Law and Lawbreaking – Psalm 119

A text – Psalm 119:129-136

¹²⁹ Your decrees are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.
¹³⁰ The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
¹³¹ With open mouth I pant, because I long for your commandments.
¹³² Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your custom toward those who love your name.
¹³³ Keep my steps steady according to your promise, and never let iniquity have dominion over me.
¹³⁴ Redeem me from human oppression, that I may keep your precepts.
¹³⁵ Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.
¹³⁶ My eyes shed streams of tears because your law is not kept.

A reflection:

This week we have an 8-verse portion of the longest psalm in the Bible. If it feels a little repetitive, that’s because it was written in acrostic form, each verse beginning with the succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet, each adoring God’s word (decrees, words, commandments, promise, precepts, statutes, law) and each mentioning a part of the adorer’s body (soul – actually throat in Hebrew –, mouth, and eyes, in this section). Interesting, isn’t it?

The psalm praises the Lord for imparting, over the centuries, to the Hebrew people, God’s word. That word is meant to instruct the whole congregation how to live with and under God’s law, but it is written from the point of view of a single believer. The requests are made to keep the whole congregation, the whole nation, on the right track with steady steps, free of iniquity’s dominion. In verse 136, the psalmist weeps because God’s law is not kept – by the whole congregation, and also by the psalmist as an individual. It is hard to stay on the right path.

Is there anything such a poetic section of a psalm can teach us this week? Well, I have several people in my life who struggle with anxiety and depression. I know that on their best days they seek the structure of any discipline that helps them focus on taking part in a full life and not turning away behind a closed door. God’s word, God’s law gives us that structure and a pair of behaviors that are pretty clear: “Love God with your whole heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” I also know folks like me who always think they can figure out a better way of doing things (really as a cover for wanting to get their own way and also getting away with breaking God’s common-sense rules). Truly, the law is a gift to us from a gracious God who knows we will step off the path many times a day and need a way back on.

Let’s praise the law this week, the Word of God meant to make our lives better, even though we cannot keep the law by our poor, selfish, human selves. Let’s adore the word of God meant to get us back on the right road from having taken the wrong one, perhaps deliberately, only just this morning. Let’s praise our Creator for knowing what we’ll do and loving us anyway, no matter what.

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for your word, your law, and your Living Word, Jesus. Help us to praise your law and follow it, and help us to know when we have gone off the path so that, with your help we can get back on it. Amen.