We see that God has founded the earth and established himself on it. God’s reign will not perish, and His words won’t be changed. The Psalm says “Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.” (Psalm 119: 89 ESV). This is something that is easy to forget as we live our busy lives. He made the earth, and he is still here, performing works all the time. He has given us the ability through prayer to connect with him and access his presence.
In verse ninety one the psalmist writes “By your appointment they stand this day for all things are your servants.” As God’s creation, we are made to love God and follow his commandments just as a son should love and obey his father. As the scriptures later reveal through Jesus, our lives should be a constant act of servitude towards God. The Psalmist wants to bring glory to God through the obedience of the law. We should conform our lives to God’s will by following His commandments.
“If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction”(Psalm 119:92 ESV) He made laws and commandments not out of selfish reasoning to show his dominion over us but for our good. Just as a parent tells their child not to touch the stove when it is hot, God likewise gave his people commandments to protect them. It is not hard to see in modern culture what it looks like when we mess up. Living our lives selfishly, not following God’s Law. The world stays in turmoil with great nations constantly at war, families being divided, and sin taking over. It Has been like this since The Fall in Genesis 3. If we follow God’s word, he will bless us and be with us.
-Bridger Grable
Hi, my name is Bridger Grable. I am 19 years old and live in Southern California. I have 8 siblings so it’s always a party at my house. I love hiking and the outdoors.
Reflection Questions
How can you keep in mind today that God and His word are firmly fixed in the heavens? What can happen when we forget this?
How can you bring glory to God through obeying His Word today?
Is God’s law your delight? Explain what that does (or would) look like? What afflictions can you handle better when His law is your delight?
You and I are naturally rebellious. One of the first words learned in our arsenal is, “Why?” As early as toddlerhood, we’re ready to question, counter, and attack. Even as an adult, I recently made the remark to my mom that the more she tells me to do something, the less I actually want to do it. Ouch, sorry, Mom. Psychologists call this phenomenon psychological reactance, which suggests that when we feel like our freedom to behave in a certain way is restricted, we, well, react.
Obedience, which is averse to our fallen human state, is learned. The longest chapter of the Bible, Psalm 119, is an acrostic poem about the joy the psalmist receives from following scripture. It’s his love song to God’s Word. So how does rebellious human go to happy obeyer?
The first step is recognizing that God’s commands are not arbitrary. Looking to God’s character, we can see that His rules are a manifestation of His love for us. God is love—He wants what’s best for us. God is all-knowing—He knows what’s best for us.
He’s given us rules and principles to live by because He wants us to live within His will, within His design. God’s rules do not exist to restrict us; instead, God breathed them to give us freedom. Freedom from sin. Freedom from ugly, unwanted consequences. Freedom from death!
I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts (Psalm 119:45, NIV).
Now, I’m still learning obedience, and you are, too. Somedays, my obedience feels like an eye roll and “Ugh, fine,” instead of a “Yes, Lord!” I look to our happy Psalmist as an example to follow:
For I delight in your commands because I love them (Psalm 119:47, NIV).
I want to be able to say this about myself each day. This is a verse worth memorizing (just 10 words!) because we can use it to lead our hearts into joyful obedience.
I will leave you with the promise that your efforts will be blessed:
Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart (Psalm 119:1-2).
-Mackenzie McClain
Reflection Questions:
In what areas of your life do you struggle to obey?
This week, examine your heart. Are you obeying begrudgingly or joyfully? Do you fully trust that God’s commands are designed out of His great love for you?
What blessings have you experienced from following God’s commands?
Back when I was a child, at Church camp when you stood in line for a meal they made you say a Bible verse. Us young boys learned that John 11:35 was the “go to verse” for quick memorization: “Jesus wept.” A two word verse, easy to memorize- boom “Jesus wept!” the legal requirements are met, now can I eat?
Bonus round—what is the shortest book in the Bible? 2 John or 3 John depending on how you measure it. 2 John has the fewest verses, 3 John has the fewest words. For fun sake, Obadiah is the shortest book in the Hebrew Bible (The Old Testament). We can argue about anything, can’t we?
