hearts, seeing only their own little world; ask God for an enlarged heart for an extended vision of his creation.

Sweeter than honey -- is the Word of God like honey or medicine to you?  Yes, it can heal your wounds like medicine, but we should savor every  word in the Bible as it is full of "infinite sweetness".  I remember first reading this verse in my first Downline  class in Aug 2010.  We were given a packet of honey to taste as Kennon read this verse aloud.

The tile of Psalm 119 in the ESV is: Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet.  Jesus came as a Light into a dark world.  Satan tried to tempt Jesus into darkness, but Christ used scripture after scripture  to overcome this darkness.  The lamp of the Word will never go out and it will not lead us astray.  We should read the Word in order to let its truth shine on our path and guide us through the darkness in the world we will face.

This last image is a verse I think about when I recall back to 1998 and my initial motivation for setting my alarm to get up early to begin my day reading the Bible.  I remember David Montague  sharing this verse - Isaiah 50:4 "Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught."  As I awoke to read a chapter from John each morning, I remember God honoring my faithfulness by awakening me often before my alarm even went off.  I was gradually beginning my transition from being a night person to a morning person.  The next thing I know, I was eagerly joining a 6a mens Bible study -- and with a 2 year commitment nonetheless (CLC).  Now, nearly 20 years later, my early mornings are my best time of the day and are not to be missed, even while on vacation; however, I do have to guard against falling into routines with my quiet time, or reading just to "check off the box."

Psalm 119 closes with these 3 verses, which in the true nature of the Psalms, is a prayer written for me to pray back to God: 

174  I long for your salvation, O LORD,

and your law is my delight.

175  Let my soul live and praise you,

and let your rules help me.

176  I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,

for I do not forget your commandments.

Write It Down

"Write down the revelation" ~ Habakkuk 2:2 NIV
ESV translation ~ "Write the vision" 

I started this blog a little over 5 years ago in Dec '11, about the same time I renewed my interest in keeping a prayer journal.  My prayer journal also became a place where I recorded notes from the Christian books I was reading during my morning devotion times, notes from sermons or Bible Studies I attended, scripture verses that spoke to me during my Bible readings -- in short, all of the things that God was teaching me during my daily quiet time.  Some of these thoughts led me to share them on this blog, which at times I've enjoyed going back to read over again.  There have also been some times when I've circled back thru my prayer journals to recollect some thoughts I had on a specific book I read, or even just to browse thru what I was studying or what were my thoughts from one year ago.

There have also been some times when I haven't consistently journaled, usually when my daily quiet time is rushed, or when I feel like I'm just going thru the motions not being led by God, and letting the busyness of life direct me from day to day and I just look forward to the weekend to catch up.  So often, I felt like whatever I read or prayed about in the morning was long forgotten by the time I got to the end of my day.  Good thoughts or wisdom worth sharing with Cindy and my girls at dinner time became just an afterthought that remained hidden in my journal.  This was a prevailing thought of mine throughout Dec 2016 as I pondered a renewal of my devotional time in the coming New Year.  A book I received for Christmas from my parents this year has helped to spark a new light on how I can remain in the presence of God, or how it was described in an email I received from Randy Alcorn's blog -- a daily cultivation of God-consciousness.
 
This book, "Draw the Circle", is a 40 day prayer challenge which I began reading on New Year's Eve.  Rather than trying to follow a Bible reading plan this year, I'm seeking to draw closer to God in 2017 through more time in prayer and meditation on God's Word, and more time in journaling and "circling" back to these recent prayers/thoughts/insights that God is revealing to me as I strive to be a better husband to my wife and be a better dad in discipling my girls.

I first read Mark Batterson's "The Circle Maker" in 2014.  I also read his short book, "Praying Circles around your Children".  Last fall, a quote I tweeted from this book showed up on my TimeHop -- "Make sure the heavenly Father hears about your kids daily", which prompted me to revisit reading this book again as I was convicted in not faithfully doing this consistently.  So, receiving the book, "Draw the Circle", seems almost prophetic as I reflect on what God has been  teaching me this new year through the reading of these short daily chapters.

Day 5 is titled: Write it Down based on the Habakkuk verse listed above.  The author begins by sharing a saying that has helped motivate him to keep a journal:

"The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory"

He goes on to say, "Journaling is one of the most overlooked and undervalued spiritual disciplines."  I agree, and as I'm getting older I'm reminded of my increasing need to record everything -- my prayers, my desires, my goals, and also to circle back to these things I need to keep praying through, or keep working on, in my relationships with those who are most important to me.  This thought was reinforced to me the next day, Day 6, titled: Shameless Audacity, based on Luke 11:8, where Jesus teaches us to pray to God with boldness, persistence, because He is more gracious to meet our needs. Jesus goes on to say, "keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking" in this parable about prevailing in prayer.  In closing, remember this:
God won't answer 100% of the prayers we don't pray.