Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. We are 150 days in, and today we read the longest chapter in the Bible. You probably either knew it was the longest chapter or at least hoped it was. It's even longer than some entire books of the Bible, and it's the center chapter of the Bible.
This song is written as a Hebrew acrostic poem where each of the 22 sections starts with the subsequent letter of the Hebrew alphabet and each of the eight verses within each section starts with that letter as well.
For us, that would be like eight verses that start with the letter A, then eight verses that start with the letter B, and so forth. And as a former songwriter, this intimidates me. This song was a labor of love. No one knows who wrote it, but a lot of people think it was Ezra the priest and scribe. All we know is that this particular psalmist loved the Word of God. This kind of detailed, demanding songwriting isn't done in a half-hearted manner.
Not only does he love the Word of God, but he wants to love it even more. He's not a perfect man. He even ends the psalm by saying he's a lost sheep who has gone astray and asked God to come find him. But in all this, he shows a deep understanding of God and His character. In fact, the psalm points out at least seven primary praiseworthy attributes of God and His character. They are righteousness, trustworthiness, truthfulness, faithfulness, unchangeableness, eternality, and light.
In verses 9-11, he shows us how possessing a heart-level knowledge of God and His Word keeps him walking in nearness and obedience to God. Unfortunately, we're helpless to change our own hearts. Fortunately, this chapter also displays God as the active agent of wisdom-giving and heart change. For example, in verse 18, he says, "'Open my eyes.'" In verse 27, he says, "'Make me understand.'" In verse 32, he says, "'You enlarge my heart.'"
Verse 36 says, "'Incline my heart.'" These are great prayers to pray. "'Turn my eyes. Teach me. Give me understanding. Lead me. Incline my heart.'" In verses 15-16, he coaches himself with the kind of behavior he wants to display. He says, "'I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes. I will not forget your word.'"
He wants to focus on, treasure, and remember God. If this psalmist were to make a vision board, God's word is what would be on it. In verses 71 through 75, he even thanks God for the struggles God used to bring him near. He recognizes that God has an eternal purpose in mind. He says, "'It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.'"
But even this psalmist, a man whose hope is firmly planted in the Lord, with all his knowledge of and love for God's Word, knows what it's like to feel pain and longing in his present situation. In verse 82, he prays, Loving God doesn't preclude feeling pain and loss. It just means we have a safe person to be with us in our pain. The verse you may be most familiar with in the whole chapter is verse 105, and that's where my God shot comes in today as well.
It says, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. The word used for lamp here refers to a foot lamp, like a single candle. This kind of lamp would only give enough light for the next step. You could make the whole journey step by step with the candle. You just had to keep referring back to it, just like the word of God.
That's the word for lamp and a lamp unto my feet. But here's something I never discovered before. The word for light and a light unto my path, that's a different word. It's a floodlight. It's daybreak. It's the God said, let there be light. You guys, this is incredible. God's word is both kinds of light. The whole earth flooded with the fires of a thousand suns, kind of glorious, illuminating, absolute truth, once for all.
and the individual, step-by-step kind of personal guidance we need moment by moment. It's everything, and it makes me love the Word of God so much more. This reminds me of 2 Timothy 3, 16-17. It says, "...all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."
We have everything we need. The bright light, the personal light, all lighting up the same truths that we need for life and godliness and for every good work. God has generously given it all to us. His word is where the joy is because He's in it, and He's where the joy is. ♪
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