In the Daily Office Lectionary Psalm 119 is divided into readings of three sections each. Today we look at the first three sections.
The great theme of Psalm 119 is the Word of God specifically his laws, and testimonies. In this Psalm we are encouraged to meditate on them and keep them before us.
Have you ever read a book and upon finishing it immediately turned to the beginning again? Or have you read something that was so interesting that every time you had a chance you thought about it and pondered the details? That is the attitude that Psalm 119 expects us to develop towards the things that God has said.
Again we have a theme of blessing:
1 ALEPH. Blessed [are] the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
2 Blessed [are] they that keep his testimonies, [and that] seek him with the whole heart.
Compare that with the first part of Psalm 1:
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way or sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord…” Psalm 1:1-2a KJV
Two things stand out to me here: the fact of blessing associated with God’s Law and the fact that our interaction with God’s Law and Words is to be active (walking, seeking).
What is the “law/word” that we are to interact actively with?
The simplest version is this: Mark 12:33 (KJV)
And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love [his] neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
In fact John tells us:Beloved let us love one another; for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love. (I John 4:7-8 KJV)
This Psalm calls us both to thought and to action. What are you being called to?
Journal: In what ways do you walk and seek? How does it show in your life that you are a walker and seeker?