. . . give me discernment

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Parkland Pond - East on 312
Turn my heart toward your statutes, and not toward selfish gain. (Psalm 119:35, |NIV)

I am your servant; give me discernment, that I may understand your statutes. (Psalm 119:125, NIV)

Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm. Commentary says it's an acrostic poem, which has each stanza begin with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet in sequence. As in English poetry, the writer has chosen to marry his themes with a familiar form: in English literature, the sonnet, the haiku, free verse, blank verse, couplet, etc. are forms (along with others) that marry recognizable style with content. Rhyme schemes, rhythm, and a host of rhetorical devices have been meat for English studies in high schools and universities for centuries.

Our hymns provide us with good examples of marrying content to form. In order to be sung, the words and phrases of the content must be written so that they can fit into a musical whole.



The theme of Psalm 119 isn't complicated; I've picked out two verses in it (to open this meditation) that more or less summarize that theme. Creator God has set down for our benefit laws (precepts, statutes) which we must seek out and apply to our lives in order to remain in God's favour. We need God's help in finding and understanding His precepts, but our sincere attempt to keep them in sight in all we do will carry us through hardship and persecution, although we may feel like we're far from God from time to time.



Psalm 119 is certainly a “both feet on the ground” poem. Like us, the narrator longs to know and understand the precepts that govern the universe, the earth and the people who live on it. Time and again, he expresses doubts in the details but at the same time, an unwavering trust in God's good grace and care for him. We have, of course, noted the interplay of doubt and trust in other Psalms, in Ecclesiastes, in Job. (For those who haven't read Peter Enns' The Sin of Certainty, you can read my review of it HERE.) Although the writer of Psalm 119 (or the redactors who gave it its final form) didn't use the words, the thought, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” must have cropped up repeatedly.

The Psalms occupy a special place for us, if only because when we're referred to them, we just open our Bibles in the exact middle and there they are! They are also various and—dare I say—honest in that the bit, or great deal, of manic/depression we all experience is there to help us gain perspective.



The whole of Psalm 119 is available for your enjoyment contemplation and will pop up if you click HERE.

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