Daily Meditations

Psalm 119:69 Smeared with lies We’re back again to the author’s battle with the smear campaigns of the arrogant. The truth is, the more keenly we observe the laws of the Lord and walk in His ways, the more we will upset the attitudes and opinions of the wicked. If our faith is half-hearted and hidden, no one will trouble us.  If, on the other hand, we constantly display and declare our faith to everyone who knows us, we will soon stir up the opposition! There are any number of categories of opposition to our God and His ways. For instance, there are those who just want a quiet life and will have nothing to do with anything that challenges their status quo. Then there are those who, and they could never admit this, secretly think there might be something in what we say but cannot lower themselves to agree. There are others who consider that everything we believe is a direct confrontation with their own beliefs and values and they get angry when they are challenged. There are some wh...

Psalm 119:68 God is good! Once again we need to establish the relationship between good and evil, light and darkness, life and death, righteousness and wickedness. As we saw, in verse 65, this part of the Psalm is headed by the ninth letter of the Hebrew alphabet – Teth. Teth means good but good means nothing unless it can be measured against its opposite quality. For instance, if it was always light and there was no dark, we would have no way of understanding the beneficial qualities of light and how oppressive and restricting darkness is. Light brings freedom, perspective, understanding, revelation and meaning, it drives out our darkness and sets our senses alight! Goodness does all of those things too, but goodness and light and righteousness could not exist without God. He is the source of all of these and more, He is, in essence, good, and without Him everything would be pointless and empty and perpetually dark. Because God is good in His moral character, everything He does is goo...

Psalm 119:67 Now I obey Your Word We have already discovered that the writer of the Psalm had suffered on several fronts. In verse 25, he talks about being laid low in the dust. In verse 28, his soul is weary with sorrow, and he asks for strength. There are also hints that the arrogant have troubled him (see v69) and that he has had to endure the taunts of the wicked.  To go astray, in Biblical terms, is to walk away from the Lord, to follow temptation, to have our eyes turned and to look away from the Lord our God. Israel “went astray” when the people listened to the pagan gods of their neighbours and entered into idolatrous relationships with them. The lure of other gods is a pandemic around us at this time, there are so many to choose from that many make the mistake of putting all gods in the same basket and picking and choosing whatever appeals the most. Even many Christians pick and choose their beliefs according to their own world view and whatever suits their lifestyle and i...

Psalm 119:66 Knowledge and good judgement God’s commands include the terms and conditions of His covenants. As you will recall, the Lord does not sit on His heavenly throne barking out orders, He establishes His laws and rules but with conditions attached. He explains, in great detail, what is good for us as human beings and why. He also sets out what is wrong for us and the consequences of doing wrong, what the Bible calls sin! History has shown mankind that God is absolutely correct in His pronouncements and that if we obey Him, things will go well for us; if we rebel, then sin carries its own consequences as well as judgement from above. Can we therefore agree with the author here, that we trust God’s commands? Having established the core foundation of his beliefs, the writer then asks that the Lord teaches him knowledge and good judgement. There are a thousand and one scenarios in life, where things do not appear black and white, where there are questionable motives and shades of g...

Psalm 119:65 Do good to Your servant We’re already at the ninth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and it is Teth. It’s a mysterious letter because it reveals both good and evil. For instance, when God created all things, Genesis tells us that everything that He did was Teth (good) however, Teth allows for the perversion of good to evil, it recognises that God uses evil in the universe for His good purposes. It’s complicated! The above theme is continued in the verse before us, if the psalmist pleads for the Lord to do good to him, there is some allowance for the possibility that He could permit bad! This was a reflection of the widely held belief that all things were in God’s hands, that He had the ability to make good happen but then evil could not take place unless He allowed it! I guess this is all about what we view as good. Looking back over my own life, there have been some very tough times, some dark valleys and some moments when nothing seems to have gone right. It could be argued ...

