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Psalm 119 ends with verses 169-176. It is a cry from the psalmist about worship. He has walked through a pretty impressive description of the words of God. He has talked about how God call us to Him. How God directs our paths and illuminates our steps. The psalmist has described how His words help us surrender to a transforming relationship with God. Now, at the end, the psalmist responds in worship. He declares that his lips will pour forth praise and he will sing the words of God. It is an appropriate response. Surrender is always the best response when we are touched by God’s amazing love and care for us. God does not wish us to be ignorant of His love. He wishes to embed His love deep in our hearts so that we live in the abundance of His presence and power. As we embed the words of God in our hearts, we also embed that message of love. The psalmist cries out in times of trouble because he knows that God loves him. The psalmist knows that we will fall and fail, but he also knows that God will pick him up and set him on the right path. We live more fully when we live with God in our hearts.

Psalm 19:10 tells us that the law of the Lord is perfect, more precious than gold, and sweeter than honey. Psalm 119:103 echoes that sentiment as it proclaims that the precepts of the Lord are sweeter than honey. The picture is a powerful one. Honey was a much desired commodity in biblical times. Used to refer to the Promised Land as an overflow of the blessings of God, honey signified that God keeps His promises and showers blessings on His people. Manna was said to taste like honey, a picture of God’s providence and care for His people. In the Psalms, honey is talked about as being sweet, attractive, a desired commodity. Tie the image of honey with the words of God and there is a sense of longing for direction from God, a desire to have the words of God in our hearts and on our lips. There is a sense of satisfaction with the words of God. They are nourishing and filling. They are sweet to the taste. God promises transformation and relationship. God desires to bless us in abundance. As we seek out and long for the words of God, He pours out His great love and care for us. We can stand in the overflow of God’s grace when the Bible is embedded on our hearts.

“How can a young man keep his way pure?” That is the question that we start out with this week in Psalm 119:9. It is a great question and should be asked by every person, young, old, or in between; man or woman. It is a question that invites God to step into our lives and show us how to live. The answer is a whole hearted commitment to what God says. Here the psalmist asks God to impart wisdom and empower transformation. From the lips to the mind to the eyes, the writer asks God to embed His words deeply into his life. There are words of commitment as we are called to dedicate ourselves to listening to the voice of God. There is a call to action as we live out what we hear from God in the words of the Bible. A life of holiness, a way that is pure, is not something to be guessed at or randomly sought. God offers us a clear path. Listen to His voice, commit to following, surrender to transformation, and enjoy a heart that beats in time with the heart of God.

This week we begin to read the longest psalm in the Bible. In fact, Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. It has 176 verses, which is more verses than 13 Old Testament books and 16 New Testament books. This psalm is divided into 22 stanzas (or sections) and each stanza begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is one of about a dozen acrostic psalms in the Bible. (John Peter Lange, Philip Schaff, Carl Bernhard Moll et al., A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Psalms) Its message is a call to love the words of God. It invites us to listen intently to what God has to say as He teaches His people. It is a psalm about study and embedding Scripture in our hearts and lives. We will be taking this psalm slowly over the next couple of weeks. Let me encourage you to enjoy the slow pace of our reading during this time. Read each section two or three times during the day. Pray over it. Let it sink into your thoughts and your heart. Meditate on the message of each section. Hear the love that the writer pours into each line as he talks about his love for God’s Word. I think you will be blessed.

Bold, courageous, brave, stout-hearted, heroic, worthy, and excellent – these are the words that the dictionary uses to define the word “valiant.” In Psalm 108:13 we find, “With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.” It is a word that you sort of stumble over as you read. A little archaic, a little old fashioned, the word calls up images of knights in shining armor or the charge of cavalry in battle. The psalmist uses it to describe the events that have shaped a nation and the hearts of God’s people. Battles that have been won, nations that have been defeated, and victories experienced. It fits the context and the feel of the psalm, but does it fit me? The psalmist believes it does. God wants us to be bold and courageous. God wants us to experience the thrill of victory. God wants us to know what it means to defeat evil. So God treads down the foes we face. God walks into our lives and begins to defeat the evil that lives there. God continues to walk in our lives and defeat the sin that so stubbornly hangs on. God will walk with us into the future, beyond death, and beyond time to proclaim that we are victors in Him. Embedding the Bible is all about answering the invitation to walk with God. It is about experiencing the victory, day after day, that God promises to work in our lives.

