Psalm 119 has been a blessing for many saints throughout history. It is one that has refreshed and renewed my zeal and desire to know and to live by God's Word. However, I realize there are many Christians who do not realize that this Psalm, as well as the rest of the Psalms in Scripture are written about Christ (Luke 24:44). It is my desire to meditate on Christ in this Psalm as I memorize it.
We begin with Aleph, which is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Aleph
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD!
We know that many saints have walked blamelessly at times before men (Gen. 6:9; Job 1:8), but who has been blameless in God's sight ? Yet Christ came to walk blamelessly in the law of the LORD for us who believe in Him, in order that He might present us blameless to the Father through Himself (Eph. 1:4). Only now, through Him and by His Holy Spirit are we made willing and able to walk as blamelessly as we can until He presents us perfect on the day of Christ (Phil. 1:10; Col. 1:22; 1 Thes. 3:13, etc.). All glory to God for that!
2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
who seek Him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong, but walk in His ways!
Again, only through Christ are we able to do these things, and yet who has kept his own heart steadfastly on God without doing any wrong? Only Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!
4 You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!
There is a standard all men and women must meet in order to be right with God, His commandments must be kept diligently. This prayer is a longing to fulfill that command. What a blessing of divine grace and benevolence that Christ the Lord has fulfilled this requirement as a substitute for His own people (Matt. 3:15; Rom. 5:19)!
6 Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules.
There is no shame for those who do not break God's commandments. The shame of Adam has been passed to all his offspring (Gen. 2:25 and 3:7,10; Rom. 5:12), accept for the Son of Man, the New Adam, who knew no sin (1 Cor. 15:45,47; 2 Cor. 5:21). Christ learned obedience through what He suffered (Heb. 2:10, 5:8), and so His praise comes from a truly upright heart, because He has both learned and fulfilled God's righteous rules for us. What a blessing it is to have His steadfast obedience imputed (counted) to such worthless sinners as us who are called and chosen in Him (Rom. 5:19; 8:30)! What mercy and grace! We may now praise Him with a new heart as we learn His righteous rules through our Prophet, Priest and King.
8 I will keep your statutes,
I will not forget your word.
Thank God that we have one who has not forgotten the word of the Lord and has kept His statutes blamelessly. What a privilege it will be when we find ourselves transformed into His exact likeness (1 John 3:2)!
This is looking to Jesus in Aleph, from Psalm 119. Let us not forget what our Lord came to do. Hallelujah!
4 comments:
Hey Penn,
This was a good post, a nice thorough study of Ps. 119. It is definately a great passage... unfortunately, it has a few bad memories associated with it for me, as it was a means of punishment when I did wrong :-). "Write Psalm 119 by hand until complete, and then maybe next time I won't hear that sass!" :-)
I did that tag thing, too.
Phylicia
Woe! Talk about evere punishment... well, you of all people should take delight in this verse: v71 "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes."
LOL :)
Great post, Penn!
Michelle,
Gracias! All praise to my King for doing this for us!
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