In December we sing Joy to the World to close our worship service, but every other Sunday we sing “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Those words are from Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the entire Bible. And it’s a chapter that focuses entirely on the Bible.
Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem of 22 stanzas, each beginning with a Hebrew letter in alphabetical order. Every stanza has 8 verses, and each line begins with the letter that introduces the stanza. Nearly every verse speaks of God’s words, laws, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, or ordinances.
At first glance it may seem repetitious, but when meditated upon it opens up the mind to the wonders of God’s Word. And the more you contemplate it, the more you fall in love with the Word of God; the written Word and the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.
Matthew Henry fell in love with the Bible after his father encouraged him to take one verse of Psalm 119 every morning to meditate on, and thereby go through the psalm twice a year. His commentaries, written 300 years ago, are still used by preachers and Bible students today. William Wilberforce, who fought to abolish the slave trade, and David Livingston, the famous explorer and missionary in Africa, memorized the entire psalm.
I’m not going to suggest that you, or I, even try to memorize all 176 verses. But it might be good for us to end each day’s Bible reading with a verse from Psalm 119. And if you don’t have a plan for reading through the Bible in a year, I would suggest the Daily Reading Bible NASB. It can be purchased from Amazon for installation on Kindle. I’ve used it for six years, and plan on adding a verse to each day’s reading this year.
And if you want to contemplate Psalm 119 with others, I invite you to join our Wednesday Night Bible Study. We’re planning to dig into it, one stanza at a time, beginning January 7th at 6:30.
God Bless, Rick
Chatham Christian Church 