I’m involved in a ladies group at church, and we are reading through Ps. 119 together. The 176 verses are divided into groups of 8 verses, called stanzas. We are studying one stanza per week, and this week is verses 33-40. I’m asking God to show me things in those verses to apply to my life and picking out a memory verse from each one.
Today I’m taking an initial pass through Ps. 119:33-40. Read and observe with me.
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(33) Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. (34) Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. (35) Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight. (36) Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. (37) Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way. (38) Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. (39) Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good. (40) Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
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Each of these verses has a prayer, and the first seven begin with prayers. Wonderful. These are prayers I can pray and I know God will hear because they will be according to his will. The first two verses say that If God will answer the prayers, the Psalmist will keep God’s word. Lord, if you teach me the way of your statutes, I’ll keep them. If you’ll give me understanding, I’ll keep your word. Two of the verses ask God to quicken the Psalmist (37, 40). Quicken means to enliven. I don’t want to be dull, I want to be alive. Lord, quicken me or make me alive in your way, and enliven me in your righteousness. In two of the verses, the Psalmist experiences fear (38, 39) He’s devoted to God’s fear (or the fear of the Lord) and he fears reproach. |
My favorite verse of the eight, which will be my memory verse is (36) Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
God’s testimonies are something I grasp. They are the stories in the Bible that show what God is like. For example, he is forbearing or patient, and I know that because of his testimony of how he always took the Israelites back in the Old Testament when they cried out to him. Because of that, I know he will always take me back when I sincerely turn to him after I’ve failed. It makes me love God that much more. There are many more testimonies of God. I know he is faithful because of the examples I read in the Bible. He is just, because I see how he deals with the wicked in the Bible. All those things I see in the stories of the Bible are God’s testimonies.
So, my memory verse again: Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Incline means to stretch. Stretch my heart, Lord, to your testimonies. May I get more satisfaction out of them than out of a new case of eye shadow or a new piece of jewelry or a new scarf. Those things bring a quickly fading material satisfaction. But God’s testimonies…. I want them to bring more, deeper, longer-lasting and fulfilling satisfaction.
Jody
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