Unit 2: Face-to-Face Time Session 3: Meditate on God s Word The Question: What Should I Look for God to Do As I Meditate on His Word? The Point: Meditating on God s Word gives me a secure and meaningful life. Background Passage: Psalm 119:1-40 Lesson Passage: Psalm 119:33-40 Introduction On a recent internet forum, the question was asked, What makes a good book? Some of the answers include the following: Amazing storyline Originality and imagination Connects to the real world Brings up emotions and feeling Adventure Good characters Now apply those criteria to the Bible. What an amazing storyline! God created man, who sinned, and God came to earth as a man to redeem those He created. Not a bad story! What about originality? Esther s story is about as original as they come. A member of the persecuted race becomes queen, saves her own people, and hangs her enemy on the gallows he built for her people. The Bible connects to real life, brings up emotions, adds adventure, and offers unique characters. It meets all the criteria. Though the Bible is indeed an interesting book, reading it is not enough. We must move beyond tasting it to digesting it. Focus on These Points 1. Teach Me the Meaning (Ps. 119:33-34) Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. Its 176 verses are divided into twenty-two sections. Each section corresponds to one of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the eight lines in a section begins with a Hebrew word whose first letter corresponds to the Hebrew letter which is assigned to that section. For example, the first section of eight verses is the aleph section. Aleph is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the verses in this section begins with a word whose first letter is aleph. This poetic form is followed through the entire Psalm, and is known as an acrostic design.
The Psalmist wrote this literary masterpiece in praise of the law of the Lord. Its intensive, personal nature is suited to personal meditation and individual instruction. In this setting, the term law referred to God s word of instruction and revelation. The Psalm contains at least eight different words which the writer used as synonyms of the law. These include law, testimonies, ways, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, and word. These terms are repeated frequently, and are all included in many of the eight-verse sections or stanzas. Why do you think the Psalmist used so many different words for the Scriptures? If you were going to write a song praising God s Word, what virtues of it would you highlight? The focal passage occurs in the fifth stanza of the song the h_ section of Psalm 119. They appear as a prayer to God that He would give understanding and strength to trust the law. Again and again the Psalmist asked God to direct him and to give him a fuller understanding of what he already knew to be true. He wanted the ability to concentrate on God s Word and not be swayed by any distraction. To begin with, the Psalmist expressed his hope that God would teach him the meaning of His statutes. As a Jewish person, he probably would have known the Word and read it thoroughly, but he wanted further instruction. He was not content with merely a surface knowledge of the Word; he desired to go deeper in his understanding and commitment to God s Word. Like, the Psalmist, we too need to have a desire to go deeper in our understanding of God s Word. Instead of reading the parts that are easily understood, we need to have a firm grasp on the entirety of God s Word, not shying away from difficult passages or difficult subjects. God can give us understanding in those matters. In what ways are you taught the Word of God? Why is it important that your teaching contains application? The writer did not want to know the Word in order to get a degree or certificate. He desired to know the Word deeper so that he would always keep God s commandments. He did not study the Word merely for knowledge but also for application. Some people study the Word because they want more knowledge, but knowledge that is not applied can be useless. We must have the commitment to learn the Word for the purpose of applying it to our lives. Why is it important to move beyond understanding to application? How does prayer go hand-in-hand with Biblical interpretation? Verse 34 is a restatement of the previous verse. Again the Psalmist prayed that God would help him to understand His instruction. Again, he did not want understanding so people would recognize Him as a Bible scholar. He desired that he would understand the Scriptures so that he could obey them. Then, he added that he desired to follow the Lord s commands with all of his heart. The heart involved the entire being, including the mind, the will, and the emotions. How am I engaging my mind with God s Word? How about my will? How does the Word affect my emotions?