Psalm 119:64 The earth is filled with God's love What a beautiful phrase begins this verse.  “The earth is filled with Your love, Lord.”  Who would believe that after hearing the daily news, or reading the headlines about all the crises facing humankind at this time? In order to make sense of what goes on we have to make an important distinction between the activities of the wicked, the destructive ambitions of the devil and the loving provision of a holy God. Let’s start with the basics, this world belongs to the Lord, He made it, His trademark is stamped all over it. All created things are the work of His hands and despite appearances, He is calmly in control of all that happens on this planet. Attempts have been made, since the beginning of time, to overthrow His sovereignty and to wrest control away from Him, but these challenges are doomed to failure. That the majority of mankind chooses to either ignore the Lord or to usurp Him is shameful and beyond belief, especially w...

Psalm 119:63 The friends who fear Him It’s a Sunday morning as I write this and soon, many of us will be getting in our cars or stepping out to journey to the church or fellowship of our choice, where others will greet us and be willing to share in fellowship and God’s Word. These are our friends; these are men and women of like mind who fear the Lord and follow His precepts. Precepts are the rules and rituals that apply to us all, that bind us together and that are corporately obeyed. Some are unwritten patterns of behaviour, but the important ones are the laws that the Lord has given, for instance, the sharing of bread and wine, the teaching of God’s Word, the discipline of praying for one another, the command to not stop meeting together whenever we can. Modern church congregations are a reflection of age-old practices and habits that have always characterised God’s people. We meet because we love Him and therefore love all who serve Him, but also because it is a matter of respect a...

Psalm 119:62 Time to get up! Hmm. This verse has caught us on the hop a bit, hasn’t it? We were safely tucked up in our cosy beds by 10.00pm and the blanket of uninterrupted sleep was working its soothing magic, when suddenly a clock struck twelve. We opened our eyes in alarm and looked at the bedside clock, it’s midnight and time to get up and give serious consideration to God’s righteous laws! I doubt if the above scenario is familiar to anyone reading this, but the author of the Psalm clearly devoted himself to such practices. Some of us are led to stay up very late to read and meditate on the Word of God, usually because some pressing problem hinders our sleep, but that’s different to deliberately rising from our beds in the middle of the night with the sole purpose of giving thanks for God’s righteous laws! The writer was obviously a devotee, some might say a fanatic. What this shows us, however, is the depth and intensity of his love for God’s commands and his whole-hearted pursu...

Psalm 119:61 The ropes of the wicked I hope that the “binding with ropes” mentioned here is a metaphor! In other words, the author is not actually tied up with ropes, but he is saying that even if he were, God’s Law would still be in the forefront of his mind. Put it another way, “It doesn’t matter what my enemies do to me, I will always keep trusting in Your Word.” The efforts of the enemy to subjugate those of us who believe are extremely devious, yes there may be a frightening onslaught of fear and doubt and deceit that knocks us off our feet and undermines everything we believe. However, what is more likely is that a very fine web is woven around us, we are drawn to its centre and although things don’t feel quite right, there seems to be no cause for alarm. The web continues to be spun, this time with thread and the tightening around us gets stronger. For many it’s a scary moment when they realise that the chords have graduated to ropes and that freedom of thought and choice has be...

Psalm 119:60 Hasten, don't delay The major area of conflict for every believer in God and follower of Christ, is the mind. The human mind is a battleground and for those of us who trust in the Lord, the warfare is relentless. We have three sources of input into our minds: - 1.       Our own learning and understanding – our wisdom and knowledge 2.       The input from the Holy Spirit who resides within us 3.       The lies and deceit propounded by the devil and displayed all around us The arbitrator in the constant daily battle between these forces is conscience and our conscience allows us to choose whose voice we will follow. However, if that conscience has been fine-tuned by the Word of God and by the Holy Spirit, evil thoughts, words and actions very quickly become a source of great anxiety and regret. This is the battleground and the conflicts within it are relentless and very wearing at times. As the Apostle...

