Each of the 22 strophes in Psalm 119 was carefully crafted—like the deliberate strokes of Michelangelo’s brush. I’ve enjoyed taking a close look at each strophe—each canvas of this literary masterpiece.
As I seek to wrap up my thoughts about Psalm 119 into a terse, coherent idea, this is what I’ve come up with—this is what I’m taking from my study: All believers must keep God’s Word in order to live skillfully. I’ve chosen each word carefully—let me explain.
“All believers…”
The Bible isn’t just for priests, professors and preachers. The Bible is for every believer, every person, because it is the very breath of God—wrote Paul in 2 Timothy 3: “…useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Over the past 200-400 years with the rise of universities we have also seen the rise of seminaries and Bible colleges. This led to the treatment of theology as a specialization. It led to the professionalization of Bible study—the idea that the only people who need to study theology in an orderly and thorough way are people “going into the ministry”. But the study of God’s Word and theology was never meant to be a specialization like law or medicine. It was meant to be for all believers—the orientation of the soul for a life of godly wisdom!
One of the reasons Christianity is in decline in America (the West in general) is because most American Christians think they only need an elementary understanding of the Bible! Please don’t think that way! All these benefits described for us in Psalm 119 are for every believer! Each one describes knowledge or a character trait or a skill that every believer needs.
“…must keep God’s Word…”
There are a couple Hebrew words for “keep”. Both are rich in meaning. They both literally mean “to stand guard over”. Like a sentry on guard duty, we are to be alert and watch and be careful to read and study and memorize and meditate on and obey God’s Word. They also mean to “preserve” as in preserve life. It’s an idea that captures the entire picture of what we are to do with God’s Word: get it and hang onto it like life-saving treasure. The list below tells us what the writer of Psalm 119 encourages us to do with God’s Word! Don’t just know it—we are to know it but we must never stop there. We must…
- Keep it (29 times). vv. 2, 4, 5, 8, 17, 22, 33, 34, 44, 55-57, 60, 63, 67, 69, 88, 100, 101, 106, 115, 129, 134, 136, 145, 146, 158, 167, 168
- Walk in it. vv. 1, 3, 35
- Look into it. vv. 6, 18
- Learn it (“teach me”). vv. 7, 12, 26, 33, 64, 66, 68, 71, 73, 108, 124, 135, 171
- Heed it (“live according to it” NIV). v. 9
- Hide it in our hearts. v. 11
- Declare it. v. 13
- Rejoice in it. vv. 14, 162
- Meditate on it. vv. 15, 23, 27, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148
- Contemplate it. vv. 15
- Delight in it. vv. 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 92, 143, 174
- Not forget it / forsake it. vv. 16, 53, 61, 83, 87, 93, 109, 139, 141, 153, 176
- Long for it. vv. 20, 40, 131
- Understand it. vv. 27, 34, 73, 104
- Put it before us. v. 30
- Cling to it. vv. 31, 98 (ever with)
- Observe it. vv. 34, 117
- Incline our hearts to it. v. 36
- Hope in it. vv. 43, 49, 74, 81, 114, 116, 147
- Seek it. vv. 45, 82, 94, 123, 155
- Speak of it. vv. 46, 172
- Lift up our hands to it. v. 48
- Find comfort in it. vv. 50, 52
- Not turn aside from it. vv. 51, 102 (not depart), 110 (not stray), 118, 150, 157
- Turn our feet toward it. v. 59
- Be blameless toward it. v. 80
- Consider it. vv. 95, 128
- Take it as a heritage. v. 111
- Live by it / Be revived by it. vv. 154, 156, 159
- Stand in awe of it. v. 161
- Trust it. v. 42
- Remember it. vv. 52, 55
- Sing it. v. 54
- Believe it. v. 66
- Know it. vv. 79, 125, 152
- Perform it. v. 112
- Fear it. v. 120
- Choose it. v. 173
- Do it. v. 166
- Love it. vv. 97, 113, 119, 127, 140, 159, 163, 165, 167
- Praise God for it! vv. 164, 171
“…in order to live skillfully!”
To live skillfully is another way of saying “wisely”. Wisdom is not just knowledge. It is the culmination of a process. It’s the crescendo! We begin by accumulating knowledge of God’s Word. Then, as we obey it and put it into practice in our lives we begin to understand it better and better. The more we understand it, we begin to develop discernment. We live skillfully, not haphazardly and chaotically—like little children in little boats being tossed around by the slightest wind. In other words, we live wisely—by wisdom. We just can’t do it without knowing and keeping God’s Word.
Let’s be clear—this is hard work. Henry Ford, supposedly once said, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” I must agree and add that reading, studying, learning, remembering, believing, and doing (keeping) God’s Word can be some of the hardest work there is, and the reason why so few actually dust it off and dive in.
Let’s learn it. Let’s keep it. Let’s remember it and meditate on it. As we do, we’ll grow to love it, then, we’ll praise God for it! Why? Because we will see the infinite wisdom and benefits that flow from knowing and doing God’s Word.
As I wrote when I started this series: the Sistine Chapel is truly a masterpiece. But, if you’ve ever looked at several pictures of it, it’s really quite simple as well. It contains images of the stories we all learned as kids in Sunday School, and that we enjoy reading to our children—Creation of Adam, Flood of Noah, Death and Resurrection of Christ.
Psalm 119 is truly a masterpiece. But, as you have probably noticed, it is really quite simple as well. It reminds us of the importance of what each Christian should already know: God has spoken, we need to listen—through reading, studying, memorizing, meditating on and obeying God’s magnificent Word. As the Psalmist showed us, such study leads to many, many blessings. My prayer is that from time to time you’ll return to Psalm 119, stroll through and enjoy it for the masterpiece it is, and be reminded of the reality behind the literary genius: “Blessed are they who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart” (1:2).
