For this stanza of Psalm 119, the psalmist makes eight requests of God concerning His Word. Teach me (v. 33)- first he wants God to teach him “the way of your decrees”.  This is different than teaching him the decrees – he wants to know the way, the path that God’s Word leads him to.  It’s very similar to what Jesus tell us in The Great Commission (Matt 28:20 NIV) “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”.  Jesus didn’t want us to just teach what his commands are, but how to obey them to live the life he (more…)

In this fourth stanza of Psalm 119, the psalmist mentions that following the Word can be difficult – he feels “laid low” and is weary with sorrow.  Maybe the persecution mentioned in the last stanza from those not obedient is stressing him out.  He calls on God to strengthen him (v. 28) and to not let him be put to shame (v. 31). It’s difficult to obey God when those around us ridicule or slander us.  We can feel weary and want to give up, but like the psalmist, we need to call on God to strengthen us, keep us (more…)

The third stanza of Psalm 119 looks at how the word separates those who obey it from those who don’t.  The psalmist starts with calling on God to help him obey the word by being good to him and opening his eyes to what the law says (v. 17-18).  Then he says that he is a stranger on earth (v. 19) – that obeying God’s commands makes him different than those in the world who don’t obey the Word.  He makes the distinction between those who obey and those who are arrogant and stray from God’s commands (v. 21) and (more…)

The second section of Psalm 119 talks about how to stay on the path to purity and to have a heart that wants to avoid sin.  It talks about the “young person”, or someone not yet possessing great wisdom.  This section tells us that the word helps us to gain wisdom we need to keep from sin. In v. 11, the NIV translates the verse as “I have hidden your word in my heart”.  From the NIV Study Bible (my primary commentary for this study of Psalm 119 – mainly because I’m using the Bible app on my phone so (more…)

To begin the new year, I’ve decided to read through Psalm 119 to get my heart focused on God’s Word for the year.  Most Bible readers know that Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, but it’s also interesting for being an acrostic where the first letter of each section follows the pattern of the Hebrew alphabet.  The author, which some commentaries attribute as a priest, took care to find a way to express his love for God’s Word through a highly organized and complete psalm. The NIV Study Bible notes that the author used eight Hebrew terms (more…)