“Understanding”
Psalm 119:169-170
Let my cry come before You, O LORD; give me understanding according to Your Word! Let my plea come before You; deliver me according to Your Word.
All of Psalm 119 is a song and a prayer filled with love and praise for God’s Law, for His Word, and His teachings. Every verse speaks of God’s commands, Word, testimonies, statutes, or precepts. In our verses for today, the psalmist pleads for understanding according to God’s Word. That is our prayer, too, and it is a prayer that was answered before we spoke it. God wants us to understand His Word and His will for our salvation. He wants us to live in a way that glorifies Him and serves as a witness to others of His love. He gave us the inspired, sacred writings that are able to make us wise “for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” His holy Word is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (see 2 Timothy 3:15-16). The Scriptures were written “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name” (John 20:31).
The psalmist also prays that God would deliver him according to His Word. That is our prayer, too, and it is another prayer that God has answered. He sent His Son, the Word made flesh, into the world. During His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus taught people about the kingdom of God and about His Father’s Word and will. The Savior delivered people according to His powerful Word of authority, forgiving their sins, casting out demons, healing the sick, and giving sight to the blind. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus delivered us from sin and death. His saving acts were foretold in the Scriptures. Giving understanding to the disciples on the way to Emmaus, Jesus said, “‘Everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem'” (Luke 24:44b-47).
Delivered by our Savior, the Word made flesh, we continue to seek understanding through the study of the Scriptures. We pray that with the help of the Holy Spirit, our thoughts, words, and actions would glorify the name of Jesus. God promises that His Word will accomplish His purpose and succeed in the thing for which He sends it (see Isaiah 55:11). He sent His Son, the Word made flesh, to deliver us and our crucified and risen Lord fulfilled His Father’s purpose. God gives us the Scriptures so that we might understand His will and His ways, and in that, too, the inspired Word will accomplish its purpose.
We Pray:
Lord God, guide me and give me understanding as I study Your Word.
Amen.
Written by Dr. Carol Geisler.
Reflection Questions:
1. How can God be glorified in the everyday, mundane activities we do every day?
2. What does God’s Word deliver us from?
3. In what ways does God open our minds to His direction for our lives?
Today’s Bible in a Year Reading:
2 Chronicles 23; Joel 2-3; 2 Corinthians 10