START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 119:1-8
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OBSERVE:
Psalm 119 is an example of acrostic literature in the Hebrew Bible, which means in this case that each stanza begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Acrostic patterns also occur in four of the five songs of Lamentations, in Proverbs 31, and in Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 119, and 145.
What sets Psalm 119 apart is that it is the longest Psalm — and the longest book — in the entire Bible. Psalm 119:1-8, our lectionary text, features the Hebrew letter Aleph, the first letter of the alphabet.
The central theme of Psalm 119 is the supreme value of the law.
The initial word of each of the first two lines sets the tone for the entire Psalm:
Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to Yahweh’s law.
Blessed are those who keep his statutes,
who seek him with their whole heart.
The emphasis is on the practice of the law, not merely the knowledge of the law. The blessed are those who walk according to Yahweh’s law, and who seek him with their whole heart. This law is both external and internal. It is both lifestyle (walking) and attitude (whole heart).
The Psalmist continues to focus on the blamelessness that results from obedience to the law:
Yes, they do nothing wrong.
They walk in his ways.
The expectation, though, is complete obedience, which leads the Psalmist to pray that he might be steadfast to obey God’s statutes. If so, he concludes he wouldn’t be disappointed in his ability to fulfill all God’s commandments.
This suggests a certain level of humility in the Psalmist, perhaps a little anxiety that he won’t measure up. But then he confidently proclaims his gratitude that he has learned of God’s righteous judgments.
And so there is a kind of ‘covenant’ that the Psalmist seems to ask for:
I will observe your statutes.
Don’t utterly forsake me.
The Psalmist’s prayer is that if he seeks to obey the commandments, Yahweh will do his part to sustain him.
APPLY:
The Christian’s attitude toward the law is shaped by the New Testament. Jesus affirms that he has come to fulfill the law — but he also distinguishes between the law revealed by God and the interpretations of the law in the traditions of religious leaders. And the Apostle Paul also affirms the divine origins of the law:
Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good (Romans 7:12).
Paul also speaks of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2).
And both Jesus and Paul declare that the law is most perfectly fulfilled by love — love for God and love for neighbor.
All of this is a reminder that the law reveals the holy and righteous character of God, but it is also a means of strengthening relationship with God and neighbor.
This is why the second line of Psalm 119 is so important:
Blessed are those who keep his statutes,
who seek him with their whole heart.
Keeping the statutes of God is a means of seeking God with our whole heart. The trick is to remember that the laws and statutes aren’t an end in themselves, they are a means to an end. For example, Jesus tells the Pharisees:
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).
Likewise, the law wasn’t given by God to be an oppressive weight, but to be a spiritual and moral guide for human beings.
RESPOND:
A truck driver in one of my Bible study groups used an analogy concerning the law that reflects the attitude that many people seem to have. He pointed out that there are white speed limit signs and yellow speed limit signs on our roads. The white signs are usually speed limits that policemen enforce. The yellow signs, indicating safe speeds for driving on a curve, etc., are “suggestions.”
Many people seem to think of the laws and the commandments of God as the “yellow” signs that are mere suggestions. Underlying the laws and the commandments are the law of love and of the Spirit. If we are truly seeking God, we find ourselves living out his law of love and the law of the Spirit with our whole heart.
Our Lord, your law is holy, just and good. Help me to obey your law not for the sake of my holiness but for the sake of my relationship with you. Amen.
PHOTOS:
"Psalm 119_7" by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.
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