Bible Studies for Life: November 1

Committed to His Word• Psalm 119:1-11

By Becky Brown

Our rally word for the lessons in this unit is, “commitment.” We have seen that God showed His full commitment to us by sending Jesus. We have reviewed our full commitment to God by our walk of obedience to Him as we follow Jesus. In the next five weeks, we will look at our commitment to the Word of God, to the church of Jesus Christ, to a life of prayer expressed to God, to worship of God alone, and to mission as we have been commissioned by God.

As recorded in Genesis chapters one and two, in the beginning God the Father created the heavens and the earth. God the Holy Spirit was moving over the surface of the waters. John 1:1-4 and Colossians 1:15-16 certainly place Jesus at that scene. I believe God the Son was also present to hear God the Father speak, calling forth light to dispel the darkness. Creation was made possible because of the presence and perfection and eternal plan of the Tri-Unity.

Our old AM/FM radios gave us access to frequency numbers on a dial which would guide us to favorite channels for our listening pleasure. To hear the audio offering of a certain channel, we had to turn a knob and “tune in” to the call letters of the particular station. God has always been speaking. The questions remain: Are we tuned in? Are we listening?

French people speak French. Spanish people speak Spanish. German people speak German. When God speaks, He speaks Jesus. Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is the language through which God communicates His word and His ways to us.

God does not want us to be in the dark about His plans. He gave us His Son so that we might know His love, grace, and mercy. In addition to His Son, the WORD of God also came to us through writers inspired by God the Holy Spirit. Just as Mary embraced the infant – the human Word of God — that night in Bethlehem, we can hold the actual, written Word of God in our hands and hide it in our hearts and live it out in our lives. Our Bible holds the key to knowing God and understanding His will for our life’s journey. Scripture teaches us the how-to’s of living in obedience to Him.We must be committed to the Word of God.

Psalm 119 is an amazing offering in the Word of God. Its author is unknown. I like to call it The Song of the Law of God. Located very near to the center of our English translations of Scripture, this Psalm is the longest chapter in the Bible. Containing 176 verses, it is comprised of twenty-two sections of eight verses each. There are 22 characters in the Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 119 is an acrostic masterpiece. Individual verses in each section begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The initial words of verses one through eight begin with the first Hebrew letter: aleph. Verses nine through 16 begin with the second Hebrew letter: beyth. This pattern follows to the 22nd section of eight verses. In the language of Hebrew, these verses also rhyme. Masterful!

Psalm 119 begins with a beatitude/blessing. Those who walk or conduct their lives in the law of the Lord are blessed. Observe His testimonies. Walk in His ways. Seek Him whole heartedly. Keep His ordained precepts. Position yourself toward His statutes. Give thanks for His commandments. Learn His judgements. In these two sections alone, there are seven different Hebrew words for the law of the Lord.

In Psalm 119:11, the writer declares that he has treasured the Word of God in his heart in order that he might not sin against God. The word, “treasured,” means to consistently gather in and store up something of immeasurable value over a long, continuous period of time. The hiding place for the Word is deep inside the heart of this writer. These Words were hidden, guarded, kept, and held as critically vital to spiritual survival.

In this microwave-instant world of gadgetry and technology, we need a stop-and-sit-and-soak schedule. We need a Holy Spirit-filled marathon of quality time spent in the Word, not a wasted wind sprint. A few occasional minutes of “Coffee and Jesus” will tragically forfeit the ten-course feast God has prepared for us.  

Brown is staff evangelist at First Church, Richland.