Today, we’re in the third acrostic of Psalm 119, entitled Gimel, third letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

While the theme of this psalm, as a whole, is the practical use of the Word of God in the life of the believer. These eight verses remind me of what we need to do to obtain true discernment or knowing God’s Word, His ways, and His instructions so well that we have the ability to judge well and to make good decisions.

Please join me in reading Psalm 119: 17-24

17 Deal bountifully with your servant,

  that I may live and keep your word.

18 Open my eyes that I may behold

  wondrous things out of your law.

19 I am a sojourner on the earth;

  hide not your commandments from me!

20 My soul is consumed with longing

  for your rules at all times.

21 You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,

  who wander from your commandments.

22 Take away from me scorn and contempt,

  for I have kept your testimonies.

23 Even though princes sit plotting against me,

  your servant will meditate on your statutes.

24 Your testimonies are my delight;

  they are my counselors.

Deal fully with me, Lord, as your servant, so that I might keep, watch, observe, and guard every single word you say!

Tell me, uncover, reveal to me what I need to know so that I may gaze upon, consider, and look at the wonderful, marvelous, amazing even hard parts of your law, teachings, and instructions.

The psalmist, whomever it may be, deeply desires the discernment to know what God wants him to do and how God wants him to live because He knows he is simply on this earth for a brief time.

Fellow under-shepherd, do you feel as the author of this song did?

Do you desperately, with every bone in your body, with your whole self, with every breath you take, every minute of your life, desire to know the Father more deeply? Desperate to understand his precepts more fully? Desperate to obey Him completely?

Do you remind yourself on a daily basis that you are an alien, a stranger, a foreigner on this planet?

That your time here is short, but our time with the Father is eternal?

Dear shepherd leader, I encourage you to sit on, meditate over, the precepts of the Father today. Keep them, watch them, observe them, guard them, as this song says in verse 17.

Hang on to every single word God says, literally every unit of His speech, the whole of His communication, not just selected portions that appeal to you, or that are easy for you, or that you’re already doing or agree with.

And ask Him where you need to shepherd more effectively, where He wants you to step up, where He is counting on you to know and apply His stipulations and regulations.

Thank you for joining me this week. May you live deeply into your calling as leader and shepherd well this week.