Psalm 119:59 Considering my ways It is a healthy exercise, in any sphere of life, to stop at times and reflect on our progress. Is that project working? What is the next step forwards? Could this be done better? Do I need to work on that relationship? Does the effort justify the outcome? What am I hoping to achieve? Is it worth the time and money? Where do I go next? Am I living my life in the most fulfilling way? There are lots of questions that can be asked, and they vary according to age, circumstances, our state on mind etc. – the list is a long one and very personal. The psalm writer has been carrying out a review, he calls it “considering his ways!” He likens it to a journey, a journey that has presented him with a number of options, a busy crossroads if you like. In so doing he has discovered that a change of direction is required and consequently he has turned his steps to the statutes of the Lord. The statutes of the Lord are His covenant rules and stipulations, so we must ded...

Psalm 119:58 Seeking His face It seems a bit of an impossible task – to seek God’s face I mean. How can we seek something that we know from the outset is invisible? And yet this is a familiar quest in the Bible, we often quote and find comfort from 2 Chronicles 7:14,  “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and  seek my face  and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land .”  The Hebrew word for face in the Old Testament can be translated “presence.” Now things start to make more sense! Those Israelites who so regularly abandoned the Lord God were being reminded to seek again the presence of God and the psalmist lets it be known that this is his constant quest. When you think about it, a person’s face reveals a great deal about their character and personality even, maybe, their circumstances or lifestyle. The more we seek the face of God and the more we spend time ...

Psalm 119:57 You are my portion, Lord We come now to the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and it is “Heth”. Many scholars reckon that the exact meaning is unknown although there are similar words that suggest “to bring fear and terror” or, “one who depletes or exhausts.” One source describes anyone who causes “Heth” as a leech! The next few verses do not seem to be linked to fear and dread or to leeches! In fact, they describe the author’s willing dependency upon the Lord. When he describes the Lord as his portion, he is referring to the inherited land titles of the Israelites. After Joshua had conquered Canaan, you will remember that the land was divided up between the various tribes and families; each man had his “portion” where he would establish a family home and start to develop ways of supporting his dependants. The only people who missed out on this deal were the priests and Levites who were given no land but were appointed to oversee and carry out the religious rituals of t...

Psalm 119:56 Good practice Here’s another little thought that demands our consideration. It’s the fact that  “remembering the name of the Lord and keeping His Law”  requires some practice! Years ago, I commuted into London every day for work. This meant getting up at 6.30am and being out of the house at 7.00am ready to drive to Colchester Station to catch a train before 8.00am. I did not leave myself much time for Bible study and contemplative prayer! I might add that prayer and Bible study were impossible on the train, like most commuters as soon as I sat down in the carriage, I fell asleep. In those years the practice of involving the Lord in my day was reduced to jumbled conversations and little more than the quick memorization of a verse of Scripture. You see, a proper relationship with anyone we love requires time and discipline, these things don’t just happen. It’s no different with the Lord. If we are to grow in Him and draw closer to Him, we have to prioritise the rela...

Psalm 119:55 Waking in the night What is the psalmist saying here? Is he inferring that he once spent all day trying to remember the name of the Lord and then, in the middle of the night, it came to him? Of course not. No Israelite could forget the name of the Lord, it was etched into their memories even though they were not allowed to say it! The name of YHWH was forbidden, it was too sacred to be uttered in casual, or even serious, conversation. I wonder if this was what was in the psalmist’s mind? In the dark hours he awoke, and the sacred name of the Lord was the first thing he thought about. What comfort to know that the Lord was with him, that the presence of Almighty God was around him, even in the middle of the night.  The other possibility is that when we awake and the world is silent and still in darkness, it is possible for our minds to wander off down a thousand different avenues. In a semi-conscious state, it’s not always possible to control our thoughts and our befudd...

Psalm 119:54 Wherever I lodge “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through. My treasure’s all laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.” So says the opening verse of an old song made popular by Jim Reeves, many years ago. There is a Biblical truth hidden here, in Hebrew 13:14-15 we read,  “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”  Paul refers to us as  “strangers here on earth”  and in Philippians 3:20 we read,  “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  The psalmist follows a similar train of thought although he lived long before the promise of a heavenly reunion with Christ. He was a wanderer or “ a stranger on earth ” (see verse 19) and thus he was not at home in any of the kingdoms of this world. He was just a lodger. Despite being an Israelite with...

