Psalm 119
April 14, 2024
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we worship you. You have revealed your precepts and your commandments to us both in creation and in your word. We all have an inner sense of right and wrong, you programmed that into our DNA. You are an amazing God and we worship you in your creation and in your word. Your commandments are good, they guide us and they protect us.
This Psalm proactively encourages us to follow your commandments. Verse 1 says “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!” In the book of Romans, Paul addresses the law and grace. Salvation is not by works, (i.e. rule following) but by grace and grace alone, but as chapter 6 opens “Shall we continue to sin, that grace may abound? By no means!” If we love God, then we will love his law, we will love his testimonies, we will love his precepts, we will love his statues, we will love his commandments, we will love his rules, and we will love his word. The 176 verses in Psalm 119 magnify these things.
Our authors of the Bible faced numerous challenges in life that are not all that different from the challenges we face today. Help us to meditate on your commandments. When we need wisdom in difficult situations, we pray Holy Spirit that your testimonies speak into our lives in those moments.
We pray for our global partners. Nourish them with your word. Encourage them as they pour into building relationships. Protect them from the enemy who wants to discourage and destroy. May your word go out to the ends of the earth, and be good news to those who receive it.
We pray for one another as we face various trials. We don’t have to look far to see our troubles in physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual realms. Guard our hearts from the lie that if we follow your commands we will be righteous and have no troubles. Jesus promised us (John 16:33) that in this world we will have troubles, but take heart; I have overcome the world. It is Jesus who earned our salvation for us, and it is Jesus who will return again to conquer evil, and establish a new righteous kingdom. We earnestly look forward to your righteous rule, and we earnestly study and follow your word.
Amen