Today’s passage: Psalm 119:161-176
Helpful thoughts:
- Sin/Shin
- Fear of man and fear of God are contrasted in these verses.
- Verses 161 and 165 need to be understood together. When we fear God and our ambition is to be pleasing to Him (2 Corinthians 5:9) we can have peace even when people are displeased with us.
- Taw
- When we read the Bible, we must read it to understand it as God intends.
- There is humility communicated in the final verse. When we remember that we have gone astray and are God’s children by His grace, our love for His Word only increases.
Questions to consider:
- Does the psalmist read the Bible seven times a day because he loves it so much, or does he love it so much because he reads it seven times a day (Verses 164 and 167)? Or…both? How can this encourage us? (The number seven could be figurative, this number is not suggested as a new law but to encourage a fulness of praise and study of God’s Word.)
- How does a humble approach to God’s Word help us to read and understand it better? When we come to the Word in pride, how might we misinterpret? How does the gospel message and the ministry of the Holy Spirit guide us into the truth?