Thursday 23rd January
Read Psalm 119:97-104
Mem
97 Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
98 Your commands are always with me
and make me wiser than my enemies.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
101 I have kept my feet from every evil path
so that I might obey your word.
102 I have not departed from your laws,
for you yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.” (NIVUK)
Regular reference to the ‘road map’ keeps us from dead-ends and shortcuts. v97-104.
Love for those ‘boundless’ instructions is shown by regular listening and reflection. Why, because they give wisdom for our journey in this world, wisdom that the world (those who don’t listen to God – enemies) doesn’t have. The insights of wisdom from God’s words surpass anything that the world’s teachers, the gurus, the ‘big-brains’ and old philosophies can give. The psalmist recognises that if he puts God’s guidelines into practice, then he will stay on the right path (avoid evil). The reality is that God is his teacher and when he listens, what he hears from Him is sweet (honey) and is good for him (taste and see that the Lord is good). Why so good; because the psalmist gradually understands more and more of why this guideline / map is established and is less and less inclined (in fact, hates) to take paths that lead him away from God. Sweetness can be habit forming, in this case in a good way! It is interesting that in this stanza the usual emphasis on opposition to God’s word doesn’t appear until the last line; listening leads to a hatred of evil and the path that turns away from God.
Geoff Hinch
