Psalm Meditation 923
Second Sunday in Lent
February 25, 2018

Psalm 119:17-32
17 Deal bountifully with your servant, so that I may live and observe your word.
18 Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
19 I live as an alien in the land; do not hide your commandments from me.
20 My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.
21 You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments;
22 take away from me their scorn and contempt, for I have kept your decrees.
23 Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.
24 Your decrees are my delight, they are my counselors.

25 My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to your word.
26 When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes.
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
28 My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.
29 Put false ways far from me; and graciously teach me your law.
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your ordinances before me.
31 I cling to your decrees, O LORD; let me not be put to shame.
32 I run the way of your commandments, for you enlarge my understanding.
(NRSV)

This psalm has 176 verses, 8 for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The first word of each of those eight verses begins with the letter in the sequence. One through eight begin with the letter aleph, nine through sixteen begin beth. Because translation is an approximation of the original we lose that part of the psalm and wonder why Psalm 119 has to be so long and repetitive as it goes on and on about how great the law of God is. One of the problems is that somewhere in our history we decided that most laws are for other people and it is our privilege to pick and choose the ones we want. We also give ourselves the right to decide which laws apply to others, even if they don’t apply to us. A psalm celebrating the law of God gets troubling.

In childhood and youth we begin to look forward to being adults so that we can make our own rules and no one can tell us what to do. As adults we long for the days of youth and childhood when rules were simple and didn’t have the nuance of the rules we live with on a daily basis. I have asked, and heard others ask, can’t we just go back to the 10 Commandments instead of having pages and pages, books and books of laws in this country. We could do that until someone did something that pushed the limits of a particular commandment. We would make a rule to clarify the meaning of the original rule, we would need to put in some exceptions at a later date, add something else later and suddenly we would be back to pages and books of rules and laws.

This psalm may need all 176 verses to emphasize the point that rules and laws are a good thing, especially the rules and laws of God. When we get burdened by having to follow the intricacies of law, make the time to read this psalm. When we feel as if we are threading a needle with a piece of legal rope, make the time to read this psalm. When we get annoyed that some people seem to be above the law, make the time to read this psalm. When it appears that some folks bear the full weight of the law, make the time to read this psalm. Yes, those situations will still exist and we will want to do something to make the laws just and fair, by reading this psalm we can honor the rule of law with thanks to God for loving us enough to care what we do with ourselves and each other.

February 19, 2018
LCM