Thoughts on Psalm 119

I’ve noticed that I don’t blog much about the Psalms, so here I’ll write about my favorite one. The Psalm I am speaking of is Psalm 119, in my opinion one of the best descriptions of what a life close to God looks like. It is clear throughout all 176 verses (I know, it’s long), that the Psalmist doesn’t just know and believe in God, he’s completely in love with Him! David writes that time after time how much he loves God and His law, he writes that he “will hasten and not delay to obey [God’s] commands” vs. 60, and that “streams of tears flow from [his] eyes for [God’s] law is not obeyed” vs. 136. Imagine that, being so consumed with the love of God that you actually weep at the sight of the injustice in the world! And to those who dismiss David as someone who cries easily, well he was no wimp, serving as a shepherd fending off bears and wolves before ruling as king of Israel. Among the emotions that I feel after reading this Psalm, one of them is envy; I am envious of David’s closeness to God and his love for His law. I’ll admit there are many time when I fall short of God’s standard, but the thing is David did too. During his reign David had an affair with a neighboring woman, killed one of his soldiers, and led a dysfunctional family. How did he go from “there” to “here” one might ask? It is through God’s abounding love and grace alone that we can be fully healed and brought close to Him. David along with the rest of us, was far from perfect, but it was through the love of a perfect God that he repented of His sins and became one of the greatest symbols of faith.