2. Keep Me on the Right Path (Ps. 119:35-37) After praying that God would teach him the meaning of His Word so that he could obey it, the writer expressed his desire to know the Word so it would keep him on the right path. He implied that there were two courses to take the path God set out in His Word and the path that leads to empty pursuits and is not focused on the Scriptures. Every day we come to a fork in the road. Will we choose God s way described in His Word, or will we go our own way? God s Word brings hope, but the world s path is worthless. The word worthless can also mean empty. What kind of worldly pathways have you observed that leaves people empty? At one time Jonathan was growing close to the Lord. He taught a Bible study, advised new Christians, and even shared his faith regularly. Others looked to Jonathan as a shining example of what a Christian should be. Somewhere along the way, he started walking down an empty pathway. The pressures of making a living and providing for a new family led him to abandon the Word. For a while, he kept attending church, but the pain of realizing how far down the wrong pathway he had traveled became too much to bear. Finally Jonathan dropped out of church and started involving himself in things he knew was not right. He wondered how he could have wandered so far from what he used to be. He felt like a shell of the man he once was spiritually. Thankfully, that fork in the road stood before him every day, because one day he realized how far he had strayed, took his Bible in hand, and began to draw near to the Lord. He realized that the Lord had never left Him, but his neglect of the Word had caused him to wander off the right path. Through studying and obeying God s Word, Jonathan now has regained the commitment he had lost. What would you say to someone in Jonathan s position? How effectively are you studying and obeying God s Word? The writer of the Psalm took pleasure in God s Word. It was not burdensome or a chore to read it. It brought him satisfaction to know that God was speaking to him and turning his heart from material gain. Like Jonathan in the story above, the writer of the Psalm had experienced the tug of earth s treasure. He had pursued money and wealth, and it had left him empty. How can your money own you instead of vice versa? How do we overcome materialism and its grip according to the Psalmist? Material gain was not the only thing that threatened to take the writer off of the right path. He also asked that God turn his eyes from worthless things. The Word had the sanctifying power to deliver him from empty pursuits. (HNTC, Psalms 76-150, p. 244) Today, the path of the world is full of empty pursuits. Music stars pursue fame, but will it satisfy the soul? Teenagers pursue popularity only to realize how fleeting it can be. Empty pursuits cannot soothe a soul that longs to be in tune with God s Word. Temporary pursuits are those that are worthless. The Psalmist wanted to pursue things that, like the Word of God, would last forever. He wanted his life to count for something bigger than temporal pursuits of this world. New houses grow old. New cars get scratched, wrecked or finally die after a few years some before you can even pay for them. Pursuing temporary things is not wrong unless they consume your pursuit of God.
3. Reassure Me of Your Promise (Ps. 119:38-40) Apparently, the Psalmist has begun to take some heat for his commitment to God s Word. Others have perhaps ridiculed His commitment to the commandments of God or laughed at his strong convictions. He needed reassurance that God would continue to remain faithful to His promise. Therefore, the writer asks God to confirm what He had said to him. He needed reassurance that God would remain faithful to His promises. Probably, these promises included protection from those who ridiculed him. If we need reassurance of God s promises to us, does that indicate a lack of faith on our part? What are some other reasons we might need reassurance other than lacking faith? When God reaffirmed His promises to the writer, it produced reverence for Him. He began to fear and respect God in a deeper way because God had taken the time to reassure him in his weakness. The fear of God is important to hold us true to His Word, and God s reassurances that He would keep His word produces reverence in those who read and obey God s Word. Those who do not have a commitment to the Word of God do not walk in the reverence for God that they need. Instead, they walk in disgrace or shame. Only by God s protection could he avoid disgrace and walk in God s good judgments. Think of some of the promises God has made to us: Peace of God that surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:6-7) God will supply all our needs according to His riches (Phil. 4:19) God will finish what He started in us (Phil. 1:6) God will cause all things to work for our good if we meet His conditions (Rom. 8:28) God will never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5-6) These are but a few of the promises God has made to us. He s also promised eternal life, heaven, forgiveness of sin, and other great and precious promises. He is even able to do more than we can think or imagine (Eph. 3:20-21). What are some of the promises of God to which you are holding at the current time? What are some of the promises of God that you have difficulty accepting at times? Knowing these promises and holding to them are two different matters. The writer of the Psalm needed reassurance that God would faithfully keep His promise. He longed for God s precepts and asked that God would grant Him life through His righteousness. Thankfully, the Psalmist was not depending upon his own righteousness. He looked to the Lord for that. Ultimately, God sent His righteousness to earth as His Son, Jesus. Jesus became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God. Paul said it this way, He (God) made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Obviously the Psalmist was not trying to keep God s Word in order to make himself righteous. He realized that his righteousness would never be enough. He kept the commandments of God because he loved the Lord and loved His Word. Only God could make him righteous. By receiving the
reassurance that God would keep His promise to Him, he loved the Lord even more and became even more committed to His Word. In what ways have you seen people try to achieve righteousness? Why is any other way than through Jesus an empty pursuit? Have you ever been ridiculed for a stance on God s Word? How did you cope with that ridicule?