But there is no argument about the longest chapter in the Bible- Psalms 119 is the big winner. Psalm 119 has 176 verses. Compare that to the shortest chapter in the Bible – Psalm 117 which has only 2 verses. Not only is Psalm 119 unique because of its length, but its structure is quite unique as well. Psalm 119 is written as an acrostic poem. It is made up of 22 sections which are 8 verses each and each section begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, beginning with the first Hebrew letter “aleph” and ending with the final Hebrew letter, “taw”. This was likely a device that helped the student to memorize the Psalm, which good little Jewish boys and girls did.
Obviously with 176 verses we can’t look at the whole Psalm in one brief devotion and we won’t even try. I’ll just point out something basic for you to consider and then focus on one section in some detail.
Something basic for us to consider is that this Psalm is devoted to an appreciation of God’s Word. Different Hebrew words are used in the Psalm including “Torah”, which can mean: “teaching, direction, guidance and law”; “Debar” which means “word” and “Misva” which means commandment or ordinance. The entire Psalm is devoted to having a love for God’s word or commands or teaching. This clear expression of love for God’s word is important. In many places in the Bible, beginning in the Old Testament in places like Deuteronomy 6:5 , we are told to love the LORD/YHWH/God with all of our hearts. Here in Psalm 119 we are told to also love God’s Word or teaching. Vs. 97 says “O how I love your ‘Torah’ (law/teaching) I meditate (think about/ponder deeply) on it all day long.”
I don’t know about you but there are only a few things that I’ve ever thought about literally “all day long”. (One of them was my wife back when we first began dating, and another may or may not be Krispy Kreme hot donuts-they are beautiful and delicious and hot). You usually only think about something constantly if it’s someone/thing that you really, really love a lot, or something that you are really, really worried about. In the case of Psalm 119 it’s clear that the writer is thinking about God’s Word all day long because he/she loves that Word.
Is there a difference between loving God and loving God’s Word? In one way, yes. There are people who diligently study the Bible simply as literature or history. They tear it apart and analyze it like someone might dissect an animal or human cadaver or look at tiny things in a microscope. But in this case, the person writing the Psalm loves God’s Word and thinks constantly about God’s Word because it’s God’s Word and this person loves God wholeheartedly so he also loves God’s teaching, instructions, commandments. Jesus would later tell his disciples “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15).
Let’s go back to that thing that I said I have literally thought about all day long (not the Krispy Kreme donut, but my wife, Karen, who is also beautiful, delicious, hot and begins with a K- sorry, but I needed to include that in order to embarrass any of my adult children who might be reading this devotion today, you’re welcome). Because I love my wife I usually try to pay attention to the words she speaks to me. (I’ll admit, I’m not always perfect on this, but in my defense, sometimes she’s just talking to herself and I have to clarify who the intended listener is, me or herself, sometimes I miss the things that I’m supposed to hear). Part of love is paying attention to the words spoken by the one we love. So, for the Psalmist, he loved God so he also loved God’s word. So for Jesus, if we love him we also need to keep his commandments/teaching/words. So the overall theme of Psalm 119 is “I love God and so I also love God’s word.”
The section of Psalm 119 I want you to think about is the second section- verses 9-16 which begins with the Hebrew letter “Beth” ב. It begins with a question and answer: “How can a young person stay on the path of purity?” That’s a great question and reveals the important desire that forms the content of this person’s heart. They love God so much that they want to know how to keep on the right path, the path of purity. They want to know how to live a life that is pleasing in the sight of God. The answer is by living according to God’s word. If a person wants to walk a path that is pleasing to God then he or she needs to follow the word of God. God has revealed to us, by His word, how to live a life that is pleasing to him. We need to follow that path.
In order to stay on that path of purity we must be intentional. We need to seek God with all of our heart. Why do I want to pay attention to and follow God’s word? Because I’m seeking God with my whole heart. How do we avoid falling into sin? By putting God’s word deep into our hearts. He speaks about the Law with strong emotional words: joy (rejoice), meditate and delight. For him staying on a path that is pleasing to God brings him such joy that he is thinking deeply about God’s word all of the time and finds his delight in doing what God’s word says.