This week we will be reading Psalm 107, and once again we run across a title. This time it reads, “Book 5.” If you will remember, we have talked about the fact that traditionally the Book of Psalms has been divided into five parts. Each part seems to correspond to the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch). Psalms 1-41 were written mainly by David (though there are other authors there) and deal with man’s fall into sin and our need to seek righteousness and a relationship with God. Book 2 (Psalms 42-72) parallels Exodus and the power of God to free us from sin. Book 3 (Psalms 73-89) corresponds to Leviticus as it calls us to worship and holiness. Book 4 (Psalms 90-106) relates to Numbers, teaching us how God’s people learn to follow and obey. Book 5 gives us a picture of Deuteronomy. Written as the people of Israel leave the wanderings in the wilderness and prepare for a new beginning in the Promised Land, Deuteronomy points to the way that God delivers His people. Psalms 107-150 remind us of that same deliverance. Steadfast love, redemption, forgiveness, and cleansing all take center stage as the psalmists describe the transformation that comes into the lives of people who surrender to God. We are reminded that we stand as a people who no longer are identified by the world and sin, but are God’s people, forgiven and shaped by Jesus.

On June 13, 2013, USA Today reported, “Japan’s Jiroemon Kimura, who had been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living person and the oldest man ever, died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 116. Kimura, of Kyotango, Japan, was born April 19, 1897.” 116 years old! It sounds like such a long time to us. We look back and see the history that Mr. Kimura witnessed. All the changes in technology over the span of a century must have shaped his perspective and lifestyle in ways that are hard to imagine. Wouldn’t you like to sit down and have a conversation with him? Imagine the wisdom that he must have obtained in his long life, the advice he could give, the insight he possesses. Think about it, and then read Psalm 103:15-18. The Psalmist tells us that no matter how long we live, in the great scheme of things, our lives are like grass. We exist for a short time in the span of history and we fade away. But the steadfast love of the Lord lasts forever. God has a view of history, a perspective on life, an insight that is beyond all we can imagine. The greatest part is that in His great love for us, He shares everything we need to know about life and godliness.

I love Psalm 100. As a call to worship, a personal study time, or a devotional song, this Psalm guides our hearts to see God and respond with thanksgiving and gratitude. The Psalm itself tells us that this song is about teaching us to be thankful. The psalmist invites us to enter the presence of God with singing and praise. He leads us to see that God is our Creator. The breath we draw in each moment, the physical shape of our bodies are all made at His direction. We are sheep under His watchful care. The psalmist then moves us to notice the character of God. He is good. He showers us with His steadfast love. A love that is not fleeting, but a decision that spans generations and touches the hearts of people over the course of years and lifetimes. When we see our great God in all of His majesty and understand that he does not stand apart, but enters our lives in love, the psalmist expects that we will be moved to give our hearts to Him in gratitude. And I believe the psalmist has it right. When we realize that God pursues us, we catch a glimpse of the love He has for us. We can be thankful that He walks with us in our days, guides us through life, and transforms our moments.

This week we will be reading Psalm 90, and once again we run across a title. This time it reads, “Book 4.” If you will remember, we have talked about the fact that traditionally the Book of Psalms has been divided into five parts. Each part seems to correspond to the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch). Psalms 1-41 are written mainly by David (though there are other authors there) and deal with man’s fall into sin and our need to seek righteousness and a relationship with God. Book 2 (Psalms 42-72) corresponds to Exodus and the power of God to free us from sin. Book 3 (Psalms 73-89) corresponds to Leviticus and call us to worship and holiness. As we begin Book 4 this week, we are reminded of the events in the Book of Numbers. Numbers spotlights Israel as they wander in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. It teaches us about how God’s people learn to follow and obey, and how we interact with the world and hold to God’s standard. Psalms 90-106 catch these themes for us. Psalm 90 declares that God is the protector of His people, “from everlasting to everlasting.” Psalm 106 finishes with the same words. In between the two, we find the psalmists writing of God’s character, His strength, His providence, and His love for His people. In Book 4, we hear an invitation to walk where the Lord leads and to live by His voice.

The Hebrew word is “hesed.” We translate it as “kindness, mercy, loyalty, or loving-kindness.” The ESV translates it as “steadfast love.” The psalmist uses the word five times in Psalm 88. “Hesed” is meant to describe the love of God for His people. It is a love that pursues and never stops. It is a love that says, “no matter what you have done, no matter how far you have strayed…you belong to Me.” The psalmist will use it to describe a God who will not turn away from His stubborn, stiff-necked, wrong-headed people. In fact, God will level mountains, defeat armies, move nations, and work through the long years of passing generations to pursue His people. It is God’s desire that we share a relationship with Him and God will go to great lengths to call us into that relationship. He pursues us with a love beyond imagining. A love that never fails. A steadfast love that inhabits our days and changes our hearts. As you embed the Bible this week, hear the call of God to walk closely with Him. Hear His call to live in His steadfast love.