Psalm 119:53 In defence of God's law There are two very obvious reactions to God’s Laws and to His commands. There is one large group of people who reject the Lord God and His Laws, and then there is a smaller group who honour Him and His Laws.  Many who reject the Laws of God do so simply out of ignorance or just unbelief, it’s hard to convince such people that His ways are best and that they have a responsibility to acknowledge the One who created them. Such people fill us with despair and yes, at times, they make us angry. Why do they continue to ignore the Lord when His deeds and His power are so blindingly obvious? There is another group of people who certainly stir up anger in many of us, these are so-called Christians who constantly challenge God’s ways and assert their own interpretations of His Word. I briefly scrutinized a book yesterday that is written by a number of clergy in defence of the LGBTQ movement. In it the Commandments were questioned and Paul’s writings in Ro...

Psalm 119:52 Remember the ancient laws God never changes! We need to remember that this great Being who first communicated with Adam and Eve, and then the likes of Enoch, Noah and Abraham, is the same God we worship today. His character never changes, His authority and power are unchanged, His wisdom and knowledge are ever the same, and so too are His faithfulness and love towards those who trust in Him. God’s moral character remains unaffected by His created beings so that the Law that He gave to Moses was founded on the same principles that guided His thinking at the beginning of creation. God remains the same God to this very day, and the principles and commands that guided the Israelites are unchanged too.  Because of the above, we are able to trust the Lord God completely. We can read the accounts of the lives of the patriarchs, the prophets, and the godly men and women of ancient times, and see that we are dealing with the same divine Being. His words also remain true, so the...

Psalm 119:51 Who are the arrogant? It’s a description that seems to embrace a great many people. When you think about it, the arrogant could include anyone who does not acknowledge, obey, or worship God Almighty. The arrogant are those who know best, who have their own schemes and agendas, who make their own rules and who think that they do not need to involve the Lord God. They do not pray to Him, they do not see His handiwork around them, they think that they are in control of their own destinies. The arrogant even believe that when death comes, they will be accepted by God, if there is such a Being, because they have not been bad people. The arrogant think that they can proudly parade all their good deeds, their good character, and thus their entitlement to justice from a benign God when they leave this world.  The arrogant trust in the ways of men, they could never humble themselves at the feet of the Lord, any more than they would be willing to acknowledge their sin and f...

Psalm 119:50 Your promise preserves my life Very few people find comfort in suffering. Suffering brings depression, fear, darkness and, in some cases, can even produce a death wish! Suffering asks many questions: Why me? How long? What’s the point? Where is the relief? Who can rescue me? Some suffering is physical and drains our energy and stamina, only being relieved by drugs. Other forms of suffering rob us of sleep, make us very introspective and remove all joy and hope. Modern health care tries to help sufferers in many different ways, but there’s still a battle to be won with our thoughts, in the middle of the night! The psalmist has obviously suffered greatly and may even have faced the threat of death, it is curious to hear him say,  “Your promise preserves my life.”  What does he mean? Obviously, he is hanging on to some word of truth, some directive from heaven that brings reassurance that things are either not as bad as they seem, or the current situation will not la...

Psalm 119:49 The Word of the Lord The seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet is “Zayin.” The word “Zayin” means to arm oneself; it is used of weaponry and consequently, of power. The letter is deliberately made to look like an axe! The next 8 verses, whilst not directly describing warfare, do hint at the struggles the writer endured with his wicked enemies. As we have seen, the Word of the Lord means many things to this psalm-writer. He uses different expressions for different aspects of the Word, and we listed 10 of these at the beginning of this lengthy psalm. There seems to be an element of doubt in his mind that the Lord God will either forget or choose not to recall His Word to His servant! As if! God certainly does not forget and, so far as I can recall, it’s only our sins and iniquities that He chooses not to remember. (Jeremiah 31:34 and Hebrews 8:12 and Hebrews 10:17.) The Word of the Lord here includes, of course, the Law and the Promises of God, and whilst these were delivere...

