Psalm 119:1-16
Psalm 119, today and the next ten days after. Psalm 119 is an alphabetic acrostic, 176 verses long – obviously the longest Psalm in the Psalter. There are 22 eight-verse stanzas. Each stanza and each verse in each stanza begin with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet – 22 different letters for each of the 22 stanzas. We will be reading 16 verses each day for 11 days. I could have made it 22 days, eight verses each day, but eleven days on Psalm 119 seemed long enough.
My Study Bible was very helpful this morning. In essence, the entire Psalm 119 is about the Law – God’s word to His people. But my Study Bible pointed out that the author uses seven (I counted eight) other synonyms for “law” throughout, with at least six of these synonyms in each 8-verse stanza. Those synonyms are “testimonies”, “ways”, “precepts”, “statutes”, “commands” / “commandments, “judgments”, “decrees”, and “word”.
Two verses stand out today. How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. (v. 9) I recall hearing this verse quoted quite a bit when I was young in the Lord and connected with campus Christian groups. It seems to be a good verse for the young men around me! The second verse: I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (v. 11) Credit to John here for his Bible memory focus and his encouragement to the rest of us to memorize Scripture!
Indeed I do highly recommend memorizing Scripture! And, in fact, I memorized the two verses that Fred highlighted (Ps. 119:9,11) about 40 years ago, as they were in a list of good verses to know. What I have never understood, though, is why the creators of that list skipped the intervening verse, Ps. 119:10: With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from Your commandments! It seems to me that that prayer, with its wholehearted desire for the Lord, is at least as important as the act of storing up the Lord’s Word in our hearts. So, yes, memorize verses 9 and 11, but don’t skip verse 10!