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June 1st

Our Bible reading today finishes up Psalm 119 from verse 89 to verse 175. It’s my belief that David wrote this long poetic expression of the glory of God and His Word.

Years ago I was purchasing Bev a new wedding ring for our 40th wedding anniversary. The jeweler showed me several stones and I looked at them under a microscope. It was quite a revelation to me. To my naked eye, each diamond looked similar to the others. But under the high-powered microscope, as the stone was slowly turning, the kaleidoscope of shapes and colors defined each stone uniquely.

To me, God used David to reveal the “WOW” of His Word. Its beauty, its clarity, its immensity, its greatness, its power, and authority, it’s “Very” Godness. And all of it for you and me who believe Him.

What an “awesome” gift God has given to us in our Bibles. And that’s the God who loves us in that very same immeasurable way!

Now to the stanzas...“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭119:71-72‬ ‭ESV‬‬

What was good for David? That he was afflicted. Wow...that’s a leap for most of us ” affliction” is good?

Let’s go back a few verses. David wrote...“Before I was afflicted, I went astray...” David knew by experience that afflictions and trials were God’s hedge of thorns to keep us in the green pastures. No wonder David would say....”Lord, You're good” Yes, right after he gave God credit for sending the afflictions.

Yes, God would choose to afflict His loved ones in order to get them back into the Word...the Bible. For it is from the Bible that the Spirit keeps us from unrepentant sinning. And it is from the Word of God, our Bibles, that the Spirit leads us in the way everlasting.

Martin Luther said, “I never knew the meaning of God’s word until God used afflictions to be my schoolmaster.” No wonder David said, in and through afflictions, that he learned God’s Words.

I can't help but believe that David was saying that it was worth the suffering to see and hear God afresh once again from the glorious scriptures.

Back to the text...where, David opens his own heart’s appreciation for the Word. “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭119:72‬ ‭ESV‬‬

David just testified that having the Word of God was more valuable to him than his own comfort. Now David declares that the words from God were more valuable than riches. No wonder he writes the following in this half of the 119th...“Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.” ‭Psalm‬ ‭119:97-99‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Some may read this text and say, “ It is my duty to read and meditate on the scriptures.” But only the “spiritual man and woman” “love the words” of God, and truly desire to live in harmony with them.

For some, the reading of the Bible is little more than satisfying the conscience. But for the David’s, the Bible is his food, his medicine, his comfort, his light for the road ahead. The bible is “life” to him.

Friends, may the One whose name is the Word, Jesus, our Lord, and Savior, and God..may He give us a new and fresh love for Him and His message in the Bible.

Have a great day