You can love someone’s words without loving the person, but you really can not love a person if you don’t also care deeply about the words they use to convey what is important and meaningful to them. The next time you look at your Bible, consider this: out of all the trillions of words that have ever been spoken or written in the history of the world, these words contained in this Bible are the words that were spoken by God to human beings in order that we might know, love and serve God. So why would we not love the words that come from the God that we love, and why would we not obey the words that come from the God that we love?
Do you want to keep your way each day pure (pleasing in God’s sight). Then pay attention to those words each day, think deeply about them, immerse yourself in them, delight in them, find joy in reading and obeying them because you love those words because they are the words of the God you love.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions:
Which words from today’s reading (Psalm 119) will you choose to think deeply about?
Which words from today’s reading will you take special delight in thinking about?
Which words from today’s reading will bring you the most joy?
How will these words from God help you when you find yourself tempted to go in a direction that is not in keeping with loving God?
For the weekdays of this week, I do encourage you to continue to read through Ezekiel. In Saturday’s devotion, we will catch the highlights of those verses. However, our focus for the next few days will be Psalm 119. The longest chapter in the Bible, by both verse and words, Psalm 119 is worth the time we are going to spend with it. Rather than going through verse by verse (we will do a bit of that on Wednesday and Thursday), I’d like to talk about the themes that come out of reading Psalm 119. We’ll talk about God’s self-revelation, in both the Torah and the whole Bible, and we’ll discuss some ways that we can honor God’s word by keeping it close to us.
But today, I want to talk about Psalms in general, and this Psalm in particular. The Bible is a dense book. Often we can treat it like a study guide, a how-to manual, a game plan for life. And, these are not incorrect. But that is NOT ALL the Bible is. It is not simply an owner’s manual for our life, but it is a vast collection of biographies, histories, letters, and poems that are inspired by God’s Words, authoritative about our lives, and true in everything it affirms.
The Psalms in general help disabuse us of our study guide/owner’s manual/game plan approach to the Bible, because they are not always God’s words to people, but people’s words BACK TO GOD. In the Psalms there is rage, despair, longing, frustration, ecstasy, devastation, joy, sorrow, wrath, contentment, love. The whole gamut of the human experience is on display. But more than just these emotions, they are the human experience, recreated and retold in beauty.
Think about your favorite song. Do you hear the twang of a steel guitar? Do you feel the rumble of the bass from the hook? Does the distortion make you want to turn up the speakers to 11? What do the lyrics mean? What do the lyrics SAY? Are those two the same, or is the meaning conveyed not in words but in how they are sung or how the music crescendos at the same time they are singing of silence? Let me venture a guess; you like your favorite song. This genius insight of mine is because we all think our song has a certain beauty. I like metal and the screams of the vocalists and the distortion of their guitars are just wonderful and gorgeous. But more often than not, in metal and rock, the music and the lyrics work in tandem to make the pain, betrayal, loss, anger, and even love of the musicians real and visceral. There is beauty in my favorite songs, and in yours, even if you like country.
Psalm 119 is also beautiful, a labor of love that took the artist hours of labor spent crafting the art to perfection. Just because God guided the Psalmist doesn’t mean the Psalmist didn’t put his blood sweat and tears into crafting a beautiful poem in honor of God and his word. What I want you to notice today is the beauty. Read all of Psalm 119. Read it from start to finish, top to bottom. But DON’T MISS THE ARTISTRY. Think about why the Psalmist used this word in this place. Why? Does one line jump out at you? Why is that? Does one line not sit well with you? Why do you not connect with that line?
Moreover, think about the breakdown of the Psalm. There are 22 sections of 8 verses of Psalm 119. In your Bibles, there may even be a strange mark and word. For many this would be something that looks like an X and the word “Aleph” or “Alef”. The translators are helping you see that this poem is an acrostic. The first letter of each verse is aleph. Eight times over. Then the same with beth, then gimmel, so on and so forth. The artist had to be intentional to work out each line to build off the previous one, but also each verse needed a new word. That takes time, commitment, dedication. Artistry.
Don’t miss the artistry.
