Bless the Lord, oh my soul! Worship His holy Name!
Sing like never before, oh my soul! Worship His holy Name!
Indeed, bless the Lord, and forget not all His benefits! Do not forget the dwelling you live in, the clothes you wear, the food you eat – they’re all blessings, all demonstrations of God’s fortuitousness!
Do not forget the promotions you’ve had – that one time you had a job secured before even meeting everyone else, the countless times you were allowed to go ahead in line, or the many times another driver let you go first. The big and the small promotions count! Remember His goodness, His favor even in the smallest of details!
Bless the Lord, and forget not all His benefits! Do not forget the patience you’ve demonstrated – In the many times you’ve been rejected, in the many times you’ve been scammed, you held your tongue, you moved in genuine peace, because the Holy Spirit – poured into you by the finished work of Jesus Christ – flows in you, as you flow in Him; Remember now, how in the times you’ve been rejected, in the times you’ve been ghosted and scammed, that your God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) was entirely present through it all, watching your pain – not condemning you, but (1) making all things new, (2) making the works of God known, (3) making it work for the good of the body of Christ, and (4) glorifying the Son.
Draw peace in all things, oh my soul; For our God, the Creator of all things, our Father is good in all circumstances, good for us, good in us – He alone is good!
Bless the Lord, oh my soul! Worship His holy Name!
Sing like never before, oh my soul! Worship His holy Name!
Thank God for His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ – the Blessing of all blessings, the Benefit that gives value to all other benefits, the Benevolent One that makes all things new!
Bless the name of the Lord, for through Christ we have the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Comfort, the Spirit of Adoption; He is not a spirit of fear, but THE Spirit of power, love, and sound judgment – fully alive in us, flowing in us, flowing through us.
Thank God for His Spirit upon us in the body of Christ, that the old and young shall see visions and dream dreams: all towards the glory of our Father, pointing to Christ and His finished work, causing us time and again to keep on depending on His power and wisdom!
Thank God for His love – yes, thank God for loving us with an everlasting love!
Bless the Lord, oh my soul! Worship His holy Name!
Sing like never before, oh my soul! Worship His holy Name!
We’ve come to the final letter in the Hebrew alphabet acrostic Psalm – That is, the longest Psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119. It’s been a trip, and I must say, it’s been a joy to be reminded, constantly, of the value of the Word of God – and I’m just thankful, for see, through this appreciation of the Word, we come to an understanding that this Scripture is one, if not THE primary way for us to hear from the Lord – Sure, there’s the still small voice, there’s the mind of Christ (which, I still have to learn, is a whole lot more than Alec Guinness’ voice guiding me to shoot a photon torpedo into the ventilation chute, the singular flaw of the Death Star)… but I have come to believe and appreciate this: If we intentionally want the Creator of the Universe and all thing seen and unseen to communicate to us, there’s always the Word. There’s always the Bible. There’s always Scripture.
Whoever wrote Psalm 119 certainly understood this. I have a feeling that he was probably aware of how redundant he sounded, but did not care – because he appreciated the Lord that much, and he saw the essential, critical value of His word (His laws, His statutes, His testimonies), enough to write this monster of a Psalm, that others may come to appreciate it also.
We’ve said that this 2025 was a year of Revelations – and after our going through Psalm 119, I can say… rather, we can say this: There is revelation in the Word, and there is always mention of the Word in revelations.
So here we go. One last swing.
Psalm 119:169-176
TAW
169 Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word!
170 Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word.
The Psalmist mentions, and, I assume, ties two things together in his cry and in his plea to the Lord: ‘give me understanding’, and ‘deliver me’. That is, if we were to tie these two together, we’d say something along the lines of ‘give me understanding, and in so doing, deliver me from confusion/misunderstanding/deception‘.
Deliverance into understanding is deliverance from confusion, and vice versa. Consider that when we have no confusion, that in itself is understanding; Understanding is the absence of the anxiety associated with not knowing or knowing what leads to death, just as much as it is the presence of enlightenment, and more importantly, the Truth.
