I love the Psalms but most of all I love Psalm 119. It is THE LONGEST PSALM and is equal in length to 22 Psalms.
I often read the Psalms to my children because I wanted to soak them in Scripture. It would take me around a half hour to read Psalm 119. I have heard of people memorizing this precious Psalm. I am not one of them.
In his book, The Golden Alphabet, Charles Spurgeon says, "Nor is it long only; for it equally excels in breadth of thought, depth of meaning, and height of fervour."
If you read this psalm and meditate deeply in its riches, you will not think it shallow but with an ocean of depth abounding in spiritual repetitions and redundancies. Those who have studied each line of this hymn, carefully are amazed at the variety and profundity of thought.
The more you read this psalm, the better and sweeter it becomes. The more you see the gracious heart in the words and heart of the one who penned it, the more you will grow in graciousness yourself.
This psalm is alphabetical. Eight stanzas start with the same letter, and then another eight with the next letter until all twenty-two letters in the Greek alphabet have been used.
This psalm has depths that I cannot express as I am no theologian. I am on a journey by grace to learn thanksliving as I draw nearer to my God, abiding in Jesus as I learn to walk in the fruit of JOY.
Taking eight verses at a time, I will seek to JOYfully abide in Christ as I WholeHeartedly serve my husband and family at home.
If I fall short, I will get up on another day, rolling up the shades of thanksliving in the grace God gives me to start again.
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~Judith~
I love what Spurgeon said - so true!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this post. I think I shall open my Bible and read Psalm 119 today :)
Happy Weekend, my friend!
Hugs,
Stephanie
Thanks Stephanie...and you have a wonderful weekend too!!
ReplyDeleteI loved the Psalms. I love that you read them to your children. I love Proverbs too and used to read a chapter every day. I really need to get back in the habit of that. Much wisdom in that book. Well, in every book of the Bible!
ReplyDeleteI miss reading to my children but cherish those memories. The Psalms has brought me so much comfort when it was needed. Thanks Nan :-)
ReplyDeleteI knew this was an acrostic, but I didn't know each letter had 8 verses. What a wonderful idea to meditate and pray through each section at a time.
ReplyDeleteI loved how you described the Psalms as "an ocean of depth." when I'm going through difficult times the Psalms are a source of infinate comfort and strength.
The Psalms carried me through some deep waters for over 5 years. They have a way of uplifting me. Thanks Mindy.
ReplyDeleteHi Judith, how was your Holiday :)
ReplyDeleteIt was wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteI did a literature unit on Psalms a while back in our home school co-op English class. It has a lot of information on Psalm 119 and the Hebrew alphabet that the acrostic uses. You can find some of it on one of my old classroom assignment supplement blogs here: http://providenceenglish.blogspot.com/2011/08/psalms.html
ReplyDeleteThanks Virginia. You have so much information on your blogs!!
DeleteOur family and church plant have been memorizing Psalm 119 together for some time now, eight verses per month. It's definitely had a big impact on our lives. And to our surprise, the best memorizer among us has turned out to be my daughter Andrea, who is up to verse 136. Andrea has Down syndrome; she'll be eleven years old in April.
ReplyDeleteWe're putting together a website (memorizepsalm119.com) to share with those who may be interested in memorizing the psalm. It's not fully functional yet, but you may find it worth checking out--especially Andrea's page.