Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Psalm 119, Verse 160



We mortal beings need to recognize that whatever You have spoken is true—every word, letter and dot. For just as the rain comes down and does not return without causing the earth to bud, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so is Your word that proceeds from Your mouth. It will not return to You unfulfilled but accomplish what You intend. We often treat Your word like it is a book of stories and fine inspirational teachings; yet ignore the fact that not one part of it will pass away until all is accomplished. On that day, when each one will be judged according to their deeds, it will be Your word that will stand testimony to the truth and witness to our choices.
Help us therefore Adonai to take Your word literally. Let it be our plumbline by which we make all our decisions. May we place our complete trust in the wisdom and instructions that are found in it, convinced that we will not be disappointed or put to shame. For the main thing about Your word is that it is true and all Your righteous ordinances last forever.



Lately, I have found myself drawn to Psalm 119. Charles Spurgeon beautifully describes it thus:

There is no title to this Psalm, neither is any author's name mentioned. It is not just long only; but equally excels in breadth of thought, depth of meaning, and height of fervour. It is like the celestial city which lieth four square, and the height and the breadth of it are equal. Many superficial readers have imagined that it harps upon one string, and abounds in pious repetitions and redundancies; but this arises from the shallowness of the reader's own mind: those who have studied this divine hymn, and carefully noted each line of it, are amazed at the variety and profundity of the thought.

It contains no idle word; the grapes of this cluster are almost to bursting full with the new wine of the kingdom. The more you look into this mirror of a gracious heart the more you will see in it. Placid on the surface as the sea of glass before the eternal throne, it yet contains within its depths an ocean of fire, and those who devoutly gaze into it shall not only see the brightness, but feel the glow of the sacred flame. It is loaded with holy sense, and is as weighty as it is bulky.

The Psalm is alphabetical. Eight stanzas commence with one letter, and then another eight with the next letter, and so the whole Psalm proceeds by octonaries quite through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, from Aleph to Tau.

I thought I should post a verse each day in the hope that we all, including myself, may get an opportunity to reflect on them.

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