Psalm 119

I have been enjoying Psalm 119 this morning - just amazed by the honesty of these prayers. No one really knows who wrote this one - maybe Ezra the priest.

I am just struck again with the cry that comes from the whole heart:

Vs 2, 10 - the psalmist is seeking God with his whole heart

Vs 34 - the psalmist searches God's Word - or Law with his whole heart

Vs 58 - the psalmist seeks God's favor and blessing with his whole heart 

Vs 69 - the psalmist seeks to obey God with his whole heart

Vs 145  - the psalmist cries out to God with his whole heart

In verses 7, 8, 15, 16, 93 we can see how the psalmist focuses his heart on God and sets his course to accomplish these goals with his whole heart. Once he has committed his whole heart to God, He is able to set his will and run with God:

• I will praise - Praise Him through the Word - it sets your heart on the right course

• I will keep your Word - obey God's Word

• I will meditate - study and reflect on God's Word

• I will delight myself - give yourself to the enjoyment of God's Word

• I will not forget - train yourself to keep God's Word in your heart and thoughts - don't forget what He has said in His Word - remember

This wonderful Psalm basically unfolds from here - it is a psalm totally dedicated to the power and wonders of God's Word in our lives. Those five little foundations (praise, obedience, meditation, delighting, remembering) make the rest of the psalm possible.

The the psalmist is able to accomplish these "I wills" - look at the results of setting our hearts on the right course...and following with the will:

V32 I will run the course of Your commandments
V44 I will keep Your Law (also vs 69, 145)
V45 I will walk in freedom (liberty)
V46 I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings
V47 I will be delighted by Your commandments
V48 I will meditate in Your statutes (v78)
V81 I will quietly and confidently hold onto the Word

Father, I thank You for Your Word today

how wonderful is Your work in my heart

through this faithful companion!

15 

7 Things to do With Your Whole Heart

This morning I have been reading of God's call to us - to engage with Him with our whole heart. I found 7 things in the Old testament that the Lord calls us to do with our whole heart:

Praise Him with your whole heart: Ps. 9:1 I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
(Ps. 111:1; 138:1)

Seek Him with your whole heart: Ps. 119:2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart! (Ps. 119:10)

Search His Word with your whole heart: Ps. 119:34
 Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.


Seek His favor and blessings with your whole heart: Ps. 119:58  I entreated Your favor with my whole heart; Be merciful to me according to Your word.

(NASB I sought Your favor with all my heart)

Obey Him with your whole heart: Ps. 119:69 The proud have forged a lie against me, But I will keep Your precepts (obeyed Your commandments) with my whole heart.


Cry out to Him with Your whole heart: Ps. 119:145 I cry out with my whole heart; Hear me, O Lord! I will keep Your statutes.

Turn to Him with your whole heart: Jer. 24:7 Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.

Summed up by the greatest of all commands: Mark 12:33 "...And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."