Musings on Psalm 119
Ok, I know what you are probably thinking. "Girl, you really want to tackle the longest chapter in our Bible? Do you think you are some kind of scholar or something?" Definitely.not.
This chapter is full of things I can't even scratch the surface of. But, today a pattern of prayer in Psalm 119 caught my eye and as I looked closer, I couldn't help but get excited about belonging to the God who answers prayer. The God who is worthy of our worship and delights in our praise.
As I read through this extensive chapter this morning, I decided to take the time to write out every direct address and request to God: from the first, "Do not forsake me utterly" to the last "Seek Your servant". What I found as I did this amazed me. So many of the psalmist's pleas to God are repeated over and over again...and each of the three requests that are repeated most often call on God for sincere change.
"Teach me" is the most frequent request (spoken 9 times). "Teach me Your statutes"...He wants to know the law and truth of the God he thirsts for. This man is first a student of God and His Word.
The second most common phrase is one that I have often failed to notice and is now the one that speaks most to my heart: "Revive me." The writer consistently asks the Lord for revival (8 times this phrase is used). True intimacy with God is not about head knowledge clearly, it is about heart knowledge. Only if my heart is truly alive in His grace--revived by His word, revived by lovingkindness, revived by obedience--will I experience satisfying closeness with God. When I am dry and distant and all-but-dead, what I need to ask God for most is revival in my own heart. A thirst for Him and the everlasting, satisfying, abundant life He offers.
And third, I was impressed by the ever-present longing for understanding in this psalm. "Make me understand" or "Give me understanding" is repeated 5 times...to me, that's a lot. If you were ever to ask the people in this world who know me best, you would soon find that I am not a good listener. I try, but it is not something that comes easily to me at all. I was that girl who struggled to pass reading comprehension and listening sections of standardized tests simply because I paid little attention to what mattered even when I tried to. In all honesty, I like knowing things. It somehow appeals to my foolish self to have facts and knowledge that I can hold over people's heads. But, I can count on one hand the amount of times I have truly sought to understand someone or something at a deep, core level. All that talk of shallow and deep processing in Psych 101? I'd pretty much end up in the shallows every time. I know it, but I never truly seek to know it in the fullest sense. But, this is how I want to know God and His word: and if I ask in prayer, "Give me understanding" He promises to provide.
There are a multitude of amazing prayers found in this chapter dedicated to expressing the beauty and joy of God's word. "Open my eyes...Strengthen me...Turn my eyes away from worthless things...Let Your mercies come to me...Remember the word You spoke to me...Let my heart be blameless...Save me...Help me!...Uphold me...Hear me...Deliver me...Redeem me." If these were only my prayers when I seek God's face in my day!
It is so easy for my prayers to be self-focused and even self-exalting as I beg the Lord to accomplish my own will. It is so easy to ask Him to change my circumstances, alter others' behavior, and fix my problems. But, so rarely do I find myself asking what this psalm asks. Father, Teach me that I may learn. Revive me that I may live only for You. Give me understanding so I may believe and obey all that I find as I spend time in Your presence. I so rarely ask the Lord to change me.
Only by changing my heart into a heart more like His will God be exalted or his will be accomplished in me. I pray that God will help us everyday to exalt His name in our actions and conversation and to depend on Him consistently to change our hearts into hearts more like the loving, serving, and gracious heart of Jesus.
Ok, I know what you are probably thinking. "Girl, you really want to tackle the longest chapter in our Bible? Do you think you are some kind of scholar or something?" Definitely.not.
This chapter is full of things I can't even scratch the surface of. But, today a pattern of prayer in Psalm 119 caught my eye and as I looked closer, I couldn't help but get excited about belonging to the God who answers prayer. The God who is worthy of our worship and delights in our praise.
As I read through this extensive chapter this morning, I decided to take the time to write out every direct address and request to God: from the first, "Do not forsake me utterly" to the last "Seek Your servant". What I found as I did this amazed me. So many of the psalmist's pleas to God are repeated over and over again...and each of the three requests that are repeated most often call on God for sincere change.
"Teach me" is the most frequent request (spoken 9 times). "Teach me Your statutes"...He wants to know the law and truth of the God he thirsts for. This man is first a student of God and His Word.
The second most common phrase is one that I have often failed to notice and is now the one that speaks most to my heart: "Revive me." The writer consistently asks the Lord for revival (8 times this phrase is used). True intimacy with God is not about head knowledge clearly, it is about heart knowledge. Only if my heart is truly alive in His grace--revived by His word, revived by lovingkindness, revived by obedience--will I experience satisfying closeness with God. When I am dry and distant and all-but-dead, what I need to ask God for most is revival in my own heart. A thirst for Him and the everlasting, satisfying, abundant life He offers.
There are a multitude of amazing prayers found in this chapter dedicated to expressing the beauty and joy of God's word. "Open my eyes...Strengthen me...Turn my eyes away from worthless things...Let Your mercies come to me...Remember the word You spoke to me...Let my heart be blameless...Save me...Help me!...Uphold me...Hear me...Deliver me...Redeem me." If these were only my prayers when I seek God's face in my day!
It is so easy for my prayers to be self-focused and even self-exalting as I beg the Lord to accomplish my own will. It is so easy to ask Him to change my circumstances, alter others' behavior, and fix my problems. But, so rarely do I find myself asking what this psalm asks. Father, Teach me that I may learn. Revive me that I may live only for You. Give me understanding so I may believe and obey all that I find as I spend time in Your presence. I so rarely ask the Lord to change me.
Only by changing my heart into a heart more like His will God be exalted or his will be accomplished in me. I pray that God will help us everyday to exalt His name in our actions and conversation and to depend on Him consistently to change our hearts into hearts more like the loving, serving, and gracious heart of Jesus.
This synchronicity, I tell ya...
ReplyDeleteEarlier today I listened to Edmund Blank's message from just after I met him and he mentions a few verses from Psalm 119, such as 93, 104, and 35. His message was on imitating God and that freedom and joy and peace come when we know who God is and follow Him diligently, loving His law and living accordingly to the benefit of our lives and those searching for the truth.
:D Verses 93 and 104 are pretty much exactly what I was focusing on. I love all these things we get to learn!
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