Psalm 119:161-176: The Bleating of a Lost Sheep

Today’s reading is Psalm 119 (vss. 161-176).

BAAAAAA!

We’ve already stated the surprise at the psalm’s ending yesterday. But see it again. The final stanza is one thing. The final verse takes it to a completely new level.

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.
Psalm 119:176 (ESV)

This psalm is not the victory psalm of a conquering warrior. This psalm is not the fight song of battling soldier. This psalm is the bleating of a lost sheep.

If we have been reading this psalm in order to compare ourselves and take pride in how well we love God’s Word, how disciplined we are in reading, studying, memorizing, discussing, quoting, following God’s Word, we’ve been wandering in the wrong field. This is the song of a desperate man. The lion prowls about, nipping at the psalmist’s heels. The psalmist is himself prone to wander. He stupidly tends to go his own direction and find himself caught in brambles, downcast in the soft earth, caught in a mud hole, stuck on a cliffside.

Our psalmist hasn’t been in God’s Word as a display of personal righteousness, a show of strength, or in hopes of being impressive. He has been in God’s Word because he knows without God’s Word he has absolutely no hope. He is a dying man tying a knot in the end of his rope and hanging on to the only handhold worth anything. He doesn’t hope to earn anything. He doesn’t hope to prove anything. He doesn’t hope to be able to demand anything. He hopes God will cast him a lifeline and draw him to safety. So he lives in God’s Word. Where else would he find God’s helping hand?

This final verse sweeps back through everything else we’ve read in this poem and sung in this song. Any time we thought we might be able to stand on our own two feet and show God how great we are because of our discipline in His Word, we suddenly realize is nothing more than when God Himself was lifting us up. Without Him, we are nothing, we have nothing.

We are sheep. We are weak. We tend to stray. We are prone to wander. Left to ourselves we won’t survive the day, let alone the night. Let us, like the desperate and drowning men and women we are, grab hold of this life preserver God has cast into the world. Let us hang on to His Word for dear life. It is, after all, the only means of the Blessed Life we have.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 119 (vss. 161-176).

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 119:161-176 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Crippled in the Kingdom

Today’s reading is Matthew 18.

Jesus makes a surprising shift as we read into Matthew 18:8. In vss. 6-7, He was warning the disciples against causing someone else to stumble. In vs. 8, He warns about our own stumbling. In fact, He is so concerned about our own stumbling, He provides some of the most shocking teaching in all of the New Testament.

If your hand or foot causes you to stumble, cut them off and throw them away. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better to enter the kingdom crippled than to keep your body whole and miss the kingdom.

On the one hand, we learn we are so valuable to God, He wants us to be in the kingdom no matter what it costs. We need to see our own eternal life as valuably as God does. Even our hands, feet, and eyes are not as important as the life God would give us in His kingdom. On the other hand, we must not simply take these statements out of the context in which Jesus said them. The specific sin we are in danger of committing in this context is being a stumbling block. Is there something that we value in our own lives more than we value the little ones who have turned to Jesus? Even if it is our own hand, we should cut it off and throw it away. Anything that would make us sin, that would make us a stumbling block needs to go. We should receive and welcome these little ones, but despise all temptations and stumbling blocks no matter how important they are to us.

The arrogant and prideful demand to keep their hands, feet, and eyes, despising these little ones. The humble become like children and care so much about others, they despise and cut off whatever will get in the way of the salvation of these little ones no matter how personally important to them. This is a tall order. But remember, all things are possible with God.

Tomorrow’s reading is Matthew 18.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family

1. What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
2. Why is it hard to picture being crippled in the kingdom of heaven?
3. Why is it difficult to value the salvation of other people over our rights, possessions, opportunity, time, etc.?
4. What advice would you give to help us value other people above our “hands, feet, and eyes”?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?