Friday the 13th. Not much going on. Not much on my plate, if there’s even anything at all. Just worked out.
Let’s write.
Psalms 119:41-48
WAW
41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise;
42 then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.
43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.
44 I will keep your law continually, forever and ever,
45 and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.
46 I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame,
47 for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.
48 I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.
I give thanks to the Lord, for through Christ, all His promises are ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’.
Through no less than the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, and His finished work – His birth, death, resurrection and ascension – we know we have Salvation, and we know that we are loved with a steadfast love, and an everlasting love.
From this knowledge, we draw confidence to answer he who taunts us. From this belief, we are at peace, in spite of all that threatens us.
God’s Word states that through Christ, we are saved, and we are loved – and while this may already give us a semblance of security, Christ does not take any chances – For while He knows the Word, He IS the Word made flesh, who once dwells among us, and is now alive IN us, as we are alive in Him.
In one verse the Psalmist asks for the Lord to keep His Word of truth in his mouth (or not to take it away from his mouth, to be precise)… But in the next verse he states that he hopes in His rules, and He is intentional in keeping His law. The way I see this now, he clings to the Word so dearly that he asks the Lord to help him keep it in.
With this observation, I give thanks to the Lord again, for see, again: Christ, the living Word, is alive in me, and I am alive in Him. This means that though I put intention in to taking and keeping His Word in me, or the flow of existing in this finite reality keeps me ‘distracted’, it is ultimately not up to me – Christ, the Word, is with me until the ends of this world, and beyond.
Through Christ, I also walk ‘in a wide place’. Off the bat I’m not sure what that means but I could imagine the thrill there is in not having any boundaries, not being constrained, looking at the horizon and being able to pursue it without end, roaming freely, knowing that no matter how far I travel, I am always in the presence of my Savior.
It is with this freedom and this confidence (bought by Christ at the cross), that I am able to speak before people of authority with both power and humility – the foundation of my being found in Christ, the foundation of my word being His Word.
What a great and glorious God we have. By our faithful God, we are fearless.
Psalms 119:49-56
ZAYIN
49 Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.
51 The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law.
52 When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O LORD.
53 Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake your law.
54 Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.
55 I remember your name in the night, O LORD, and keep your law.
56 This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts.
You know, I’m not near halfway through this ‘acrostic’ Psalm, and I’m already starting to get weary of its redundancy. Like it took all these verses just for this guy to say that he values God’s word, God’s promise, God’s testimony, God’s law, God’s statutes, God’s rules, and so on and so forth.
We say that we’re to seek His kingdom, that we’re supposed to read the Bible (on top of praying every day, as the old children’s song goes) – we read in other parts of the Psalms that there is benefit in meditating on His Word, and so on. This Psalmist had opportunities to write about all sorts of other things – the goodness of God, the chronicles of Israel and how the nation has been doing thus far, and so on – But he decides to write about his own efforts in keeping the Word. Why?
I suppose it just needs to be elaborated. I could imagine that just like me, the reader, the writer was all psyched up at first, but eventually hit a ‘wall’ of sorts, getting just the slightest bit tired of how all of it sounds.
Is it all an exercise of appreciating light in the darkness? Or, in this case, is it for us to see what stands out in the redundancy?
I mean, really quick, here we’re reading, God’s Word gives the Psalmist hope and comfort in his affliction – that is, comfort in the fact that God’s promise gives him life.
And there’s something, right? While God gives Life for He IS Life, His promises on their own are supposed to give us life already.
It’s in this Word that the Psalmist finds blessing, even in darkness, indignation, and the acts of the wicked.
In so many words, we’re reminded of the Word – that not only is the foundation of our power and humility, but also the comfort that ministers to us in our affliction.
And while I can go ahead and say that this Word is the Scripture, again, I’ll say that it’s Christ HIMSELF who is our Word – our Word of Life, and our Living Word.
Indeed, in Him we live (in comfort), we move (in humility), and we have our being (in power).
By the Word today, I realize that He truly is deserving of all the glory and all the praise – He is the Word, the only One worthy of opening the Scroll in the days of Revelation.
Only the Word unseals the Word.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
376425/365000
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
Leave a comment