His Word

“Forever, O Lord,
Your word is settled in heaven.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
You established the earth, and it abides.
They continue this day according to Your ordinances,
For all are Your servants.
Unless Your law had been my delight,
I would then have perished in my affliction.
 I will never forget Your precepts,
For by them You have given me life.” – Psalms 119:89-93

There is art of God’s word.  Today I stumbled upon the meaning of an “acrostic Psalm”.  Psalms 119 is an acrostic Psalm.  It is divided into 26 sections – one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  The names of the letters are given as headings for each section, starting with Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, He, Waw, and continuing.  Each section is exactly 8 verses long.  Perhaps it’s my natural desire to organize and label things, but I enjoy knowing this!  God’s word in this chapter is so organized, nice and neat.

But this Psalms is also rich in many of the verses and ideals we hear often in songs, such as:

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” – Verse 105

“You are my hiding place” – Verse 114
“Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” – Verse 11
“Your word has given me life” – Verse 50

The Psalm also paints beautiful analogies with deep meanings, such as:

“Rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law.” – Verse 136
“I have gone astray like a lost sheep” – Verse 176
“My soul clings to the dust” – Verse 25
“My soul melts from heaviness” – Verse 28

But these small things are not why I love reading God’s word.  Picture a woman left behind as her one true love goes to war.  She is alone, and her love has not yet returned.  She opens each letter she has from him and reads it, and re-reads it.  She cherishes each word, and ponders over small things, like why her love used the word “we” instead of “you” for hours.  She sits gazing into thin air, remembering the words, hearing his voice say them.  She learns more and more of him by re-reading the letters, and even reading between the lines.  She does all this because she longs for the day when her one true love will return.  That is why I love God’s word.  I know who wrote it, He is my one true love, and I know one day, He will return.  Until then, this is what I have to remember Him.

The passage from verses 89-93 speaks of how wonderful His Word is.  It says His word is settled in Heaven, meaning it is the final word with no arguments against it in Heaven, the home of Truth.  It says that He is faithful to all generations, not breaking His word.  There have been thousands of generations – but God has never failed a single one.  He does not lie.  He is Truth.

He established the earth thousands of years ago by His spoken word.  He spoke into existence light and dark, which control the life of vegetation on earth, and therefore all life as it is the source.  And today, it still remains because those spoken words still live on. He has not said “Day, don’t have light” or “Night, stop coating the world in darkness”, and so they continue from His words spoken from creation.

His Word, which stands even now, hundreds of years after it was written, and is still the all-time best seller.  Why?  Because it is alive, and for us, it brings truth and life.  When we are in affliction from our sins, separated from Him, it is His word, read alone or spoken from the pulpit, which gives us life and reconnects us with Him until He returns. 

Thank you God, for your beautiful Holy Word.