Pilate asks, ‘What is Truth?‘… but the Answer was the One he had a conversation with at that time. As we’ve established recently, the Truth is the Word more to be trusted and believed in, more than to be analyzed and tinkered with.
Wonderful, how we can say that the Psalmist’s cry and plea has been heard – and God has given him (and all of us who believe) understanding and consequent deliverance, through our crucified and resurrected Savior.
171 My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes.
172 My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right.
Indeed, let us join the Psalmist in praising the Father, and singing of the Word, and the Living Word!
Earlier, we talked about how we get revelations from the Word, but, again, praise the Lord! Why? Because we realize something else: When we read the word, understanding follows – and in understanding, don’t be surprised if the Scripture comes up. Understanding is found in His statutes, in His commandments – Understanding is drawn from His Word.
We have the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth that leads us into all Truth… and let’s not be surprised either if we’re faithfully, constantly led to the Word for the Truth we seek in our circumstances. There’s Scripture to be found, and understanding to be had in the top of the mountain as much as in the bottom of the lowest valleys… and the Spirit is absolutely faithful to us, whether we are praising, lamenting, or just plain bored. Truth is present in comfort and discomfort.
173 Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.
174 I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight.
And there’s something a little more fresh, huh? But it sounds like something we’ve already known since the start.
What am I talking about? Well, we’ve already established that the salvation we have is so much more than a ticket to heaven and a get out of hell card. We’ve also already appreciated how salvation is Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension reconciling all who believe with God, now and forever. But, here, we’re learning that not only do we receive revelations and understanding through the Word, but also a deeper look into our salvation – and our salvation is not without a revelation FROM the Word.
This shine more light into an already wonderful portion of Scripture (yes, the Word) – that is, that faith comes (salvation) by hearing, and hearing… that’s right, hearing the Word of God. What I’m trying to express here is that the Word leads us to salvation, and in our salvation, we appreciate the Word. What I’m also trying to say here is that not only have we been reconciled to God, but we have also been reconciled with the Word… Much so, that when we read the Word, we aren’t merely reading Words, but we’re diving deeper into our intimacy with the Creator of the Universe. With that in mind.. to say that the law is our delight sounds like an understatement.
175 Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me.
The revelations and understanding we receive from the Word naturally point to Christ, because they give us a deeper look into our salvation… and, surely as the Word points to Christ, and as Christ is our very present help… So the Word helps us, by pointing us to Christ… and the Word points to Christ, who has helped us, is helping us, and will help us. Indeed, again, we are stirred to sing: Bless the Lord, oh my soul! Worship His holy Name! Sing like never before, oh my soul! Worship His holy Name!
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.
The final verse of this great Psalm certainly points to Christ, now doesn’t it? For who else can be the Good Shepherd – who else sought us, lost in the deathly darkness of sin, who else but the only begotten Son of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – who else is our Good Shepherd, but the Lord Jesus Christ?
And see here – by the Psalmist’s expression we read how we can always have the commandments in mind, but still go astray. It feels as if the priority here is for us to keep the commandments in our minds and hearts, versus playing the unwinnable game of figuring out if we’ve gone astray or not… But, more importantly, we ought to understand that because of the salvation we have in Christ, again – as God is always with us, so the Word is ALWAYS with us, regardless of if we’re aware of it or not. Let me frame that in another way – the Word is with us whether we are aware of it or not, and He seeks us out, whether we are aware of our going astray, or not.
That’s a relationship. A wonderful, endless seeking between two entities. A celebration of the one Relationship that matters – That between us, and Christ:
Christ is the Living Word whom we seek and find.
Christ is the Good Shepherd who seeks us, and finds us.
Beautiful, isn’t it? I believe this is a fitting end to this venture. We find Christ as the end, as expected.
To Him be all the glory and praise and adoration, now and to the end of time, unto forever.
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