Psalm 119:1-8 – Cultivate a desire to be true to God’s way

Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm with 178 verses. It is a 22-stanza Acrostic Psalm of eight verses in each stanza. Every stanza begins with a Hebrew Alphabet. Hence at the beginning of each stanza we will see a Hebrew Alphabet. Except for verses 84, 90 and 132, every verse would have a word relating to the Law of the Lord such as: Commandment, Judgement, Word, Precepts, Law, Saying, Statutes, Way, Testimonies and Faithfulness.

In a real sense, Psalm 119 expends on Psalm 19:7-14. The whole Psalm tells us the importance of the Law or the Word of God, and call on us to meditate and heed its instructions. One very interesting fact is that in one way or another, God is mentioned in every verse. Interspersed throughout the Psalm we see the author praying or expressing his wish to God. It is difficult to bring a systematic outline of Psalm 119 because of the wide variety of thoughts the Psalmist had, concerning the Word of God. Let us meditate on this Psalm stanza by stanza.   

The first 8 verses state the blessedness of those who choose to live their lives walking in the Word of God. We must take note of the verbs used, in verses 1-3, to describe how we believers should live the word of God. Not only must we walk according to the Law of the Lord, but also to observe His testimonies, meaning divine attestation or witness. We must also diligently seek Him with our heart. This suggests that we must not come flippantly and careless in life, but to seek to know God and have an experiential knowledge of Him. Verse 3 calls on us to depart from unrighteous ways and to stay on course in God’s ways.    

Verses 4-8 tell us that in His Word, the Lord had appointed His precepts or divine principles and we are to keep them diligently. Like the Psalmist, let us determine to be true to God’s ways and be established in what He had stipulated in the Word. In fact, obedience to His commandments will ensure that we develop a stable life. And the right response to God, for His guidance when we rightly discern His ways, is to be grateful to Him. The Psalmist then made a prayer of dedication to keep all that God had stipulated in HIs Word and ended with a call for God not to desert Him. It’s a desire for God to stay close and near to him, and so must this be our desire, so that we can stay on course in the journey of life.