Tag Archives: Structure

Psalm 119: 41- 48 ו Waw – Hook, Nail, Peg

Psalm 119:41-48 ו Waw – Hook, Nail, Peg
41 May your UNFAILING LOVE come to me, Lord, your salvation, according to your promise;”
42 then I can answer anyone who taunts me, for I TRUST in your word.
43 Never take your word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my HOPE in your laws.
44 I will always OBEY your law, for ever and ever.
45 I will walk about in freedom, for I have SOUGHT out your precepts.
46 I will SPEAK of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame,
47 for I delight in your commands because I LOVE them.
48 I reach out for your commands, which I love, that I may MEDITATE on your decrees. [NIV]

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The mysterious Hebrew headings of Psalm 119 have been like directions from the plans of an Architect for a structure being built.  They each tell a backstory of the words that follow them.  Reading verses 41-48 right to left seems to personalize how these special “nails” secure the previous walls, doors and windows of the promised, personal shelter being built for God’s people…their salvation.

41 Your salvation Lord is according to your promise of UNFAILING LOVE to me
42 I TRUST in your word, I can answer anyone who taunts me
43 I HOPE in your laws, you never take your word of truth from my mouth
44 Forever and ever I will OBEY your law always
45 I have SOUGHT out your precepts, I will walk about in freedom
46 I will not be put to shame when I SPEAK of your statutes before kings
47 Your commands are my delight because I LOVE them
48 I MEDITATE on your decrees, I will reach out with love for your commands

Second Chance: I Peter 2

I Peter 2
√ Re·new·al: the replacing or repair of something that is worn out, run-down, or broken

2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house…9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

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God has designed our bodies from the inside out.  It’s a good design.  We have an internal structure that our entire body is built around.  We are born the first time with everything in miniature, a tiny skeleton along with tiny muscles and organs that all need to grow in relationship with one another. 

The second time we’re born it’s another version of miniature but still a new life.  We’re still “newborn babies” and still based on God’s original design..but this time we’re aware of life in relationship to God and equipped with faith to “grow up in your salvation.”  There’s a new structure that requires different muscles and organs; “your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength” that must grow in relationship with one another into the spiritual house God has designed you to be. 

This is God’s truth: ”you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”  Go big!

Whatever

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

My idea of “whatever” has changed in these four chapters. What began as more or less an acceptance of a negative circumstance has become a new idea.

“Whatever” happens in life, Jesus is the core of the faith God has given each of us. He is the “faith OF the gospel.” He IS the Word [Logos] that builds truth from a trusted book into a structure of personal faith, divine reason and creative order for daily life.

Philippians 4:8 is all I need to remind me to think about “whatever ” in a new and much bigger way.