Psalm 119:33-48
33Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.
34Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
36Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
37Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.
38Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.
39Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.
40Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
41Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even thy salvation, according to thy word.
42So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.
43And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments.
44So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.
45And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.
46I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.
47And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.
48My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.
Chapter 119 verses 33-48
I do enjoy learning from His Word and for the most, part in prayer, I'll ask God to help me to apply what I've read, which is how I would relate to verse 33. I've learned to respect my dad more recently by not getting grouchy when he comes home from work and tries to tickle my feet or something. Now I'll just move my feet so he can't tickle me instead of getting pissed by reacting quickly and trying to kick him. I guess it's just weird for me to have another guy trying to touch my feet. I probably wouldn't mind if a girl tried. And to avoid getting off on some tangent, I believe that God will help me to keep my changed attitude towards my dad till the end. I not only ask for understanding of His Word, but also for understanding to
serve Him as a result of asking Him to help me to be mindful of opportunities to help out and serve people (v. 34). If He gives me understanding of that, I will keep or obey His law by doing what His Word says -- that is, not focusing on myself and displaying a servant's heart when serving others. I do serve in my church and I do apply those principles when handing out the offering baskets and communion trays, so I got that aspect covered. I want God to use to serve outside my church, though, even it's just blessing a homeless person every now and then by buying lunch for him. I do try to follow after His commandments (v. 35) by obeying Him and doing things that display that, such as serving in my church, loving on others, and applying His Word to my life just to name a few. To me, finding delight in those means not only being blessed as a result, but also having the experience and knowing that God's in control. If something goes wrong, I can find (re)assurance in that because I know that it will go according to how God wants it to. Sometimes I do mess up when worship hosting, like if I pass an offering basket in a row that already has one, but that doesn't mean God isn't watching and not having the knowledge that both bags will end up with me or the host on the other side of the aisle. I do want God to (continue to) direct my heart towards His testimonies (or statutes) and if I follow His ways and keep them in mind, my own foolish human nature won't come through and give me something that isn't beneficial for my spirit. For example, I'd rather have a godly woman in my life than a worldly one, which I've already explained why. Verse 37 is kind of convicting -- the vanity aspect anyway -- because sometimes my eyes do behold vanity (or worthless things) due to some of the movies I watch, like I've talked about before. I don't have much else to say about that verse. However, I will say that I try not to argue over the internet over trivial things. On YouTube, if I don't like a comment on a video of mine, I'll remove so I don't have to argue (and possibly offend) that person. So I'm not engaging in vanity in that aspect and I am keeping God's way in mind. I do fear God (v. 38), which I'd say is what results from the promises found in His Word. I can look at the Book of Joshua, for example, and read about when Joshua and the others crossed the Jordan and ask for help to help me cross over the Jordans in my life. Algebra was a Jordan for me and I believe that God helped me to cross that by giving me the knowledge and understanding as a well as a wonderful teacher to pass the class. I would relate to verse 39 by saying that in my darkest moment, the enemy was basically saying I wasn't good enough for God by trying to get me to believe his lies. I depend on God's judgments and guidance, though, and he helped me to not give into the enemy. I do long after His precepts (v. 40) and I know I display righteousness by obeying them -- whether they from His Word or something He tells me to do. God wants to know that He can rely on me and I don't desire to not display righteousness towards Him. I also like Matthew Henry's thought on the verse, "When we enjoy the sweetness of God's precepts, it will make us long for more acquaintance with them. And where God has wrought to will, he will work to do."
I know that by trusting in and reading His Word, His mercies (or love) can come to me (v. 41). In my darkest moment, I did trust in Him and I feel that His love was displayed towards me by relieving me from the burdens that the enemy tried to make me fall with. I like Henry's insight on verse 42, "We need to pray that we may never be afraid or ashamed to own God's truths and ways before men." I can honestly say that I am unashamed of the fact that I'm a Christian, which I display as best as I can. I can't say I've really dealt with anyone in my life that I had to tell that I trust in God's Word, but I know God will equip me to say that to someone who reproaches (or taunts) me as a result of being unashamed. I do hope in His judgments (v. 43), which was displayed in my darkest moment, as I've talked about before. I don't fear that I will forget what I have learned from His Word because not only have I memorized some scripture to help me out in times of need, but also because I'm not gonna forget what I've applied, such as loving my neighbors and obeying my parents for example. The more I practice those things, the more I'll remember them. There are some lessons I've learned from His Word that I won't ever forget since certain lessons spoke me at the time of reading them and I can apply them to something such as conquering algebra, which was how I crossed a Jordan in my life. I haven't memorized every scripture in the Bible and I don't remember some of the stuff I've read, mostly because I've read the Books of Joshua and Isaiah once, to name two books I've read once. But if I decide to read Joshua two years from now, I will come across some familiar stuff and get new stuff out of it, which is a cool thing to think about. Verse 44 kind of goes with what I was talking about in regard to loving my neighbors and obeying my parents. To speak generally, though, I think it's cool that once I learn and apply something I've learned from His Word, I'm not gonna stop doing it. To me, that shows that God's Word has power and there's no limiting it. I like Henry's thoughts on verse 45, "The service of sin is slavery; the service of God is liberty. There is no full happiness, or perfect liberty, but in keeping God's law." My response to that is that by serving God in church and obeying His Word, I am reminding myself of that comment I wrote on Psalm 17:4, which you can look at if you're curious since I had a lot to say about that. God's law provides happiness when I am blessed as a result of following it. I'm not gonna get into how I follow His law, but I have kind of it mentioned in previous reflections. To me, it's mostly doing things that express my love and service to Him. I don't personally know any kings (v. 46), but that verse encourages me to tell others -- non-Christians in this case -- of the good things He's done in my life, such at that time He was with me when I had my wisdom teeth removed. I'll have to talk about that another time in case I haven't already. I do love His commandments (v. 47), which I've kind of talked about in regards to verse 35, so just look at my thoughts on that. "My hands" (v. 48) means "to swear by." I swear by His commandments by trusting in them, which is an expression of love to God that I love Him because He knows what's best for my life. How I got into worship hosting was, I believe, when God spoke through the head host to get me to serve in the church. The head host must've said something that made me consider being part of the team. I did and had I not responded to that, I wouldn't have been doing something in which I can sacrifice my time to serve others. God wants His people to make sacrifices, which I see both as an expression of love and selflessness to Him and His people.
Source used:
Henry, Matthew. "Concise Commentary on Psalms 119". "Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
on the Whole Bible". <http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/mhc-con/view.cgi?book=ps&chapter=119>.
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