Psalm 119:1-8
08 Jul 2024
Over the next 22 days I will be posting brief devotionals on each section of Psalm 119.
You can listen to an audio version of this blog post -
[a] Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
4 You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart,
when I learn your righteous rules.[b]
8 I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me!
I moved to London 22 years ago. It feels like yesterday, but in other ways it is a world away. No-one had smart phones or roadmap apps. The essential purchase I had to make was an A-Z. It meant I could find my way around - it had a tube map on the back cover, and it meant I could find my way to church, friends houses, and to some of the other places I needed to be. As London is so big, it’s A-Z was far larger than any I’d seen before for other places.
Psalm 119 bears some similarities to that book. It is an A-Z! Every section begins with one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is about one thing - not a city, but the word of God. Nearly every verse has a word in it for the word of God. It is big, by far the longest Psalm. And like the London A-z, we may be tempted to think it is helpful when we need to use it, but we wouldn’t sit down and read it one go! We glance through it and every page looks similar.
But it would be a mistake to think that. It is a Psalm - a hymn, a prayer, at the heart of Scripture. And we mustn’t mistake the subject of the Psalm for its object. It may be a long psalm about the word of God - but it is written because the Psalmist want him, and us, to know and delight in God himself. A quick look at the psalm may make it appear like its full of repetition just to fill up the acrostic - but if we slow down we’ll see every section is different.
The first section is like the big headline plastered across the whole Psalm. “This is the way to blessing” the Psalmist says in verses 1-4. It’s like a big signpost at the gates of an amusement park. “Come in”. Do we want to be truly blessed? By which the Psalmist means, do we want to live under God’s smile, doing what is right? Surely every Christian will say “yes”!
In which case, we need to do what God says. It is striking that right at the start, the Psalmist has no interest in simply reading or listening to God’s word by itself. If we want to be entertained, get an audible account and listen to your favourite author! No - the way to blessing is about walking a path (vs 1). And our feet are kept on the right road by hearing God’s word (his law, his testimonies, his precepts) and doing it. His commands are an expression of who he is.
So if that is the way to blessing, then no wonder the psalmist has such a passion for god’s word. He wants to be kept in them, he fixes his eyes on the commandments, he learns God’s rules - all because he wants God himself (“do not forsake me!”). A hunger for God’s word isn’t just for some special group of Christians. It is the way to blessing for us all.