Tag: Psalm 119

Scripture Focus: Psalm 119.103-104
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 I gain understanding from your precepts;
    therefore I hate every wrong path.

Student Writers Month is here: The student writers featured from July 15 to August 9 have received free coaching, ministry training, and seminars by special guests in addition to this publishing opportunity, the ability to re-publish their work elsewhere, and a stipend/scholarship for their work. A portion of all donations during these dates will be applied to the students’ stipends/scholarships. Find out more about the students at this link or give a one-time or recurring gift at this link.

Reflection: Finding Delight
By David Z. Blackwell

As a father of young children, I frequently hear my kids exuberantly shouting superlatives. “This is the best day ever!” “That was amazing!” “That was the coolest!” Psalm 119 shares a similar childlike delight, only in the word of the Lord rather than childhood adventures.

The psalmist praises the law of the Lord not with mere platitudes but with jubilant gratitude. The psalmist exalts the law because it brought wisdom greater than his enemies, teachers, and elders (vv. 98–100). For the writer, the law is the means of relationship and source of connection to the Lord (v. 102). “I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.” God’s words are not secondhand instructions but come directly from the Lord. Scripture illuminates the path, gives life to the afflicted, and is an eternal heritage and refuge (vv. 105, 107, 111, 114–120). Don’t you wish to delight in God’s word like this?

The author meditates on God’s words because, in them, he finds safety and blessing. The psalmist is also saved from adversity to continue to meditate on the words of the Lord (Psalm 119.114,117). Meditating on God’s word is not only the means but also the end. He does not meditate just to get something. He continues to meditate because of how much he has received. Meditating on God’s word is relational. 

The New Testament also emphasizes the importance of God’s word and says that it is fulfilled in Jesus. In John 1, Jesus is the embodied word of God, and in Matthew 5.17–20, Jesus says he came to fulfill the law and the prophets and praises those who keep and teach these commands.

For the Psalmist and for us, meditating on God’s word is everything. God’s words are comfort, joy, motivation, hope, peace, and the way of life. Yet, I don’t always feel this way. The Psalm suggests the psalmist doesn’t either. Do you? This passage provides an opportunity to look inward and examine our relationship with God’s word.

Let us remember that spending time reading, praying, and meditating on God’s word is the remedy for our apathy and ask him to grant us that same joy. What brings you this childlike joy? What adversity and struggles do you need saving from? How has God protected and delivered you? And how can these needs and victories lead you to meditate further on his word?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
To you I lift up my eyes, to you  enthroned in the heavens. — Psalm123.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Isaiah 53 (Listen 2:39)
Psalms 119.97-120 (Listen 15:24)

Read more about The Practice of Meditation :: Running
It is not God’s ability to speak that must grow, it is our ability to listen.

The Practice of Meditation :: Running

Read more about Supporting Our Work
Part of every donation during Student Writers Month goes to the students. Help fund stipends/scholarships for them. Donate today.

Supporting our Work

Scripture Focus: Psalm 119.81–83
81 My soul faints with longing for your salvation, 
but I have put my hope in your word. 
82 My eyes fail, looking for your promise; 
I say, “When will you comfort me?” 
83 Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, 
I do not forget your decrees. 

Student Writers Month is here: The student writers featured from July 15 to August 9 have received free coaching, ministry training, and seminars by special guests in addition to this publishing opportunity, the ability to re-publish their work elsewhere, and a stipend/scholarship for their work. A portion of all donations during these dates will be applied to the students’ stipends/scholarships. Find out more about the students at this link or give a one-time or recurring gift at this link.

Reflection: Dry Times and God’s Good Word
By Andrew Crawford

Have you ever gotten to the place where your only hope was God and his word? Have you ever been in severe spiritual doldrums and the only place to turn was to God in prayer?

In this section of Psalm 119, the psalmist’s only remaining comfort is their trust in God’s word. We think of God’s word as 66 books, but this psalmist did not have access to the full canon of Scripture that we do today.

