Psalm 119

Sunday's Bible Reading: Psalm 119

As I was reading Psalm 119, I kept thinking about the woman from Rockford who fell 500 feet to her death on Saturday after stepping over a stone retaining wall at Tower Falls while visiting Yellowstone National Park. Spokesman Al Nash was quoted as saying "it was not unusual for people to step over it to get photographs."

She wanted a good picture to remember her vacation. Instead her family has a terrible image they will never forget.

Other tourists stepped over that wall, snapped their pictures, and went on with their vacation. They saw it as an inconvenience, not something to respect. They ignored the barrier set up to protect them but suffered no consequences.

The law of God is like that retaining wall. We see it as an inconvenience, something to "step over," even though it's meant to protect us. Sometimes we seem to get away with our indiscretions. We might even get a "good picture." But we're endangering our lives and jeopardizing the well-being of others.

Psalm 119 is about loving and obeying God's law . . .

I will always obey your law,
tabfor ever and ever.
I will walk about in freedom,
tabfor I have sought out your precepts.
I will speak of your statutes before kings
taband will not be put to shame,
for I delight in your commands
tabbecause I love them.
I lift up my hands to your commands, which I love,
taband I meditate on your decrees. —Psalm 119:44-48

More verses from Psalm 119 . . .

I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.
tab—Psalm 119:32
Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
tab—Psalm 119:35
I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes.
tab—Psalm 119:59
I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.
tab—Psalm 119:101
I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
tab—Psalm 119:104-105
[B]ecause I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.
tab—Psalm 119:128
Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.
tab—Psalm 119:133
Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
tab—Psalm 119:165

PRAYER: Loving Father, stepping over a small retaining wall seems so harmless. So does ignoring some of your "small" laws. Thank you for your mercy in keeping me from falling into the abyss time after time. May I not presume upon your goodness by assuming that you will always protect me from my carelessness.

Jim Samra's sermon on Sunday was a further reminder of the importance of the footsteps that we choose.
A Father's Footsteps, sermon by Jim Samra