Welcome back! I hope you had a great weekend and are ready to continue studying Psalm 119! Whether you have commented, or are a "follower", or have sent me an e-mail, or responded via Facebook, or are participating anonymously......I'm glad you're here! And if this is your first time with us, welcome to you as well! I can't begin to explain how excited I am about studying with you! So, let's get started. I've been praying for you this morning and I'm continuing my prayer that God will show us wonderful things in His Word!
As we get started today, I'm wondering how many of you may have completed the optional assignment and created your own acrostic psalm? Would you be willing to share it with the rest of us, or at least share a portion of what you have written. That would be such a blessing and encouragement to the group!
Have you noticed yet how many times you have read this Psalm? One of the beautiful things about studying inductively is how much time we spend in the actual Scripture. This method allows us to slow down and read and read and read again the portion of the Word that we are studying. This differs from reading a portion of Scripture and then spending most of our time reading what someone else thinks about it. Another facet of the inductive method is that we become much like a reporter after a story, asking questions of the text to get answers. We refer to these as the 5Ws and an H......who, what, when, where, why, how. Who is speaking, to whom, what is he talking about, where is he, why did he say that, how is that to be accomplished, etc.
So, with all that as background, let's begin with a little bit of review. One of the things we did last week was to look for what we could learn about the psalmist and his circumstances from the text of this Psalm. As we looked for those clues, they not only help us get to know the writer of the Psalm a little better but might also provide points of application for our own lives. What did you learn about the psalmist? If you're willing to share some of your insights, please leave a comment. Here are some of the things I noticed (not my complete list):
v. 23 "princes sit and talk against me"
v. 53 "seized by burning indignation because of the wicked who forsake Thy law."
v. 67 "Before I was afflicted I went astray."
v. 86 "they have persecuted me with a lie."
Looking at this list, which is only a partial list, I'm drawn this morning to verse 53 and am struck by how much similiarity there seems to be between the culture in which the psalmist lived and our culture. Certainly there are many today who have forsaken the law of God. We don't have to look far to find that. But I wonder if we are, as the psalmist was, seized by burning indignation when God's law is forsaken, or do we just accept it as "that's the way it is." Something to think about........any comments?
As we journey through this Psalm we also have also been looking for words and synonyms that refer to the God's Word. Did you notice how many different words are used? Words like law, precepts, statutes, commandments. We'll look in more detail at the words and what they mean as we begin examining each individual stanza. For now, let's focus on what the psalmist says about the benefits of God's Word. As I have observed the different ways he refers to the Word and the requests/prayers he has made for himself concerning the Word, here are some of the things I observed:
v. 25 "Revive me according to your word."
v. 28 "strengthen me according to your word."
v. 38 "establish your word as that which produces reverence for Thee."
v. 105 "Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
Even as I look at this partial list, and if there were no other benefits or requests that I could discern from the Psalm, verse 38 really does it for me......this is the "bottom line" request for me, the reason for studying, the goal of spending time in the Word......to get to know God and His works and His ways better, and to grow in reverence for Him.
What about you? What benefits of the Word did you discover as you read this Psalm? What goals do you have as you dig deeper into this portion of God's Word? If you are willing to share, please leave a comment. Is there any way you have found these benefits to be true in your own life.
Having done an overview of the entire Psalm, it's time now to begin looking at it stanza by stanza. Your assignment today is to read the Aleph stanza (that's verses 1-8) and make a list of all the words used to refer to the Word. If you're a colored pencil kind of person, you might want to mark them in a distinctive way.Tomorrow we'll do some word studies on these words. Right now just notice what the words are. Also notice if you find anything interesting in the structure of the stanza. Is there any shift in emphasis? If so, where is it and how would you describe it?
Finally, let me give you a word of encouragement. The disadvantage of studying together this way is that we can't have "real-time" discussions together of what we're learning, and we can't see each other face to face and share in the joy of discovery together. The advantage is that we are able to study at a pace and with a schedule that works for us individually. Sometimes life is complicated and interferes with what we would like to accomplish in a given day. So if you find yourself getting a little behind or not having time one day to participate in the study, that's OK. You can pick it up tomorrow. If you just found us today, you can go back and catch up previous lessons. The benefit is that we can fit this into our individual schedules without feeling guilty if we're not available, for whatever reason, on Tuesday at 10 or Wednesday at 3. However you make this fit your schedule, I encourage you to stay the course......to persevere! I'm confident that there are great benefits in store for us as we commit time to study God's Word and that He has wonderful things to teach us!
See you tomorrow!
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