The psalmist had been looking for God for so long that their eyes were failing; they’re going blind waiting for God to show up. In one sense, this could be taken cynically: “I’ve been waiting for God for so long and he’s not shown himself, so God can’t exist.” But this author had quite another perspective on it; they trusted in God while giving full vent to their doubts. 

The metaphor of the wineskin in smoke evokes the author’s dryness from waiting on God’s promises. J. A. Motyer says that as this section is a prayer, it reminds us “that at the end of our tether there is a place called ‘Prayer’” to which we can turn to bring our needs to God. (New Bible Commentary)

Have you felt this way? I have. The betrayal, lostness, confusion, and sense of distance from God all contribute to the wandering feeling I have had recently. I can see God’s providence in places—that he’s there with me and for me. Even still, I feel lost in the wilderness, as dry and crackly as an old wineskin. Quite often, like Job, the only answer we get this side of eternity is that God is God, and we are not. I can place myself under the spiritual faucet, waiting for the water of God’s word to fill me. I have tried recently to preach truth to myself that there is refreshment for my soul in God’s word–to continually point myself to the promises of God in his word.

What are you placing your trust in at this moment? Confess that and run to Christ. Can you look back and see how God worked things out for your good? Give him thanks; he is good; he is with you.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Be joyful to the Lord, all you lands; serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song. — Psalm 100.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

​Today’s Readings
Isaiah 52 (Listen 4:35)
Psalms 119.73-96 (Listen 15:24)

Read more about Echoing Voice of Hope
We hear the often repeated, echoing message that God cares for us. Our trouble and pain are known to God. He will end them and bring us comfort.

Echoing Voice of Hope

Read more about Supporting Our Work
Support our students this month. Part of every donation funds stipends/scholarships for them. Donate today.

Supporting our Work

Scripture Focus: Psalm 119.54-55
Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge. In the night, Lord, I remember your name, that I may keep your law.

Student Writers Month is here: The student writers featured from July 15 to August 9 have received free coaching, ministry training, and seminars by special guests in addition to this publishing opportunity, the ability to re-publish their work elsewhere, and a stipend/scholarship for their work. A portion of all donations during these dates will be applied to the students’ stipends/scholarships. Find out more about the students at this link or give a one-time or recurring gift at this link.

Reflection: My Theme, His Law
By Lauren Mulford

In Psalm 119:49–72, the psalmist says the law gives hope, comfort, joy, humility, contentment, and gratitude. He says God’s decrees are his theme. His theme is his purpose and highest delight, how he derives his essence. Is the theme of my life supposed to be “Christ” or “God’s law”?

I’m struck by how life-giving the law is for the psalmist. Can I be honest with myself? I wonder if I love the law of God like the author does. Does God’s law give me life? Or am I using New Testament passages to excuse my ignorance of the law of God? 

I want to pursue God’s heart like this psalmist. If I walk by the Spirit, I will produce spiritual fruit reflecting God’s heart. When I love the law of the Lord, I follow God. When I study the Old Testament, I meet God. I don’t need to force Christ or the Holy Spirit into passages because the Father is there, and Christ is his exact representation (Hebrews 1.3). The more I grow in knowledge of the Old Testament God, the more I grow in knowledge of Christ (see Luke 24.27). Once I realize that Christ is the theme of God’s law, my life’s theme unfolds. In uniting to his law of love, Christ becomes my theme. 

In verse 66, the psalmist writes, “Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands.” I can only trust what I know. 

Psalm 119 was styled to be easy to memorize by the early readers. Similarly, I like to set verses to catchy tunes to memorize and meditate on throughout the day and especially when “night” comes, that is, any time in my life that I can’t see clearly. I remember his law and his word. Having God always on my mind helps prevent falling back into my old sinful ways. 

To make Christ my life’s theme, I must internalize his law. God’s law and Christ’s law are the same. Christ completed the law and summarized it as loving God and loving people. 

The more we study the Old Testament, the more we see God’s love for mankind. The more we reflect on his love for us, the more loving we become. As we grow in love, the more practical and self-sacrificing we become just as Christ’s life was sacrificed. Our offerings are tiny compared to what was given for us!

