I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 119.

Psalm 119 is rather long and I often have trouble finding a theme to write about when I come to it.  Interestingly enough, this year the themes jumped out at me.  The psalmist starts with a basic theme and then builds on it.  That basic theme is one which comes up again and and again in the Psalms: following God’s instructions brings joy.   Actually what the psalmist says is that joy comes to those who have integrity, but he immediately tells us that integrity comes from following God’s commands.  If we want that joy we must study and embrace God’s commands.  But it is not enough to study them, we need to ask God to make them clear to us.  As we study His commands we need God’s Spirit to enter into us and make clear what God wants us to do.  If we ask, God will give us understanding so that we can do as He desires of us.  

The psalmist tells us one of the great paradoxes of life.  God’s commands are so easy to understand that even the most simple-minded can comprehend them, but so complex that studying them will make you wise.  The simple who study and follow God’s law become wiser and will be given greater insight than the most erudite person who rejects them.  This explains why we must never compromise with evil.  No matter how things may seem to be, it is always foolish to do evil, or even less than the maximum good of which we are capable.

 

I want to touch on some of the other things the psalmist writes about studying God’s law and asking Him for a better understanding of it.  The psalmist tells us that God’s word gives light so that we can see our path and that God will give us better understanding of His law if we ask Him for it.  I think my opening sentence today is illustrative of this.  When I first started doing this blog in 2012 I struggled coming up with something to write about this psalm.  It seemed to me like it went in too many directions to write a coherent blog entry.  In addition, I felt like in many places it got boringly repetitive.  Yet today as I read through it, even though its length still overwhelmed me at first, I went from “This is so long I am going to lose my train of thought,” to “Oh look, there is another expression and reason about why we need to study God’s word.”  I want to encourage you to read through the Bible, not just once, but as often as you can.  Do it in a year or faster if you can, but read it, then read it again.