Psalm 119:33

Psalm 119:33

Engraved in our hearts

The fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is “He”. “He” is often used to represent the name of God as an abbreviation for Hashem, which means “The Name” and is a way of saying God without actually saying the name of God (YAHWEH). So, we begin the next section of Psalm 119 in which the psalmist prays for instruction in God’s will as he longs for His precepts.

The writer is now asking the Lord to teach him the way of the engraved statutes, in other words, the commandments and laws that were engraved on the tablets of stone that were handed down to Moses, and that were now securely protected within the Ark of the Covenant. You see, it is one thing to memorize those commands and to be able to say them out loud, they may be engraved in our minds, but to know the ways of those decrees we need to have them engraved in our hearts. Once this happens, they become our guides and our protectors, they influence our decision making, they offer solutions to difficult moral problems, they assist us in walking God’s way, instead of following our own instincts or the culture of the world. 

One other benefit of having God’s decrees engraved in our hearts is that it is almost impossible to escape from them. Once the Lord teaches us His ways, they become engrained in our beings and remain with us for the rest of our lives. We may fight them or even try to forget them but that is a path to misery, because when the Lord God engraves, His work lasts forever, His words remain in our consciences and will follow us even when we try to ignore them. Hallelujah! 

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