Don’t miss the passion or the beauty of this psalm. That is why when you saw””Read all of Psalm 119” and you skipped that and kept reading the devotion, you really should go read the entire Psalm today. The beauty the artist wanted to display for God is in the text, and I don’t want you to miss it.
Don’t miss the artistry.
-Jake Ballard
Today’s Bible reading plan passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway.com here – Ezekiel 25-26 and Psalm 119:1-40
Being a Christian isn’t for me. There are way too many rules. My life would be so boring if I followed all those rules. Have you heard anyone say that before? Or maybe you are a Christian and you try to follow all the rules, but you feel like you are missing out on the fun. Or worse yet, maybe you are a Christian, and during your weak moments you don’t miss out on the fun. The Bible is a huge book with a lot of Do this’s and Don’t do that’s. Why did God make it so difficult to be a Christian?
If you have ever felt a bit strangled by all the instructions to follow in the Bible, Psalm 119 will open your eyes to a whole new way of thinking. God’s laws are not some kind of test to see if we can show self-control and prove we want to be Christians. Psalm 119 says God’s commandments will make you wiser than your enemies, have more insight than your teachers, and understand more than the aged. Let that sink in for a second. These rules were given to us to make us smarter – even more intelligent than our teachers and those older than us who have more experience than us.
God did not make all the rules to make our lives MORE difficult; He gave us all the rules to make our lives LESS difficult. He is watching out for us and has our best interest at heart. God knows a lot of stuff and He is just trying to share with us some of what He knows to make our lives better. Don’t be rebellious because you don’t like someone telling you what to do; instead, be thankful for the pages and pages of advice that God has shared with you that will help you out in life. You might have an urge to lie, steal, have sex outside of marriage, look at porn, get drunk, or do any other sin of your choice. All these things may seem like a worthwhile option in the heat of the moment, but God’s word lets you know that doing these things will make your life worse. Trust Him; He knows what is best for you.
Psalm 119:105 says, “Thy word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path.” Life can be difficult, and many obstacles will get in the way on your path. You can ignore God’s word and try to go it alone, but you will assuredly stumble around in the darkness. Or you can read God’s word and follow the instructions so your path will be lit up. Those same obstacles will be on your path whether you read your Bible or not, but if your path of life is lit up with God’s word, you will more easily see how to maneuver through the obstacles you will face.
How valuable are the words of God? The psalmist who wrote Psalm 119 says in verse 127 that he loves the commandments above gold, yes, above fine gold. The words of God are more treasured than gold! Do you believe that also? Your actions speak louder than your thoughts and words. If you truly find the scriptures to be that valuable, you will search diligently by reading the Bible, and then you will mold your life to fit the words you have learned about.
One last part of this psalm that really drove home the value of God’s words to me was in verses 163-165. He said he loves Thy law and praises Him seven times a day because of Thy righteous ordinances. I feel like this is not an exaggeration to make a point (like forgiving someone 7 times 70 times), but probably a true practice that this individual followed for the most part. If you are awake for about two-thirds of your day, you would need to praise God for his rules about every two hours to keep up with that psalmist. You would be in a constant state of thankfulness for God’s laws every day, which seems like a bit much, but verse 165 tells us about the huge reward we receive for following His words. He said that those who love Thy law have great peace and nothing causes them to stumble. If you want to add stress to your life, just go ahead and break a rule. However, if you want true peace in your life, search through the scripture looking for God’s advice and follow that advice. Thank you to the psalmist for giving us this great perspective on rules.
(We will read the second half of the longest chapter of the Bible on Sunday – but feel free to actually read the whole thing both days – it is full of good stuff!)
What comes to mind when you hear the word purity? Because we currently live in a fallen world where sin is part of our human nature, we are all impure. Think about it… what about your thoughts? What do you think about? Are there any sins that don’t start with a thought? I’m sure we could learn a whole lot about someone if we could read their thoughts, because the thing about our thoughts is that they are essentially hidden from the rest of the world. And this is why it can be so dangerous. What starts to be a single almost innocent thought can then eventually or suddenly develop from good to bad to ugly. So when would be a better time than now to examine our thoughts and heart. God knows our thoughts, we can’t hide anything from Him, remember? Our thoughts do matter. They reveal what is in our heart.
