Psalm 119: 97-104 “Oh, how I love your law!”
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Your commands are always with me, and make me wiser than my enemies.
I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.
I have kept my feet from every evil path, so that I might obey your word.
I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.
This psalm is unique in that it is the longest with 176 verses and it is divided into 8-verse sections, each headed with a Hebrew letter of the alphabet. It is remarkable in that almost every verse mentions the Word of God in different ways: the law, commands, precepts, decrees, word.
The psalmist says how much he loves God’s law and how he meditates on it all day long. God’s commands make him wise and they give him more insight and understanding than his teachers. He obeys God’s word and His laws. He doesn’t find those words onerous, but finds them sweet to the taste. I wonder how much time we spend meditating upon what we read in God’s word? And the psalmist had only the first five books of the Bible. We might wonder how he could delight so much in that part of the Bible.
I caught a glimpse of that some years ago when our younger son was at university: he wanted to go to the Isle of Man for a friend’s funeral taking place on Christmas Eve. He started the journey two days before because the Irish Sea is notoriously rough and the twice-daily ferry might not run if the sea’s too rough. That is, in fact, what happened, so early on the morning of the funeral we were anxiously waiting to hear that he had arrived on the Isle of Man. The ‘phone rang but it wasn’t news of our son, but my Mum telling me that Dad had just been admitted to hospital with pneumonia. Fortunately, our son did get there in time that morning. Christmas was different that year, with our son and Dad absent from the family group.
At the time these events happened, I was reading through the Old Testament and had reached the book of Leviticus, with its many laws. You might think there were better scriptures, such as the Psalms, to offer hope and comfort during such a distressing time. But, in fact, I continued reading through Leviticus and strangely I found it very comforting! I think it was the fact that in giving detailed laws for his people to live by, God showed his care for His people and provided them with stability, which was just what I needed at the time.
Challenge for today: are there any books of the Bible you’ve never read, or haven’t read for a long time?