Shin

¹⁶¹ Powerful people harass me without cause,
    but my heart trembles only at your word.
¹⁶² I rejoice in your word
    like one who discovers a great treasure.
¹⁶³ I hate and abhor all falsehood,
    but I love your instructions.
¹⁶⁴ I will praise you seven times a day
    because all your regulations are just.
¹⁶⁵ Those who love your instructions have great peace
    and do not stumble.
¹⁶⁶ I long for your rescue, Lord,
    so I have obeyed your commands.
¹⁶⁷ I have obeyed your laws,
    for I love them very much.
¹⁶⁸ Yes, I obey your commandments and laws
    because you know everything I do.

Psalm 119:161-168

Dear God, first, it’s interesting to see how often I see selected verses from Psalm 119 pulled out and used for different things since I’ve been doing this series on it. For example, last night I attended some prayer meetings for our local public schools. One of the verses was ¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. The verse of the day for this morning from Bible Gateway was ¹⁴ I have rejoiced in your laws as much as in riches. People find good inspiration from this psalmists words thousands and thousands of years after he wrote them. How great is that? I hope that somehow his soul knows the impact he had on the world and your children. I don’t believe this psalm is perfect. I think it has some theological problems that Jesus would correct. But it is good. You have used it and taught people through it. You are teaching me through it. And to be sure, I am not as good as this man, and my writings or thoughts are no more complete or perfect than his were. I guess my biggest hope is that just one thing I’ve written or said can impact one person and then ripple to others through that person. Make my life a prayer to you.

With that said, here are the Shin verses for Psalm 119.

• ¹⁶¹ Powerful people harass me without cause, but my heart trembles only at your word. – I like this. The idea that I see darkness all around me, but my only fear is of not having you. If you are here and my heart hears you then it trembles at your presence, but it’s a good tremble. And the idea of losing you makes me shudder.
• ¹⁶² I rejoice in your word like one who discovers a great treasure. – This makes me think of the parables Jesus told about the man who finds the treasure and buries it: ⁴⁴ “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. ⁴⁶ When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!” Your treasure is worth my life and everything I have. Help me to know how to surrender it all to you.
• ¹⁶³ I hate and abhor all falsehood, but I love your instructions. – Help me to live up to this line. Help me to know how to deal with falsehood. Help me to purge any falsehood from my own life. I love you.
• ¹⁶⁴ I will praise you seven times a day because all your regulations are just. – This is so specific. I Googled how many times do Jews pray a day (three) and Muslims (5). Seven, of course, is a special number in the bible, but I still found this interesting that he claims to make time to praise you seven times a day.
• ¹⁶⁵ Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble. – Ah, peace. My favorite of the fruits of the Spirit. Well, maybe not my favorite, but the one that feels like it is most dependent upon you. I just can’t fake whether or not I am at peace. I am only at peace in you.
• ¹⁶⁶ I long for your rescue, Lord, so I have obeyed your commands. – I obey you simply because I know it is good for me. I know it is bad for me to not obey you. I need you. I need your commands. Like a deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you (and your commands) (Psalm 42:1).
• ¹⁶⁷ I have obeyed your laws, for I love them very much. – I love you and now that I know your laws and you better and better I am loving the laws more and more as well. Oh, how I am amazed I get to sit here even this morning and pray to you. Thank you!
• ¹⁶⁸ Yes, I obey your commandments and laws because you know everything I do. – You do know everything I do, and I invite you to know me completely. I turn over every area of my life to you, Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit. Help me to live up to what you are putting into me. Help me to do good work today in your service and for your glory.

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

Amen