Psalm 119:48 Loving His commands To reach out for something or to someone, is to extend one’s arms in welcome, appreciation or simple acknowledgement of their presence or their friendship. We reach out to God when we raise our arms and hands in praise and worship. Psalm 63:4 says, “ I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your Name I will lift up my hands.”  In Psalm 134:2 we read, “ Lift up Your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord.”  Perhaps the first thing that this verse teaches us is not to be coy or embarrassed by the raising of our hands, it is a way of reaching out to the Lord; it is therefore an acknowledgement of His presence but also that He is over us and above us. Would He encourage us to do this without making His own response? Does it not delight Him when His people sincerely reach out to Him? The writer did not have the Holy Spirit and a tangible relationship with His God as we do, the closest he could get to intimacy was to reach out his hands to the...

Psalm 119:47 Delight in His commands It’s impossible for us to understand the significance of the commands of God for those who lived by them, thousands of years ago.  Firstly, they were one of the only forms of written communication that would ever be seen and read by the common man.  Secondly, these instructions were a powerful link to the past, they had been given to Moses and were written down by him, these commands were an inextricable link with Israel’s inheritance.  Thirdly, the commands of God were the only written documents that were in the possession of the Israelites, if you wanted to hear from Him, these were His words to His people.  Fourthly, to be a true Israelite, to embrace the rituals of the priesthood and the tabernacle, to practice your religion, you must pay attention to the commands of the Lord.  Fifthly, the writer, and many like him, understood that it was these scrolls, with their carefully worded instructions that separated Israel from ...

Psalm 119:46 No shame in God's Law There are two possible explanations for this verse. Firstly, the writer may well be a noble himself, even a sovereign, and so he has no hesitation in telling us all that he fully intends to speak about the Lord to his contemporaries. Indeed, during negotiations in “high places” there would undoubtedly be talk of twisting the rules, bending the laws, manipulation of the facts. The psalmist is ready to make it clear that he only operates under the guidance of God’s Law, he will not step outside of this and whatever devious and selfish practices others may have, he will remain true to the Lord and not be ashamed in being resolute in his determination to stand firm and faithful before his God. The second scenario is that the writer is so confident in his faith in God’s Law that he will speak of it to anyone and everyone. Even if a king should question his actions and his motives, he would be willing to testify that he is a devotee of the Law of God an...

Psalm 119:45 The freedom of the Law Many people see the Law of God as a restrictive, suppressive set of rules that hinders and suffocates its devotees. We can’t really blame the Jews for thinking this way for they had broken down the Law, as given at Sinai, into 613 commandments but then added a lot more! The idea was that if lesser laws were put in place, they would protect the greater law! An obvious example was the keeping of the Sabbath. The Jewish scribes and teachers decided that the best way to protect this Commandment was to put in place a series of lesser requirements, like how far you could walk and what constituted work, so that by keeping these minor rules there would be no chance of breaking the major one!  The Law can obviously be an onerous and petty guardian of behaviour, but it can also serve another, very positive function. It provides a wall of protection around those who follow its rules. As parents we put rules in place to protect our children, and those who ob...

Psalm 119:44 Learning the Law This is a cry of triumph but also of intent. Presumably, the writer has Torah in view. It’s not clear exactly what the education system in ancient times consisted of, but by the time of Christ it had developed as follows: - ·        Jewish boys started school at around 5 years. They would attend the “Bet Sefer” (the house of the book.)    The Bet Sefer was usually built on the side of the local synagogue, and it would be run by a full-time scribe or teacher. The curriculum was focussed entirely on the Torah, or the first 5 books of the Bible. By the age of 12-13 (Bar Mitzvah) most students were expected to have memorized all 5 of the books – Genesis to Deuteronomy. At that time, they would leave the school and apprentice into the family business or farm. ·        The brightest and best of the students could go on to secondary education! It was called “Bet midrash” (the house of learning)....

