Psalm 119 Samekh (113-120)

As I read this particular psalm, I am struck by the sharp distinction that the psalmist draws between wickedness (and those who indulge in it) and God's Word (and those who indulge in it). Normally, I am drawn away from such sharp us/them thinking, as anyone who will be in our worship service on Sunday will surmise. However, in this case, I think I am building a more nuanced view of what the psalmist is talking about. Part of following God does include the self-discipline to reject the things that keep us from God.

There are stories of crusader baptisms where the crusader would baptize everything but their sword arm. That way, they could commit sinful acts with the sword but still go into heaven one-armed. And I would bet that we sometimes do the same. We say, in essence to God, "You can have everything but this." It is a double-minded attitude, and hard to sustain. However, giving ourselves completely to following God offers a promise of divine sustenance (verses 116 and 117). Take this comfort with you as you try to live out the Kingdom in your life.

Psalm 119 Nun (105-112)

Does following God's Word ever get you in trouble? Probably not. While people can debate putting the Ten Commandments on public buildings and whether or not Under God is really on the new Pepsi can (both are non-issues in my mind, but have come to me in the form of e-mail forwards), chances are pretty solid that being a Christian will not get you in trouble. However, that's only part of the question. Will obeying the commands of Christ get you in trouble like the psalmist states in verse 109?

Probably. First of all, how do you safely love your enemies? Doing good for those who wish you harm seems unreasonable and unsafe, yet Luke 6:27 is clear to do both. Jesus' way offers a certain amount of risk- which in turn demands a certain amount of faith. The psalmist concurs, agreeing that faith and devotion to God's path (despite danger) is a better way. So allow me to encourage you today, wherever you may go and whatever risks you may take, to place your faith in the God who loves you and to walk a better way.

Psalm 119 Mem (97-104)

I have an... emotional... relationship with food. I don't use food to squash my emotions or anything, but I LOVE a good meal. It doesn't have to be fancy- I often find my greatest delight in a greasy hamburger or Meijer brand ice cream (good thing I live in Michigan, where we have ample supply of both). And I picture this psalm section much in the same way I picture my first bite into a North Peak Wasabi Salmon Sandwich or a Pegtown Omelet or Art's Tavern's biscuits and gravy. This feeling is called absolute delight. I even recently saw a TV show that was talking about the brain stimulation that occurs when we take our first bite of a tasty meal. But far from a bite of a Garlic Parmesan whitefish from the Cove in Leland, the psalmist here finds his/her delight in God's Word- the Law.

I'm not sure that I picture this psalm well. I don't see a person with a book on the table, giddy and laughing over every word. Perhaps this is how the psalmist reads and meditates on God's Word. However, what I do see is a person at the end of the day, satisfied. No regrets, no shame, no guilt, simply satisfaction in knowing that the psalmist has lived a day to the glory of God. After all, it isn't only reading and meditating, but obeying, that sets the psalmist apart from the others. Much like being satisfied at the end of a tasty meal, the end of a day lived to the glory of God brings good rest. Now, I don't hold myself to a standard of perfection, because that would always leave me unsatisfied and without delight. However, what if I find satisfaction in a milestone or find delight in what God has done in me over the past few years? I hope you find a similar satisfaction in reading, meditating on, obeying and living God's Word.

Psalm 119 Lamedh (89-96)

Today I am grieving a loss. My TV, medium of movies, Nintendo and the centerpiece of our living room, refuses to turn on. I inadvertently set the TV on it's own power cord and over time, it crushed the power cord, leaving the TV unable to get the power it needs to turn on. While that provides an interesting metaphor by itself, I think today of the fact that nothing lasts. One of these days, something would erode and happen to end the TV. All of our stuff will one day break down. Even P.K. Dick, science fiction author, envisioned a world surrounded by kippel, a slang term for broken down garbage that seems to reproduce itself. Everything breaks down.

I think of illnesses, injuries and the effects of aging, and realize that I am breaking down too. My cells are reproducing near-perfectly, but the little imperfections are a ticking clock toward my body ceasing to function. Reading the persecution and suffering that the psalmist has experienced, we know that things are temporary. So if the things of our age are temporary, what do we focus on?

One classical answer would be to ignore the things of the world and dwell instead on an immortal, imperishable spirit/soul that will escape the material world. This, however, will not do. Frankly, it's not a Biblical response. To save the world, God did not provide an escape from it, God entered into it through His Son Jesus. Ultimately, focusing on our soul apart from the body is a self-centered exercise. In the face of wickedness and decay, the psalmist directs us toward God.

The psalmist focuses on the only truly eternal Person as the source of salvation from decay. "Save me, for I am yours," is the cry. God's promise to fix our problem (sin/death) is one that goes far beyond the psalmist's life- this psalmist doesn't know the promise of resurrection.

But you do. The promise of resurrection is born in Jesus Christ and continues even to this day. One day, we will not decay. The future of God's world is not kippel but imperishable. For that day, I hope and I hope again.

Psalm 119 Kaph (81-88)

Scripture often speaks to us in tension. As soon as a person has it all figured out, they read a passage that seems to flip everything upside-down and re-introduces the tension. One aspect of God's story which creates the tension is salvation. Is salvation now, or later, or a little bit of both? This psalm leads me to the bookhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif of Hebrews, where a list of faithful witnesses is given, all of whom died before knowing the salvation of Jesus Christ. Generation after generation went by waiting for the coming of the Messiah. And now generation after generation waits for the consummation of all things in Jesus Christ.

Here is the tension. For some, salvation has a very "here-and-now" kind of way. Click this link to see the story of one who found Jesus Christ while being delivered from slavery. Or perhaps ask a person freed from addiction by God what deliverance means. For final salvation, though, we wait.

We wait. The book of Revelation calls for patient endurance more than anything else. The psalm we look at today is littered with patient endurance. That's why the Bible says that the joy of the Lord is our strength- it has little to do with your present circumstances. May you find your delight in God alone today, delight that will give you patient endurance in the challenges of everyday life.

Psalm 119 Yodh (73-80)

Do I depend on God? A theologically sound but emotionally empty answer would be "of course, everything that has breath depends on God." And I recognize that in my mind, yet my actions often betray a dependence on myself. But that's not the person I want to be, so what kind of person do I want to be?

I want to be the person God made me to be- the person God has formed me to be. I want my hope to be in God, I want my life to be marked with life-giving compassion that can only come from God. In this hope I live today.

Who do you want to be?

Psalm 119 Teth (65-72)

Around 600 AD, quite a few Christians abandoned the trappings of power offered by the Roman Empire and went out to the wilderness. The desert fathers and mothers attracted pilgrims with their wisdom and devotion. One such hermit had a visitor who had become very sick, and wanted a spiritual giant to pray for their healing. And I'm sure that the hermit did eventually pray for the person. However, what stuck with the sick visitor was what the hermit said about sickness- that it offered a chance (similar to fasting) for growth. I'm not a person who wishes affliction or illness on anyone, but if God wishes for me to grow through an affliction, I pray that I am ready.

In Psalm 119 Teth, we are told about an unknown affliction in the life of the psalmist. And nobody wants to go through an affliction, whether that be a depression, an illness or something else. On the other side of this affliction, though, the psalmist finds a new strength and devotion to obedience.

Whatever you may be going through today, I pray that God brings you strength to face it and even to grow in the face of your affliction.