Lamedh

⁸⁹ Your eternal word, O Lord,
    stands firm in heaven.
⁹⁰ Your faithfulness extends to every generation,
    as enduring as the earth you created.
⁹¹ Your regulations remain true to this day,
    for everything serves your plans.
⁹² If your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy,
    I would have died in my misery.
⁹³ I will never forget your commandments,
    for by them you give me life.
⁹⁴ I am yours; rescue me!
    For I have worked hard at obeying your commandments.
⁹⁵ Though the wicked hide along the way to kill me,
    I will quietly keep my mind on your laws.
⁹⁶ Even perfection has its limits,
    but your commands have no limit.

Psalm 119:89-96

Dear God, this psalmist is working so hard for your approval. He is working so hard for your protection. I just want to give him a hug and tell him about your love for him. I want to tell him about grace and mercy. I want to tell him the story about the rich young ruler and how Jesus loved him. If he had been a contemporary of Paul’s and read some of his epistles, how would this psalm have been different?

I’m not saying we don’t need to be mindful of your commands. We do! But it’s like I heard someone say about the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount one time. They said we don’t get your favor by obeying what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. We obey what Jesus taught by worshipping and loving you and receiving your mercy and grace.

I also heard someone recently talk about how we need mercy because of the fall, but grace is something you were giving to Adam and Eve even before the fall. You grace us with your presence and your love. That is just something that happens because you love us so much. What a lovely thought.

With that said, let’s look at the Lamedh section of Psalm 119.

• ⁸⁹ Your eternal word, O Lord, stands firm in heaven. – While everything around me might look confusing or crazy, nothing on your side of reality is in doubt. This is a great a deep verse. There is a depth of truth to is that is awesome. We were listening to the Bible Project Podcast yesterday, and the teacher was talking about John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, and all sorts of other gospel characters misunderstanding why John and Jesus had come. They thought it was time for redemption from Rome, not from their sin. None of us have much clue what is going on in real time. But you, O Lord, and your eternal word stand firm in heaven.
• ⁹⁰ Your faithfulness extends to every generation, as enduring as the earth you created. – As I said earlier, your love for us is remarkable. Not only mercy. Not only grace. But then when we are bad to you, you are still faithful to us. Amazing. Humbling. Awesome.
• ⁹¹ Your regulations remain true to this day, for everything serves your plans. – There are some days when I simply cannot see how everything serves your plans. Again, I have no more perspective than Zechariah or Peter had in their time. Probably much less. Okay, definitely much less. So it can be hard for me to see everything serving your plans, but I can at least appreciate how you can take everything and redeem it for your glory. As for what your plan is for the world or in all of this, I simply have no idea.
• ⁹² If your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy, I would have died in my misery. – Death even in living. I’ve seen some who are like that. Help me to be a source of your life to those around me.
• ⁹³ I will never forget your commandments, for by them you give me life. – My life comes through you. These prayer times aren’t my only touchpoint with following you, but they are an important part of it. And I didn’t particularly want to do this prayer journal this morning. But I know it’s part of my foundation that I need to 1.) connect to you and 2.) learn from you. Your commandments give me life.
• ⁹⁴ I am yours; rescue me! For I have worked hard at obeying your commandments. – I am going to reject the second half of this verse. I have no justification for you to rescue me or love me except that you chose to offer it to me through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling after Jesus’s ascension. But I will gladly label myself as yours. Rescue me, Father.
• ⁹⁵ Though the wicked hide along the way to kill me, I will quietly keep my mind on your laws. – One of the things Satan would love is for me to get distracted from you by the hate or selfishness in my heart. I talked with a friend recently who had a lapse in his addiction. I told him that the times I find myself being most tempted by sin are the times when I am feeling sorry for myself. My selfishness. My rights. That includes the right to defend myself to others. But I reject that and pledge to keep my mind on you and your laws.
• ⁹⁶ Even perfection has its limits, but your commands have no limit. – What an interesting verse. Your limits are beyond my limits. I am limited. You are limitless. So I humbly bring myself to you and ask for your mercy.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen