Finding the Beauty Full in God’s Word!
A few weeks ago I was asked to write a devotional on Psalm 119, and I fell in love with this psalm. I found it paramount to our faith because it teaches about the importance of the Bible in our lives.
I don’t think we realize what a treasure the Bible is. We take it for granted. But the psalmist who wrote Psalm 119 did not! He lived and breathed the Word of God. Here are some interesting facts I found about Psalm 119:
- It’s the longest chapter in the Bible.
- It is right smack dab in the middle of the entire Book of God.
- This psalm is an acrostic, and each section begins with a letter from the Hebrew alphabet.
- There are twenty-two letters in the alphabet, and twenty-two sections of the psalm. If you look closely to the beginning of each section, your Bible may have a symbol and a word. That symbol and word is a Hebrew letter. The first is Aleph, A, the second is Beth, B, and so on. Why would the author do this? Many time authors used acrostics to help memorize the text. The Jews are known for their memorization of God’s Word.
As a word nerd, I find it symbolic. The alphabet is used to form words . . . the words of God’s law sometimes called “torah” or word, commandments, rules, decrees, precepts, and teachings. It is important for us to understand that the Jewish believers did not perceive the law as merely rules but instruction on how to live.
One final aspect that makes this psalm unique is that it seems to teach that “a close relationship to Torah replaces a close relationship with God.” But we know that the Word is God. It is his heart, his wisdom, his character, his holiness. I love these words from one of our pastors at Lifepoint:
[bctt tweet=”When we immerse ourselves in God’s Word, we immerse ourselves in God. -Jason Baysden ” username=”wordsbyandylee”]
Studying the Bible is a form of worship, my friends. The Jews believe it is the highest form of worship.
So, let’s worship God this week in study!
Jot these verses down or take a screen shot. It’s easy. They are all in Psalm 119:57-112. I am looking forward to unpacking these verses with you on my daily broadcast at 8:20 ET. If you don’t have the Periscope app, you can watch the broadcast here.
I know that live broadcasts aren’t for everyone, but I teach so much more during those twenty minutes than I can on the blog alone! I hope one day you can check them out. Last week what we learned about grace just blew me away.
Speaking of grace, I’ve got a winner for the Lavish Grace Bible study by Kathy Howard! And the winner is …
Rachel Martinez!!! E-mail me your address to wordsbyandylee (at) gmail (dot) com ! Yay! Thank you to everyone who commented!
Living on Daily Grace,
andy
