Psalm 119:1-8
Aleph
1 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the LORD.
who walk according to the law of the LORD.
2 Blessed are they who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart.
3 They do nothing wrong;
they walk in his ways.
4 You have laid down precepts
that are to be fully obeyed.
5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast
in obeying your decrees!
6 Then I would not be put to shame
when I consider all your commands.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart
as I learn your righteous laws.
8 I will obey your decrees;
do not utterly forsake me.
A key element in obeying God is desire.
As I go through Psalm 119, I will be focusing on one section at a time because there is no way I can do it justice by trying to cover the entire psalm in one day. Thankfully, psalm is naturally divided in to sections based on the letters of the ancient Hebrew alphabet. Some Bibles, like the NIV, divide it into sections for you. This section is for aleph, the first letter of the alphabet, and if you were to see it in its original language every verse would start with that letter. The technical term for this type of writing is "acrostic".
This section deals with God's law, namely, the keeping of it. The key point I want to bring out is the psalmist's desire to keep the law. Some may think that it's a no-brainer to say that in order to keep the law you must first want to keep it, but if you look around at the world today it's easy to see that many people are not acting as though they want to obey any law, let alone God's law. This psalm doesn't go into how to keep the law, and on it's own it appears to promote a works-oriented religion which is why you shouldn't base your beliefs on just a few verses of the Bible.
There is an old saying that goes, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." I would go beyond that to say that this journey begins not with the physical step, but by choosing to, wanting to, take that step.
In our battle with sin it may feel as if we are walking a thousand miles, but if we have the desire in our hearts we are headed in the right direction. Next time we'll deal with how to continue on this journey.
and seek him with all their heart.
3 They do nothing wrong;
they walk in his ways.
4 You have laid down precepts
that are to be fully obeyed.
5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast
in obeying your decrees!
6 Then I would not be put to shame
when I consider all your commands.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart
as I learn your righteous laws.
8 I will obey your decrees;
do not utterly forsake me.
A key element in obeying God is desire.
As I go through Psalm 119, I will be focusing on one section at a time because there is no way I can do it justice by trying to cover the entire psalm in one day. Thankfully, psalm is naturally divided in to sections based on the letters of the ancient Hebrew alphabet. Some Bibles, like the NIV, divide it into sections for you. This section is for aleph, the first letter of the alphabet, and if you were to see it in its original language every verse would start with that letter. The technical term for this type of writing is "acrostic".
This section deals with God's law, namely, the keeping of it. The key point I want to bring out is the psalmist's desire to keep the law. Some may think that it's a no-brainer to say that in order to keep the law you must first want to keep it, but if you look around at the world today it's easy to see that many people are not acting as though they want to obey any law, let alone God's law. This psalm doesn't go into how to keep the law, and on it's own it appears to promote a works-oriented religion which is why you shouldn't base your beliefs on just a few verses of the Bible.
There is an old saying that goes, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." I would go beyond that to say that this journey begins not with the physical step, but by choosing to, wanting to, take that step.
In our battle with sin it may feel as if we are walking a thousand miles, but if we have the desire in our hearts we are headed in the right direction. Next time we'll deal with how to continue on this journey.
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