Psalm 119

Reading for August 28, 2012      Psalm 119

Good News: For freedom Christ has set us free.

Bad News: For freedom Christ has set us free.

I know that seems a bit confusing, but I think you will soon see the light. First, let’s look at the structure of Psalm 119. “This psalm is a Hebrew acrostic poem; there are twenty-two stanzas, one for each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the eight verses within each stanza begins with the Hebrew letter named in its heading.” (Footnote 119:1 NLT) There are 176 verses in this psalm and at least 176 times the psalmist refers to God’s law, instructions, commandments, decrees, regulations etc.

While much of the redundancy in the psalm is due to the form of the poem the psalmist chose, I believe his motivation is revealed in verse 45: “I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments.” This is indeed a noble pursuit for the psalmist; however, it is a futile pursuit.

The Apostle Paul, in Romans 7:21-25, is most eloquent when he describes our futile struggle to please God by keeping the law. The Good News is that Jesus has ended “the system of law with its commandments and regulations” (Ephesians 2:14-16). However, this is also Bad News, because freedom is hard work. It is much easier to have a check list and measure your progress in obeying the rules. The problem is, from God’s perspective, we will never adequately obey the rules. This is why He set us free; but God, while setting us free, did not lower His expectations for us. He most assuredly wants us to pursue scriptural holiness. However, in God’s grace, we are not left to try and do this in our own strength. He makes it possible for us to achieve His good pleasure: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13). In God’s realm of amazing grace, we have been freed from having to work to please God, to pursue a new life where God is personally present with us:

“And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him” ( 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 The Message).

In our new life, our mission is to learn to love God’s law, not as something we have to do; but something we get to do.

“For freedom Christ has set us free.

   Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Galatians 5:1 (NRSV)

Sē’lah

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What word or phrase in today’s reading of the Psalms

 attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

What insights come to you?

How does this passage touch your life today?

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

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Reading for August 29, 2012      Psalm 120