Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Psalm 119:54 Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge.
THE LONG PSALM ON GOD'S WORD
Psalm 119 was written in a very specific form of Hebrew poetry. In the Hebrew, the first eight verses begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, "aleph." The second set of eight verses all begin with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, "bet." The third set of eight verses all begin with the third letter and so on all the way through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Since there are 22 sets of 8 verses, Psalm 119 has a total of 176 verses. It is the longest chapter in the Bible. It takes about seventeen minutes to read aloud.
Now here's the kicker -- almost every single verse of Psalm 119 refers in some way to the words of God. There are only a handful of verses that make no reference to God's Word at all. The writer refers to what God says with a rainbow of synonyms like: the word, the law, His statutes, His precepts, His commandments, His ordinances, His decrees, His promises.
It makes you think the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us something here! Maybe that God's Word is precious?
We love Jehovah God and we love His Word too, because it is the LORD's Word that reveals His personality to us. Yes, God could appear visibly and have a conversation with us, but in His loving wisdom He has chosen not to reveal Himself to most sinners in this way. Instead, He has chosen to reveal Himself to mankind through His living Words, recorded in the Bible.
When you get to know who someone is, really know who they are, beyond the prejudices and judgments that all our minds impose on others; when you see the "person inside the person," you either like them or you don't. The writer of Psalm 119 knew God through God's Old Testament Word. And what he saw made him want to sing the decrees of God Word wherever he went.