Psalm 119:43 The truth is ..... It might at first appear that the writer is asking here that he will always tell the truth, that he does not want to be labelled a liar and that he needs help to ensure that everything he says, is accurate and right. And who would argue with that, if we follow Christ then let us be men and women of truth. However, the verse before us elevates this relationship with truth even higher, it is not our version of truth that is in view but the Lord’s. In other words, when we speak His words, we are taking truth to a different level! Isn’t it amazing that we become partners with the Lord God when we choose to speak truth? Our world is full of misinformation and lies, the devil seems to have a grip of all sources of knowledge and communication and so much of what we hear, especially in the media, is warped, distorted and is communicated as being true when the reality is, it is at best misinformed, and at worst it is dishonest fabrication.  Oh, for a hig...

Psalm 119:42 Trust in the Word We have reflected before on the circumstances of the writer of the Psalm. In verse 25 he talks about being  “Laid low in the dust.”  We understand this to be a reference to his health - he believed himself to be close to death. In such circumstances he certainly needed a miracle of healing and deliverance, and who could provide this but the Lord? Hence the words in the previous verse where he prays for the Lord’s unfailing love and His salvation. And the longer-term consequences of being restored? The psalmist promises that once healed he will answer the taunts of his enemies, he will point to the healing ability of God and the restorative power that has prolonged his life.  There is no question that when the Lord intervenes in our lives, particularly when we suffer from ill health and appear to be close to death, a seemingly miraculous recovery speak volumes. People may mutter about us behind our backs, but they cannot refute the evidence -...

Psalm 119:41 Love and salvation So, now we come to 6 th  letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and it is “Waw.” In fact, it is pronounced “vav” and has the numerical value of 6. It is the connecting force of God, the divine hook that binds heaven and earth together. The letter appears in Genesis 1:1! It is also used to describe the hooks of silver that were used to hold the curtain that enclosed the tabernacle. This verse is a prayer for the writer to experience God’s unfailing love and also His salvation. These qualities of God, His greatest gifts to mankind, were mystically bound up in His Word and in His Law for the ancient Israelites. Now, we need only to look to the cross and we see God’s love poured out and publicly displayed and we understand His salvation was procured through the offering of a human sacrifice, the Son of God Himself. We are so blessed and so privileged to be partakers in all of this, no other religion even comes close by comparison.  The Lord promised much to...

Psalm 119:40 A righteous God! We’ve noted so many times, on our journey through the Psalms, that the different aspects of God’s character are interlinked. For example, when talking about God’s love there is usually an immediate link to His faithfulness. We’ve also noted that righteousness and justice are also paired together. God is righteous, we all know that, but righteousness does not stand alone, it is reflected and revealed in many different ways. If God is righteous then He must judge righteously, He will look at the facts, He will consider the pros and cons, He will refuse to be swayed by excuses or the exaggerated claims of witnesses. When God makes a righteous pronouncement, it will be absolutely water-tight and correct.  In the same way, God’s righteousness is reflected in the faithful way in which He acts. He cannot be bought. He cannot be charmed. He cannot be swayed by fine sounding arguments; His righteousness means that He is faithful and true to His own character. T...

  Psalm 119:39 Take away my disgrace This verse is not the first time that the psalm-writer hints at disgrace and insults being aimed at him from his contemporaries. In verse 6 he talks about,  “being put to shame”,  in verse 22 he pleads for the Lord to  “remove from me their scorn and contempt,”  and such is his suffering that in verse 25 he describes being  “laid low in the dust.”   It’s obvious that the poor guy is fearing disgrace and is being hounded by his adversaries. The question is, is his fear founded on truth or are the accusations of his enemies just a form of petty persecution? There is another scenario that might be the source of his fear. Many people have secrets! Christians have secrets, we all have moments in our lives that we hope no one ever uncovers. There are events that fill us with shame, twisted stories that we know are not true, past sins that, if they ever came to light, would change the way others see us. Some people dr...