Psalm 119 "Enlarge My Heart"

Psalm for Today = 119:31-32

I cling to your testimonies, O Lord;

    let me not be put to shame!

I will run in the way of your commandments

    when you enlarge my heart!

Comments:

The psalm for today is Psalm 119, which has 176 verses…so where do I start? Well, it is an acrostic psalm made up of 22 separate sections starting with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Almost every verse mentions the Word of God by one use of a few synonyms. So in this psalm, we don’t look for the differences between these different terms (Word, way, law, testimonies, precepts, commandments, statutes, rules, etc.) but look for the similarities.

I have most often landed on v. 24 when commenting on this Psalm…so I won’t do that today. Verse 32 is what I call the “Good Grinch” verse.

 

In the classic animated Christmas special, the Grinch was a nasty evil creature determined to steal the entire Christmas celebration from the inhabitants of Whoville. After he steals everything and gets away to the top of a mountain he listens to hear their lament. But instead, he hears their celebration rising up undiminished by the loss of all their gifts, decorations, and food.

 

The Grinch then decides to return everything but the sleigh starts to fall off the back side of the mountain. He clings desperately to it and is slowly being dragged down to his doom. Then something amazing happens, his heart which was two sizes too small was enlarged (3 sizes). He is enabled at the last moment to pull the sleigh back with miraculous strength.

Here in this passage, the psalmist not only speaks of clinging to the Lord’s testimonies but asks the Lord that he might not be put to shame (v.31). He also expresses his desire to “run in the way of your commandments  when you enlarge my heart!”

Like the Grinch, we can’t change our ways or fix our mistakes without his grace changing us from the inside (“…it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.” Hebrews 13:9). May the Lord enlarge our hearts to run according to the great commandments of loving God and loving our neighbor instead of settling for an old Grinchish selfishness. 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

   The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor. 5:17)

Question:
If you were to write a new verse or two for this psalm, to describe a couple of ways that God's Word had helped or changed your life what would you say?