Thankfully, we can find in Psalm 119 how to stay pure.
Psalm 119:9 How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.
Psalm 119: 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Because God’s word should be our treasure in life we should hide it in our heart and meditate on it so that we can obey it and therefore stay pure. So let’s see what Philippians 4:8 says. “ And now dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” This makes staying pure a little harder, not only should they be pure, they should be honorable as well.
I am so glad this verse made it into our Bibles because it has certainly helped me. When I was little I used to have trouble falling asleep from worrying, until my mom wrote out Philippians 4:6-8 and hung it up next to my bed. Suddenly I had a way to check my thoughts. A thought checker. If it doesn’t align with Philippians 4:8 throw it out of your mind. And even more than that, I was able to memorize it and because of that I’ve been able to use it throughout the years.
Starting some habits can be really helpful in controlling your thoughts. But the first step is to really know the scriptures so you know what is right and wrong. Because how else can we know what the Bible says if we don’t take the time to study, meditate, memorize, and know what it says? Also you will need to commit to memorizing scripture so that when the time comes that they are needed you will be able to pull them out of our pocket and meditate on them.
Here are some great verses to memorize and hide in our hearts.
1 Timothy 4:12 “ Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.
Romans 8:1-2 “And so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for your. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Or 2 Corinthians 6:6, Romans 8:6, or 2 Corinthians 10:5, and many many others.
So the next time you feel like your thoughts are controlling you, make it a habit to test your thoughts and make sure they align with Philippians 4:8. When they don’t, affirm that it is a thought that doesn’t align with God’s word and toss it out. Just like Jesus said, “Get behind me Satan,” when Peter was a stumbling block for him, you might choose to say something in response to it to help combat it. Then, ask God to renew your mind and help you strive to live a life pleasing to Him. Lastly and one of the most important steps, meditate on scripture. Choose a specific verse that is personal and recite it over and over again.
So how can a young person stay pure? By living according to God’s word. By meditating on Scripture and hiding it in your heart so that you don’t sin.
If you live in the United States, you are subject to millions of laws. There are so many laws at the federal level, that it would take lifetimes to count them all. There are possibly 20,000 regulations placed upon gun ownership. The Internal Revenue Code is over 7,500 pages long. There are over 300,000 expressions of criminal offenses you could possibly commit. All of these numbers do not include the laws you must abide by at the state or local levels. I do not tell you all of this to make you rummage through law books before every action, so you will fearfully stay at home (there might be a law against that, too), or even as some kind of backhanded political statement, but to make the simple point — even when you want to follow the law, it can be hard when there are so many.
“Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart — they do no wrong but follow his ways. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.” – Psalm 119:1-4
“How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.” – Psalm 119:8
Psalm 119 is a reflection on the following: the laws, statutes, precepts, and words given by God to men through an acrostic. What is an acrostic? You have most likely done something similar with your name at some point in your school career:
Artistic
Ambitious
Relaxed
Objective
Nearsighted
The first letter of each word spell out the theme of discussion. By using the Hebrew Alphabet to begin each stanza, David, our author, literally covers everything from “A” to “Z” (or “Aleph” to “Taw”) to thoroughly tell about the favor or folly that comes from obeying / disobey God’s commandments. The ABC’s of living a life for God is closely clinging to His commands – all 600+ of them given in the Torah that make up the Levitical Law? For David, yes. Thankfully, Jesus Christ simplified the commandments to two guiding principles that encompass them all:
“‘Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?’ Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:36-40
Does reducing these many laws to two make it easier to live within the law? Absolutely not. There are no longer loopholes, gaps, or technicalities to exploit which are the reasons for chastisement of religious leaders in the time of Jesus and the ever-increasing amount of laws today. These two laws encompass every part of our lives. A-to-Z. From Actions with our enemies to the Zeal which we have for His kingdom, these laws apply. When we commit to following His law, we have blessing, direction, fulfillment, and hope. Is it an easier life? No. Is it a better life? Absolutely, yes.
“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again: I will obey your righteous regulations.” – Psalm 119:105-106
Seek Grow Love 