ON THE VANGUARD

PSALM 119:1-8
“You laid down your precepts for us to observe with care.”
Psalm 119:4

In December of 2007 I was given divorce papers. At the time we had been married a little over nine years and had a five year old and two year old. Although the marriage had many rough patches, the roughest times were still to come. It was in the few months following that I had to make many choices concerning my future. The biggest choice was whether or not I would still continue to follow after God. Statistics show that following divorce people do one of two things – they either run full force toward God or full force away from Him. Knowing that the divorce was not God’s fault, I had no problem running toward Him. Although not the choice of the general majority, it was the choice that I made, and the choice that prevented more pain than what could have been experienced.
After about a month of wandering through the Bible, hoping to find some magical words of wisdom for this ball of emotions I was feeling, I landed in Psalm 119. I figured that going verse by verse would not only take my mind off the situation some, but would also start to bring healing in these early stages. What I found, however, was that God was in every verse. I realize this sounds funny as God is named all throughout the Bible, but let me explain what I mean. In each of the 176 verses there is a word pointing toward God’s Word, be it Torah, precepts, commands, instructions, etc. No matter the word used, God is pointed to. This may sound silly, but in the state that I was in when I first started this study, I needed to know God with close to me.
As I continued to go verse by verse, looking up the English word and comparing it with the word and meaning in Hebrew, God began to minister His love to me. Coming out of a marriage where constantly I had felt under-appreciated, belittled, and rejected, it was a breath of fresh air to read and discover God’s love for me once again. And in reading I found boundaries. That is the main point of what I want to share with you today in this devotional. It is Psalm 119:4 that points out to us that we are to observe God’s precepts with care. Finding my old notes on this chapter recently, I recall writing what this verse means in using the original Hebrew language. “You have sent a messenger with Your mandates that are to be diligently obeyed.” May I be so bold as to ask, are we diligently obeying the mandates of our God? This is where we find the boundaries that keep us safe, that invite His love, and that prevent us from open doors to the enemy.
In closing today, I would like to continue in sharing with you, perhaps a more easier to read version of what exactly David is saying in the first eight verses of this poetic Psalm. It is my prayer that you will find His word changing you in your situation as I began to find Him doing so in my own.
“Blessed are they whose course of life is without blemish, who walk according to the decree of the LORD. Blessed are they who keep His warning charges and seek Him with all their center of life. They do no wickedness or perversion; they walk in His mode of action. You have sent a messenger with Your mandates that are to be diligently obeyed. Oh, that my course was established in obeying Your decrees. Then I would not be pale from shame and disappointed when I consider all Your precepts. I will lift my hands in praise to You with a straight center as I become skillful in Your right and prosperous privileges. I will obey Your commandments; do not quickly loosen Your grip on me.”