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!!!
PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
How does Psalm 119:161-176 prompt or improve your hope in God?
Read the Bible 