Tag Archives: Samekh

Samekh

¹¹³ I hate those with divided loyalties,
    but I love your instructions.
¹¹⁴ You are my refuge and my shield;
    your word is my source of hope.
¹¹⁵ Get out of my life, you evil-minded people,
    for I intend to obey the commands of my God.
¹¹⁶ Lord, sustain me as you promised, that I may live!
    Do not let my hope be crushed.
¹¹⁷ Sustain me, and I will be rescued;
    then I will meditate continually on your decrees.
¹¹⁸ But you have rejected all who stray from your decrees.
    They are only fooling themselves.
¹¹⁹ You skim off the wicked of the earth like scum;
    no wonder I love to obey your laws!
¹²⁰ I tremble in fear of you;
    I stand in awe of your regulations.

Psalm 119:113-120

Dear God, it feels like today he is drawing that line between himself (as righteous) and others he sees as unrighteous. My initial gut response was to look at this and criticize him for not having more mercy towards the others. I’m just most of those he deems as “evil-minded” or as having “divided loyalties” don’t wake up feeling like they are evil-minded or have divided loyalties. If they are lost, they probably don’t realize it. Don’t they need his love and not his condemnation?

But then I have two more thoughts. First, maybe I need to see these things either in myself or the people around me and address it. Would the psalmist consider me to have divided loyalties? Would I live up to his standard? Do any extent, would he be right about me if he thought that? Second, this is before Jesus revealed your nature to us in human form. Before he explicitly came and taught us. And Jesus did two interesting things. He raised the bar on sin so that even this psalmist would realize he doesn’t measure up (he uses the word “hate” in verse 113 to describe his feelings towards some people, which Jesus called out in the Sermon on the Mount). We have to be careful about calling on you to draw a line and smite people on one side of it because we never know where we might be in relation to that line. The other thing Jesus did, however, was offer this unbelievable grace that met us where we are and then told us to sin no more.

That was a long into for this passage. Let me look and see where there might be verse by verse.

• ¹¹³ I hate those with divided loyalties, but I love your instructions. – Is there a part of me that needs to delineate and recognize others I need to at least be wary around? Is there a role you have for me to play in their lives to call them to yourself? Are there areas where my own loyalties are divided and I don’t realize it? Holy Spirit, work with me on this, I pray.
• ¹¹⁴ You are my refuge and my shield; your word is my source of hope. – How do I use you as my refuge and my shield? I think it is mainly resting in the knowledge that you are my God but my life is simply to serve you between now and my first death which will be followed by a second life that will know no death. What can man do to me? Help me to be above reproach on everything.
• ¹¹⁵ Get out of my life, you evil-minded people, for I intend to obey the commands of my God. – I’m fortunate in that I don’t feel like there is anyone in my life who is trying to get me to not obey your commands. I mean, there are some people in the community who wish I would do some things I consider to be contrary to Jesus, and they want me to do them in your name, but they aren’t a regular part of my life.
• ¹¹⁶ Lord, sustain me as you promised, that I may live! Do not let my hope be crushed. – I don’t know how the psalmist would define “living,” but I suspect our definitions are different. You are my God. My life is at your disposal. Show me how to live it today. My only hope is in you.
• ¹¹⁷ Sustain me, and I will be rescued; then I will meditate continually on your decrees. – This, I can get behind–mostly. I don’t know what he means by rescued, but just being emotionally and spiritually sustained by you is enough. I don’t need to be physically sustained by you. I love that I am. I am grateful for the amazing things in my life. I am grateful for your love and provision. I am grateful for you. I guess I’m just trying to say that that’s not why I’m here. That’s not what I expect of you. But I am grateful for what I have. I really am.
• ¹¹⁸ But you have rejected all who stray from your decrees. They are only fooling themselves. – When I think of putting names to those I consider to have strayed from your decrees, I know that if I were to tell them that they would be shocked and completely reject the idea they have strayed. In fact, they would probably think I have strayed. Maybe we are all fooling ourselves. Show me if I am fooling myself, Holy Spirit.
• ¹¹⁹ You skim off the wicked of the earth like scum; no wonder I love to obey your laws! – Do you? Is this how you work? I think we all get skimmed off the earth about int he same way. Maybe we are all wicked. And I don’t know who is subject to the second death and who is not. I don’t know where the cut line is on that, but I know I hope my heart is what you’re looking for because I do love you.
• ¹²⁰ I tremble in fear of you; I stand in awe of your regulations. – Father, you are God. You have laid out a way of living that is so amazing. I am sorry so many of us, including me at times, reject it for our own selfishness. The irony is that allowing our selfishness to abandon your regulations is actually not in our self-interest. We are such fools! I am such a fool!

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

Amen