Day 6- Meditating on God's
Word
After I wrote about prayer yesterday
and starting a dialogue with God, a few people mentioned
the importance of being still, waiting on God and
listening for His response. Such a wonderful idea
for a continuation to yesterday’s study, so
today I started hunting for areas in the Bible that
talk about being still or quiet and I ended up in
Psalm 119 where David is meditating on the Word of
God. It’s a really long Psalm by David (152
verses!) but I was really focusing on the first half,
verses 1-80.
As I was reading and rereading and soaking
in David’s words, it really struck me how parallel
his journey to know, understand, trust and walk out
God’s Word is to mine right now. In this Psalm
David writes about God’s commandments, His statutes,
His precepts, His law, His Word, and His testimonies.
I just want to clarify the meanings of those words
because at first to me I thought they were all the
same thing, but they’re not.
Commandments pertain
to anything the Lord God has ordered. The Hebrew word
for statutes refers to something
marked out as a boundary, something inscribed or engraved
alluding to its permanence. The Hebrew words for precepts
means an appointed thing, something for which one
is given charge. The word David uses for law
is the Hebrew word torah, which basically means instruction
or direction, broadly referring to all God’s
instruction from Moses to the prophets and more strictly
referring to the first five books of the Old Testament.
Word is what God has spoken. That
God speaks at all to His people indicates His wonderful
grace. Testimonies is derived from
the Hebrew verb meaning to witness. This refers to
the Ten Commandments because they were a witness to
the Israelites of their faithfulness or unfaithfulness
to the covenant.
Understanding that David was focusing
on different aspects of the direction and instruction
God has given, helped me understand his journey a
little more. I also noticed that in the beginning
of the Psalm in verses 6-7, David said, “Then
I would not be ashamed when
I look into all Your commandments. I will praise You
with uprightness of heart, when
I learn Your righteous judgments.” It sounds
like David is just getting started here in learning
God’s Word. In verse 10 it’s like he is
still struggling to follow God’s Word, “With
my whole heart I have sought You; Oh,
let me not wander from Your commandments!”
Wow, these sound a bit like my prayers sometimes!
In verse 11 it appears that David is
making a commitment to know God’s Word, “Your
word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin
against You.” And again in verse 15-16 there
is a future commitment, “I will
meditate on Your precepts… I will
delight myself in your statutes; I will
not forget Your word.”
In the next section He is asking God
to open his eyes that he may see wondrous things from
His law and not to hide His commandments from him.
By the end of this section David is delighted by God’s
testimonies and calls them his counselors.
He continues in the next section to
ask God to teach him and make him understand. Now
he is clinging to God’s
testimonies. David continues to ask for God to teach
him and make him understand, but now he is asking
God to make him walk in the path
of His commandments because he delights
in it and he longs for God’s
authority!
As I was reading this I really began
to feel like I was witnessing David’s walk with
God, watching his journey to know and understand God
and fall in love with Him. This is the path I long
for and I hope that David’s journey can become
my journey as well!
By verse 42 David now trusts
God’s Word. He trusts it so much
that in verses 46-47 he says, “I
will speak of Your testimonies also before kings,
and will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself
in Your commandments, which I love.”
David is really walking out his faith now, making
a huge stand for God. When we take a stand for God,
a lot of times here on earth we’ll be punished
or suffer for it. But I take great hope and comfort
in what David says next after going through this (v.
49-50), “Remember the word to Your
servant, upon which You have caused me to hope. This
is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has
given me life.” God’s statutes
have now become David’s songs and he has kept
God’s precepts.
David is now matured and seasoned, having
known and kept God’s Word and been afflicted
for it, but he still asks that God teach him. The
last section I read was so beautiful and from someone
who has gone to bat for God and suffered for it. It
speaks of a love for God that has only grown stronger
through his trials and experiences and leads him to
want to know God even more. Here are a few verses
that really touched my heart:
(v.67-69)”Before I was afflicted
I went astray, but now I keep Your word. You are good,
and do good; teach me Your statutes. The proud have
forged a lie against me, but I will keep Your precepts
with my whole heart.”
(v.70-73)”…But I delight
in Your law. It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
that I may learn Your statutes. The law of Your mouth
is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and
silver. Your hands have made me and fashioned me;
give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.”
Lord,
Thank you for the example of David! He is so easy
to relate to as a person searching to know and understand
You and Your Word. Lord I want to seek after You and
know You like David! His heart and his love for You
just ooze off the page Lord, and I can feel his passion
speaking right to my heart. God let my journey go
from wanting to know You, to knowing You. Help me
not just to see Your path but to take the steps to
walk down it. Lord I want Your Word to be the music
of my heart as well! Let me not just know Your Word
but delight in it and love it as David did.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
