“Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.” (Psa. 119:1)

I recently shared on Psalm 117, which is the shortest chapter in the Bible, and am now at Psalm 119, which is the longest chapter in the Bible! There are some really cool things that God shows us through this passage.

Psalm 119 is divided into 22 sections, with each introductory verse starting with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The entire chapter focuses on God’s Word. The really interesting thing that I caught as I was reading through it, is that almost every single one of the 176 total verses, either has a direct or indirect reference to God’s Word! It’s actually really incredible!

At first it turned into a game for me to find all the places in each verse where it had something to do about His Word, but I soon realized that literally +99% of the verses did! There is only 1 verse in the entire chapter that doesn’t refer to God’s Word either directly or indirectly (for whatever reason), meaning each of the other 175 verses does! Pretty amazing!

I looked up a study of Psalm 119 and saw that the Word is mostly referred to using these 8 following Hebrew terms, keeping in tradition with the Old Testament traditions:
– torah or “law”
– ‘edot or “statutes”
– piqqudim or “precepts”
– miswot or “commands / commandments”
– mishpatim or “laws / ordinances”
– huqqim or “decrees”
– dabar or “word / law / promise”
– ‘imrah or “word / promise”

This Psalm is just another reminder of how important God’s Word is for us as His children. You’ll find the importance of retaining and abiding by Scripture throughout the Bible, but more importantly we must also recognize that Jesus himself is the Word of God. (Jn. 1:1, 1:14, Rev. 19:13, etc.) Jesus is the Living Word personified, as “the Word became flesh.” The Father instructs us by His Word, the Holy Spirit gives us understanding of His Word, and Jesus IS the Word!

God’s greatest commandment is to love Him. We love Him by loving His Son and loving His Word. We do a disservice to our relationship with God when we minimize the importance of Scripture in our lives and daily walk. I’ll say that one more time… We do a disservice to our relationship with God when we minimize the importance of Scripture in our lives and daily walk.

So I encourage and challenge each of us (incl. myself), to dive into the Word daily… whether it’s through Bible study, devotionals, audio Bible, etc.- just start somewhere and make it a point to digest Scripture in some form and fashion each day. As you do so, ask God to continue to grow your passion for Him and His Word!

“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” (Psa. 19:7-11)

Amen!

[From November 15, 2018]