Psalm 119:73-80 (NRSV)
Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.
Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice,
because I have hoped in your word.
I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right
and that in faithfulness you have humbled me.
Let your steadfast love become my comfort
according to your promise to your servant.
Let your mercy come to me, that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
Let the arrogant be put to shame,
for they have subverted me with guile; as for me, I will meditate on your precepts.
Let those who fear you turn to me,
so that they may know your decrees.
May my heart be blameless in your statutes,
so that I may not be put to shame.
Devotion
Psalm 119:73-80 contains two distinct messages for me.
Verse 76. “Let your steadfast love become my comfort according to your promise to your servant.” As I have shared before in my Lenten devotional, I had great difficulties with my parents in my upbringing, and I continue to try to sort these out. Just the other day I gained a deeper understanding of how badly I suffered from my mother’s neglect, creating in me a profound sense of emptiness. Only a few moments after this realization, as I walked down the street to my mailbox, I found that for the first time in my seven years at my current address all the bushes along the way had burst forth in magnificent beauty, radiating aliveness and vibrancy. I have no doubt that the Lord was offering me comfort in the time of my distress and the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of His world.
Verse 73. “… give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.” I recently reread the book of Job, and was reminded that, facing the terrible things that can happen in our world, we must acknowledge that the Lord’s works are vastly beyond our comprehension and sometimes we simply need to accept the world as it unfolds. Verse 73 instructs us to understand the Lord’s commandments for our behavior – without at the same time imagining that we can possibly understand the totality of the Lord’s command of the universe.
Prayer
Lord, in this complex and often confusing world in which we live, help us never to forget the love you make continually available to us. Your love is a beacon for our behavior every moment of our lives.
Brien Benson