Trust and Obey (Medium Reading)

Today's Medium Reading: Psalm 119
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Today I ready Psalm 119 in the paraphrased Living Bible. I felt this text provided an easier read for the longest psalm in Scripture, yet it also was a rewarding flow.

Many theologians have looked at Psalm 119 and tried to analyze a common theme. The length of the psalm makes it difficult to assign one particular observation. However, the general observations within the text are: the greatness of the law, the happiness of obedience, closeness to God, the desire for protection, and the desire for help.

As I read the psalm, I asked God to give me insight into the understanding of the passage and an application for me today. In answer to my prayer, God showed me an underlying theme in the Psalm.

The psalmist talks about his struggle to submit to the Law of God. He confesses that he has needed to be punished by God in order to truly appreciate the Law. He admits to walking away from God at times. Furthermore, he knows walking with God is the only way to true happiness. In verses 1 through 6 he writes of the happiness found in adherence to the law--the freedom from guilt.

While it is true, the psalmist wants to walk for God, he also reveals the difficulty of so doing. He describes his enemies, persecutors, and those who lay traps for him. He complains about feeling mocked by those who do not follow God. By his own prayer, we observe he was in poor health, oppressed, and angry with the people around him. There is a revealed fleshly side to the person who wants and proclaims to only obey the law.

In many respects, the psalmist is not that different than people today. We profess to want to follow God, we know that is the best for our lives, and yet we continually struggle with our flesh. In our flesh, we consider the opinions of man over those of God. We have a tendency to worry too much about our own well being. Furthermore, we allow anger and bitterness to rise in our hearts against those who have offended us.

If we are truly to follow God, we must give up everything to be his disciples. In the Gospels, Jesus makes it clear that if we do not completely surrender to God by dying to self, we are not fit to be his disciples. As the psalmist prays to God, he reveals his own heart and the baggage to which he is clinging. All the psalmist must do, all we must do, is let go and give our hurts, our desires, our struggles to Jesus.

Jesus will take away our burdens and the condemnation. Like the psalmist writes, we will experience the happiness and lack of guilt when we follow God in total surrender.