“Blessed are those who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart— they do no wrong but follow His ways.”
Psalms 119:2-3
I’m reading Psalm 119 today. I’m about 135 verses in and, though it’s not my first time reading it, I’m noticing a pattern. The writer, here, loves the Word of God.
The chapter spans 176 verses and is the longest chapter in the Bible. The psalmist wrote of his love for the Word and it took eight lines for every single letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Almost every sentence mentions the power or the glory, or the awesomeness of having Gods Word. The author writes of how, if the law had not been his delight, he would have “perished in his affliction.” (verse 92).
This isn’t a Psalm of the importance of following the rules. I don’t believe the author is even writing a piece to describe the benefits of the law. I think it’s genuine, uncontrollable passion. It is an act of love for something good, something that is so extremely valuable that this person got lost in expressing his extreme endearment and gratitude to God for providing such a wonderful and valuable tool.
When someone in a crisis position first sees the fifteen hundred page book that somebody plops down in front of them and says; “Your answer’s in here,” it’s not a huge relief. It is not attractive, it doesn’t motivate us and it is not, in any way, easy to begin reading. At first, it doesn’t look like it will make any difference. I will even venture to say, it is the most difficult task to start, and continue for long enough to see a difference. I honestly think everything else is easier to get right.
The psalmist must have had a past, it would seem, too. Someone so devout on doing things the right way, probably had some experience doing it several other ways, before. Times when he ignored the words or may have been unaware of its value and felt the sting of choices that it led to. Then when he discovered them, his life in shambles, with no other way left to try, he finally leaned into its truth and realized the power it has to change things.
“Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them.” (Psalm 119: 140)
Overtime, the outcome of obeying these “rules” must have become so, beautifully obvious. He filled up with all God has for us, and it overflowed. He wrote the longest book’s longest chapter… on rules…
It’s happening in my life, as well. Sure there are times when I just don’t really feel like learning, or reading, and the Bible is not easy to open. But for the most part, the thought of knowing every line of it, based on past outcomes of being an overcomer thus far…it’s a delectable idea. God’s Word is delicious to me. It’s invaluable.
Tonight, something happened that assures me I’m doing some things right. It’s wild the effect of living a life obeying God’s decrees and precepts. What I’m doing is contagious, others are going to benefit, too. It’s already happening.
Our neighbor has been getting her son involved at the church this Christmas season. I had asked him to be in the Christmas play, because, what 10 year old boy would say no to being on stage? Of course he loved the idea and began attending practice with us. Shortly after, and I mean very shortly, his mother attended church, with his sister, for the first time.
Just now, our new friend told me of her battle with health issues. We prayed together and I told her God will heal her. Then she told me she’d be back to the church, often. That she thinks she has “definitely found her new home…”
I’m holding back tears.
I love the Lord’s Words. And I’m passing them on. I lift them off the page to live them in front of those around me.
The answer is in this book.
Period.
This doesn’t mean I know it perfectly. It does not mean I do it perfectly, either. The writer agrees;
“Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law,” he says in verse 109. The NLrV (the children’s version) says “I keep putting my life in danger…”
The attraction to it, one learns, after a bit of endurance, is the freedom that comes when you no longer have to worry about getting hurt by making mistakes, unwittingly causing havoc in our own lives. Confusion gets sorted out and things just begin to make more sense. Being upset and unkind because someone doesn’t spend time with me, no longer makes sense. Why would they respond kindly to a mean spirit??
See, the Bible is not just a rule book. To anyone willing to put the time into it, the time it deserves and truly needs, it proves its own worth in the end. Rather quickly actually. It’s vividly obvious now, that if I’m mean to someone, it inspires meanness to come out of them.
Wow. It took me almost 40 years! Haha! It’s so, ridiculously sensible, I should have seen it before. “The Bible told me so.”
Thank you God, “because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold,” Psalm 119:127
I am able to see things that I was so unbelievably blind to before! I don’t have to hurt my friends. I don’t have to lose relationships with my kids. I am able to start anew! I can see the right choices!
I didn’t have to get a divorce…
“Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them,” I agree with another verse…
There’s an earlier verse that speaks of the Word being a lamp to our feet and a light to light our path (105). I’m sure you know the one. I can attest that it’s true. As a street light would illuminate a tiny, dark room, when we read God’s Word (and put it into practice), it shines before us to highlight all the obstacles and provides us safe passage through “the valley of the shadow of death,” (Psalm 23:4)
“Direct my footsteps according to your word;” verse 133 pleads again in this chapter, “let no sin rule over me.”
It’s not a poem about legalism. It’s an absolute enamorment because wisdom saves our lives! I imagine that when someone aligns their life, completely, with the Word of God, like this fella eventually did, one could truly see the value these words actually hold.
“I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be,” Solomon states in his eighth chapter of Proverbs. He’s speaking as “Wisdom,” as a being. Not a real person…but a real ‘entity.’ One in which nothing that is would be, if it weren’t for wisdom.
In Genesis, when God first created the earth, it was barren, covered in water, and lifeless. “…the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:2) This is when God sets in place the systems that nature and all of life would work on. The initial quality, or standard that had been set in place first, was righteousness. So, Wisdom was established first, above all else, to govern everything. Meaning; the way birds mate, how parents raise kids, tectonic plates, gravity…etc… Everything. These are the “laws” of how life functions. The “cause and effects.” Not like, laws as in: “you can’t do this or that,” but like, justice, mercy, forgiveness, service, obedience, sacrifice…
Something like; “wisdom says you shouldn’t put your hand on the hot burner of a stove.” That’s a law, in that, if you break it, you will pay retribution. It’ll be instant, and there will be zero mercy. In other things, God demands mercy. Luke 6:36 says; “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” He’s talking about loving your enemies. Wisdom says you should love your enemies and be kind to those who persecute you. That’s the goal.
While in the men’s ministry, I began imagining life as a video game. I like video games. They make a lot of sense to me. Levels, abilities, bosses… goals… God speaks to me through everything.
In this video game of “Life,” the original goal of the game has been hidden from us, its players. Not many of us have read or understood the rules, so society, who, now entirely, does not like this rule book, has become a giant distraction and is leading people the wrong way. Everyone is always running around chasing the wrong thing! Doing the wrong thing! We are all playing the game wrong! Those here, who have “success” but do not have the fruits of the Spirit are so blind that they don’t even know they are increasingly, way off. They aren’t looking for an answer, and they believe they are beating the game, though, in reality, they are only enjoying its currency, and wasting time.
Have you ever read that verse in Matthew 6, about your eyes being either full of darkness or, full of light? It says; “if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light inside you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
The “light inside you…”
It’s in the way you see. Your moral-compass. Do you know what the truth is?
I believe a better word for darkness, here, would be ‘confusion.’ It’s the kind of darkness you feel. Knowledge helps you understand. Understanding helps you be wise. Wisdom gives you more life than one life can enjoy in ten thousand lifetimes. Without it, we are susceptible to every painful, traumatic repercussion that comes out of foolishness and ignorance.
It’s in the Words. The “rule-book.” It’s the user’s manual so we don’t get confused, and often, terribly hurt.
Stupid, is ignoring it.
Get the know-how, then… know how.
Read the Bible.
Jesus is King.
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