21 Days of Prayer in Psalm 119 (Day #18)

Read Psalm 119:137-144

“Right”

In today’s reading, I was quickened to the psalmist’s confession as to the rightness of the “rules” of the Lord. Sometimes, as humans desiring our own way, we kick against rules, authority, and standards, but here the psalmist honestly admits that those very rules are right and are sourced in the faithfulness of the Lord himself. Verses 137-138

Righteous are you, O Lord,
    and right are your rules.
You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness
    and in all faithfulness.

The term “Rules” certainly is being used as a synonym for all of God’s word. Yet it points to the heart of the matter—who makes “the rules?” The one who makes “the rules” is the one who rules, either externally or internally. The psalmist is not settling for mere compliance with external directives, he has internalized the rules of the Lord as the core convictions of his life!

He also confesses being pretty burned up on the inside because his enemies don’t live by God’s word (v.139). If they did, then so many problems would be solved! However, the attacks of those who forget God and deny his commands (e.g., do not commit murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness) so that they can oppress others and feed their own appetites for power and wealth, have repeatedly forced God’s people to take refuge in God’s promises. Hence the psalmist can write,

Your promise is well tried,
    and your servant loves it. (v. 140)

Can we stand with the psalmist today knowing that we have deeply trusted in the Lord’s promises and seen them come to pass? I love the fact that the Lord is always faithful to his promise, even if that means that I don’t get what I want when I want it. His promise is bigger and “righter” than that.

O Lord, may we never forget your words of loving guidance, powerful protection, compassionate comfort, and holistic healing, for your rules are but signs that you are our rightful Ruler and King! When you tell us “No” it is sourced in your holy love for us, when you tell us to wait it flows from your faithfulness. We do not begin to grasp the scope of your knowledge nor the depth of your love, but as we love your word we begin to see, we start to understand, and we enter the rest provided in a personal relationship with you. Open our eyes today to see how your rules are right!  

21 Days of Prayer in Psalm 119 (Day #7)

Read Psalm 119:49-56

"Remember"

Does God need to be reminded about what he has said? This stanza, where all the verses start with the Hebrew letter Zayin, makes it sound that way. Sometimes amid troubling our circumstances we can feel that way. The verses that stood out to me today in my devotions were verses 49-50,

“Remember your word to your servant,

    in which you have made me hope.

This is my comfort in my affliction,

    that your promise gives me life.”

When the psalmist asks God to remember the word of promise that he had communicated, he is not suggesting that God had forgotten, or needed to be reminded, but was taking a stand in faith. It was because he trusted the word of the Lord that he calls on the Lord to remember it. The concept of remembering seems to have been used regularly in the sense of “call it to mind and act upon it.” The psalmist was asking God to bring to pass what had been promised. This is faith that prays. What has God said to us? Trust him enough to ask him to bring it to fruition!

If we read a little further, hopefully, we see that the psalmist also remembered and acted upon what he called to mind.

“I remember your name in the night, O Lord,

    and keep your law.” (v.55)

Tonight, as you think about the promises we have in Christ, remember his name (his entire nature and character) and act on it by both obeying what he has commanded and by trusting what he has promised—for life is the result of his promises being fulfilled, in his name, on our behalf. Doing this is truly a blessing!  “Just Zayin!”

O Lord, remember who you made me to be, and what you have called me to do. I cannot accomplish it in my own strength. Let my heart be filled with songs of trust and praise when I think of you and may you bring to harvest the seeds of promise you have sown in my heart. Amen.