Psalm 119:57-64 (please click here for todays Bible passage)
‘’I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes.’’ (59).
This indicates how we should read God’s Word; not just for information, but for transformation (or ‘’thoughtful self-reformation’’ as Alec Motyer puts it.)
Is your heart cry, ‘Lord change me’? Do you regularly place your life in front of the ’’mirror’’ of the Bible and look for what needs to be altered? (James 1:23, 24). First thing in the morning, I look in the mirror and I can see what has to change. It becomes obvious what needs to be washed, to be shaved, to be tidied and brushed and combed. If I simply looked at my reflection and did nothing about what I saw I would be stupid; and I would not be fit to go out! ‘’We must do the Word of God, not just read it or study it, the blessing is in the doing.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe. Today’s passage points to a way of reading the Bible that leads to life change. This is how we should always approach it, asking, ‘Lord what do you want me to do about this? How do I live it? How will I put it in to practice?
The writer of Psalm 119 was serious about God’s Word. He so intended to live God’s way that he was prepared to suffer for it (61). When that is your heart commitment, friendship with others of a like mind helps (63). Stay close to other people who also honour the Bible and revere God. You will be able to help one another.
There are indications in this section of Scripture of a devoted and intense spirituality. See:
• The commitment to obey (57b);
• The whole heartedness of his seeking God (58);
• His quickness to obey (60);
• His prayerfulness even in the night (62).
Could it truly be said of us that we mean business; that we are not ‘part-timers’? One man said, ‘’I am a serious reader of the Bible.’’ Are you?
But as much as this man loved his Bible, he loved God more (57a). His love for God was what caused him to treat God’s Book with the utmost seriousness. He was not a ‘Bibliolater’. He worshipped God, not a leather-bound Book. But that comment is not intended to diminish the Bible’s importance. Some years ago I wrote a quote down about today’s passage. It reads: ‘’We cannot have God without His word. Such is the lesson of this section – It is impossible to abide in Him unless His words abide in us (Jn.15:7)’’
We have seen before, in looking at this psalm, that there is a context of persecution lurking in the shadows; but ‘’in every situation and place – whether hostile, secret or corporate – his (unfailing) love is everywhere…How do we react to one who is all sufficient (57-60) and how do we live in relation to one whose love is to be found everywhere (61-64)? J.A. Motyer: ‘The New Bible Commentary’, p.568. The psalmist points the way here. Take a look in the mirror!
Prayer: Keep me Lord Jesus from a purely theoretical spirituality. Help me to always do something about what I see in your ‘Mirror’.