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Whom have I in heaven but you? And having you I desire nothing upon earth. — Psalm 73.25

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

​Today’s Readings
Isaiah 51 (Listen 4:35)
Psalms 119.49-72 (Listen 15:24)

Read more about Law of Freedom
The freedom we have in Christ is that sins can no longer hold us back from what God calls us to do.

Law of Freedom

Read more about Supporting Our Work
Part of every donation during Student Writers Month funds stipends/scholarships for students. Donate today.

Supporting our Work

Scripture Focus: Psalm 119.169-176
169 May my cry come before you, Lord; 
give me understanding according to your word. 
170 May my supplication come before you; 
deliver me according to your promise. 
171 May my lips overflow with praise, 
for you teach me your decrees. 
172 May my tongue sing of your word, 
for all your commands are righteous. 
173 May your hand be ready to help me, 
for I have chosen your precepts. 
174 I long for your salvation, Lord, 
and your law gives me delight. 
175 Let me live that I may praise you, 
and may your laws sustain me. 
176 I have strayed like a lost sheep. 
Seek your servant, 
for I have not forgotten your commands. 

From John: As we wrap up Psalm 119 this week, we look back again at our reflection on Charles Spurgeon’s words about the great psalm. We are also eagerly anticipating the beginning of Student Writers Month in July followed by your Readers’ Choice selections in August. To submit your selections for Readers’ Choice, follow this link.

Reflection: The Garden of Psalm 119
By John Tillman

We finish Psalm 119 today and reflect on it with some words from Charles Spurgeon: 

“Those who have studied this divine hymn, and carefully noted each line of it, are amazed at the variety and profundity of the thought…The more you look into this mirror of a gracious heart the more you will see in it.”

Spurgeon is convinced that David wrote the Psalm and if not he, then some other writer who spent long years in its work and created it not over a short span, but through a lifetime of faithfulness.

“There is evident growth in the subject matter. The earlier verses are of such a character as to lend themselves to the hypothesis that the author was a young man, while many of the later passages could only have suggested themselves to age and wisdom.”

In the end, rather than rising in acclaim or celebration, the aged wisdom of the psalmist leads him to a humble and prostrate stance.

“The psalmist is approaching the end of the Psalm…he seems to break into the inner circle of divine fellowship, and to come even to the feet of the great God whose help he is imploring. This nearness creates the most lowly view of himself, and leads him to close the Psalm upon his face in deepest self-humiliation, begging to be sought out like a lost sheep…It is a very sweet thing to a suppliant when he knows of a surety that his prayer has obtained audience. It is to Jehovah that this prayer is expressed with trembling earnestness…we crave audience of none else, for we have confidence in none beside.”

Meditating on Psalm 119 daily has been a common spiritual practice for centuries with many reporting a wealth of spiritual benefit.

“This sacred ode is a little Bible, the Scriptures condensed, a mass of Bibline, holy writ rewritten in holy emotions and actions. This Psalm, like the whole Scripture which it praises, is a pearl island, or, better still, a garden of sweet flowers.”

It is our hope that each cycle of our two-year-long tread through the garden of scripture produces not pride, but humility. Not judgmental attitudes, but merciful gratitude. Not clamoring commands for others, but tender notes of correction in our own hearts.

*Quotations abridged from A Treasury of David, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Hallelujah! Give praise, you servants of the Lord; praise the Name of the Lord. — Psalm 113.1

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 33-34 (Listen – 4:43)
Psalm 119:145-176 (Listen – 15:14)

Read more about Readers’ Choice 2021
It is time for us to hear from you about the posts from the past eleven months (September 2020 through July 2021) that have challenged and comforted you and helped you find new meaning in the scriptures.

https://forms.gle/ozM13qvW9ouSWhJS7

Read more about Setting Aside the Scriptures
Considering all of Scripture together without breaking it apart requires patience and a deep familiarity with Scripture.

Setting Aside the Scriptures