Wednesday Bible Study: Psalm 119 deconstructed part 3

 

This week's word hit me harder because of what happens in a certain stanza.  But let me work my way there.  This week, the concept is PRECEPTS.  Always plural, the inner notes of my paper Bible give the best description I saw of the concept:

"Those responsibiliteis He has appointed for His people". Do you realize God has been appointing these responsibilities from the beginning?

Gen 2:15  The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 

And that will be important where I will be going with this.  But first, there are 4 other concepts I want to introduce.

First, precepts are ORDERS from God.

Psa 119:4  You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. 

In my life, I often find my flesh looking for the loophole.  I read Paul's struggles against sin in Romans, or hear a preacher say, "It's not about what you must do, but what HE'S done.", and say, "Well, God kinda expects me to fail."  NOT the case.  Or, like I heard Robert Jeffres say today, "We want to just pray, 'O God, take this desire for sin from me', and that's not how it works.  YOU have to set aside the sin."

Maybe I should have said, this concept hit me a FEW times.

Second, this concept had two stanzas in which it was hit twice; the first is in Lamedh (vv 89-96) where vv 93-4 connect- seeking them brings salvation; that salvation causes me to never forget them.  It isn't just a loop- it's a spiral staircase that just leads you closer and closer to God.

Third, the second time precepts appears twice is in stanza Mem (vv97-104), which contains a fairly well-known passage:

Psa 119:99  I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. 

Psa 119:100  I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. 

The second verse of the pair (104) connect a more important set of connections:

Psa 119:104  Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. 

So KEEPING the precepts lead to understanding; because of the understanding, we have a hatred for lies.  Why is that important?

Joh 8:43  Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 

Joh 8:44  You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 

Joh 8:45  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 

This society's main battle is between those who stand for and respect the truth and those who think a lie is just a small step on their path to success.  The only way to be prepared for the lies is to study the Word, the truth, God's precpts.

Fourth- Knowing His precepts, and keeping them, is a CHOICE.

Psa 119:173  Let thy hand be ready to help me; For I have chosen thy precepts. 

Orders.  An ascending ladder. Defense against lies.  And choosing.

Now, I take you to the only two places in this entire 176-verse Psalm where a verse starts with the word, "This"...both in stanza Zayin (vv49-56):

Psa 119:50  This is my comfort in my affliction; For thy word hath quickened me. 

Psa 119:56  This I have had, Because I have kept thy precepts. 

So I first questioned what the "this" was in v56- the commentators, the internet, really were of no help.  Except for one thing- a central theme running through the stanza: Comfort and Remembrance.  Comfort  includes the idea of God's promises, and the hope in them; remembrance is an active verb, recalling what God has done and promised, and ACTING on them.  If I KEEP His precepts, His commanded tasks, and quit giving myself excuses, I will have comfort.  I will act in remembrance.

But, I have to KEEP them.  Not surprisingly with our loving God, what began as an intellectual exercise ahs become a soul-searching project.  That's how I know it can be a blessing.  Hopefully for all of us.