Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes,
and I shall keep it to the end.
Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of Your commandments,
for I delight in them.
Incline my heart unto Your testimonies,
and not for unjust gain.
Turn away my eyes from beholding worthlessness,
and revive me in Your way.
Establish Your word to Your servant,
so that You are feared.
Turn away my reproach that I dread,
for Your judgments are good.
Behold, I have a longing for Your precepts;
revive me in Your righteousness.
Psalm 119:33-40 (Modern English Version)
The Psalm 119 – He section is about allowing God to take action on our lives. The design of the letter speaks to action as well. The three lines of the letter represent the three garments of 
the soul, as Rabbi Raskin (2003) calls them, thought, speech and action. The top horizontal line is thought, the right vertical line is speech and the left short vertical line is action. Thought and speech are easy. Once a thought enters into our brains, it may come out rather easily as speech. The reason the line for action is short, is because action is difficult (ibid). We may think and talk about something, but it is much more difficult to put it into action. For example, I can dream and talk about climbing Mt. Everest, but to put it into action is very difficult.
In the ה section of Psalm 119, the Psalmist is asking God, really, in his zeal, commanding God, to order his life. (Notice how each line in this section begins with an imperative.) He so wants to live a righteous life, but knows that it is impossible to do so without God’s power and help. It seems that the Psalmist addresses the three garments of the soul in this section, guiding one to eagerly follow God’s ways.
Thought
Just as thought has to happen before speech and action, so thought is addressed in the first two stanzas of the ה section of the Psalm. The Psalmist begins by asking God to teach him His statutes. When we learn from a teacher, we are in an aspect, giving up our own will, or thought, and accepting another’s – the teacher’s. The Psalmist is saying, God, I am here to learn from You, teach me everything.
The Psalmist also asks for understanding. He says that he wants understanding so that he may keep God’s laws. This doesn’t mean, keep the letter of the law, but as the Psalmist clarifies, the law of the heart. God is more interested in our actions that come from having a pure heart, than our actions that come from keeping a law because we don’t want to be punished.
Speech
The Psalmist addresses the speech garment in the sixth stanza of the ה section when he asks God to establish Your word to Your servant, so that You are feared. We can’t develop into a holy Believer unless we know the Word of God.
Let’s go back to allowing God to teach us. When we learn a concept, we are remembering what the teacher said – we are remembering his/her words. The same stands true as we learn from God who He is, what His purpose for our lives is, and how we are to treat others. We need to be able to not only read God’s Word, but also meditate on it and memorize it. After all, what good is learning something only to turn around and forget it?
The second part of the stanza, so that You are feared, hones in on knowing who God is. The word ‘feared’ here, doesn’t mean afraid, but rather, in awe of. The more we understand who God is through His word that He gave us, the more we are in awe of God. We begin to realize how much God loves us and wants good to come into our lives. We learn through His Word how God’s timing is perfect and how He works for our benefit, even though we do not understand how and why. It is often only through hindsight that we can see how God has worked.
Action
I think it is no coincidence since action is the most difficult for us to do, the Psalmist asks God to act on his behalf. He asks God to lead his path, incline his heart, turn his eyes away from worthlessness, and turn away his reproach. Each of these actions is really impossible for us to do on our own strength, wisdom and knowledge. Only with God’s help can they be accomplished.
First, the Psalmist asks God to lead me in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in them. He understands that it is only in God’s ways that he can have a joyful life. Notice that the Psalmist delights in God’s commandments, and doesn’t see them as just a bunch of “can not’s.” This shows the condition of the Psalmist’s heart. He already understands that following God’s commandments leads to peace on earth and everlasting life in Heaven.
Next, the Psalmist asks God to incline my heart unto Your testimonies, and not for unjust gain. This stanza is easier to understand in the NIV. It reads: Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Again, we see how the condition of the heart is so important to God. God wants our heart to long for Him and His ways, and not to our own selfish desires. All too often, our own desires, though they may seem good at the time, will eventually corrupt our heart and lead to unhappiness. God really wants our hearts to be like His, full of kindness, compassion and gentleness. If all mankind’s hearts were so, then there would be heaven here on earth. However, seeing that Satan still roams this earth, we are often deceived concerning things of the heart, and what is the right thing to do. This is one reason God gave us his statutes: to show us how to properly treat others.
The third action the Psalmist asks God for is to turn away my eyes from beholding worthlessness, and revive me in Your way. In other words, he is asking God to lead him into pure living, and not to walk into temptation. We need to daily be aware that Satan wants us to sin against God and he will tempt us where we are weakest. We need to take steps to make sure we don’t put ourselves in situations that could lead us to sin. For example, I was a university professor. I made the policy for myself, that I would never close my office door if a colleague or student of the opposite sex was in my office. This way, there was no chance of any kind of impropriety, or even the look of any impropriety. We need to not only keep ourselves from temptation, but couple this action with meditating on God’s Word. When we fill up with His Word, we are reviving ourselves in the truth and the healthy way to lead our lives.
Finally, the Psalmist asks God to turn away my reproach that I dread, for Your judgments are good. Again, the Psalmist asks God to take away his disgrace. Possibly he is referring to the same disgrace or shame mentioned in the daleth section of this psalm. We don’t really know. However, we do know that God can take away our shame and vindicate us. He also takes away our sin through the blood of Jesus Christ so we no longer need to live with the guilt. Either way, we are set free to pursue the life God wants for us. Like the Psalmist, we need to trust in God’s faithfulness and promises for our lives.
As our trust and knowledge of God grows, our lives fulfill the meaning of this Hebrew letter, which is behold. Behold here holds the meaning of “Behold, this is our God (Raskin, 2003).” When we ask God to act on our thoughts, speech and actions, we become holy and our lives become holy in Him. It’s as if our lives are saying, “Behold, I see the revelation of God through meditating on Him, reading and understanding His Word, and experiencing His action in my life.”
Resources:
Chapoton, D. 2012. Edge of Escape: An Author’s Random Blogging.http://www.debrachapoton.com/2012/05/today-is-brought-to-you-by-hebrew.html
Raskin, A. 2003: Letters of Light. Sichos Publishers.
Photo credit:
My Eternal Journey. 2021. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v36et8DfoVY/T59mJWPGVFI/AAAAAAAAA0c/TWcEn13NcQY/s1600/hand-reaching-out1.gif
