Good morning,
The Bible is the greatest book ever written. It tells us how the world began, how it will end, and its complete history. It tells us about life and death. It tells us why there is so much wickedness in the world. It tells us of the love of God. It explains what sin is and why we need a Savior.
The greatest chapter of the Bible dealing with God’s word is Psalm 119. The 176 verses are divided into twenty-two groups of eight verses each. The first group of eight begin with the Hebrew letter aleph. The next eight verses begin with the Hebrew letter beth. This pattern continues throughout the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Psalm 119:161-168 Rejoice in the word
“Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.
162 I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.
163 I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.
164 Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.
165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
166 Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.
167 My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly.
168 I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee.”
The culmination for the Psalmist is rejoicing because of the word of God. He says his heart is in awe of the word. He rejoices, loves, praise, and kept the word. He uses love three times to describe his relationship to the word.
How often do we react that way about God’s word? Is it that precious to us? Or is it just another book on our bookshelf that we dust off each Sunday for church.
Yet our Bibles have everything we need to know about where we came from, why we are here, where we are going, and how we are going to get there. Cradle to grave. Sinner to saint. Death to life. Hell or heaven.
Why would we not rejoice over God’s precious word?
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001
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