A Daily Study of Psalm 119 (NKJV)
Meditations and Prayers Relating to the Law of God
“Psalms 119 is an acrostic to end all acrostics! There are twenty-two strophes (paragraphs), corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the strophes has eight lines (verses), and every one of the lines in each strophe begins with the appropriate Hebrew letter marking that stanza.” – Coffman(1)
Every paragraph contains these words pertaining to God’s Laws:
Law of the Lord or Your Word– Body of prophetic, legal and moral directives (Mosaic Law)
Testimonies – Witness (God never asks us to believe anything that He does not give us evidence (testimony) for.)
Precepts – Command or order respecting moral conduct
Statutes – Something prescribed, prescribed task
Commandments – order by authorities
Judgements – Act of deciding a case, ordinance
PSALM 119:161-168 E Shin (hebrew letter)
“Princes persecute me without a cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your word. I rejoice at Your word As one who finds great treasure. I hate and abhor lying, But I love Your law. Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments. Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble. LORD, I hope for Your salvation, And I do Your commandments. My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly. I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are before You.”
In your own Bible:
Hi-lite the “Law” words from the list above.
Underline the “I” and “my” phrases:
- :161 “my heart stands in awe”
- :162 “I rejoice”
- :163 “I hate”, “I love”
- :164 “I praise You”
- :166 “I hope”, “I do”
- :167 “My soul keeps”, “I love”
- :168 “I keep”, “my ways are before You”
Two “great” things are mentioned here. Put a box around:
- :162 “great treasure”
- :165 “great peace”
Circle the contrasting word, “but”. Consider what two things are being contrasted.
- :161 “but” – Princes persecute me, but I don’t stand in awe of God’s Word instead
- :163 “but” – contrasts what he hates/abhors and what he loves
Put brackets around the combining word “and”. Consider what things he is combining.
- :165 [and] – great peace/no stumbling
- :166 [and] – hope for salvation/doing His commandments
- :167 [and] – keeping His testimonies/loving them exceedingly
- :168 [and] – precepts/testimonies (look at the list above to remind yourself what these words mean)
In verse 164, “seven times a day” is not an exact number, but an expression of many times a day (write “many!” in the margin here)
In verse 167, “my soul” speaks to how deeply the Psalmist is determined to keep the testimonies.
Hi-lite:
- :168 “All my ways are before You”.
- Write the cross reference Psalm 139.
Psalm 139 is a beautiful poem about God seeing, knowing and loving everything about us. Consider also, Hebrews 4:24 and Proverbs 5:21. Where can we go that God is not there? Only in hell (prepared for the devil and his angels) is God’s presence not felt. Praise God for his Omni-presence in our lives!