Psalm 119 - Scripture

Introduction into the "whys" and "wherefores" of Holy Scripture

Author: Randy Pritts

What do we need to know about the Holy Scriptures that would be relevant to us in this present generation? The answer is likely much different according to the scriptures than any of us currently would expect. We begin our investigation by briefly diving into the bible's longest chapter, determining what it says about itself.

Todays' Text:

First Glance

Already in the first eight verses, we are presented a reasonable list of items one should expect Holy Scriptures to contain: there being what is called "the way", "the law of the LORD", "his testimonies", "precepts", "statutes", "commandments", and "thy righteous judgments". In the English, these items might sound as if they are all speaking of the nearly the same thing. In the original Hebrew however, each these items listed convey a very isolated and identifiable thing; perhaps similar, but relating a crucial aspect of the overall thing.

In conjunction with this first list, we see list of personal actions and considerations developing: to be "undefiled", to "walk" in, to "keep" (or guard/protect), to "do no iniquity", "keep diligently", be "directed to keep", to "not be ashamed in respect to all", to "praise with an uprightness of heart", to "learn of" etc... So not only do these Holy Scriptures contain these God given items (ways, laws, testimonies, precepts...) there is also a reasonable expectation on our part of how best we should react. The question presented throughout all of the scriptures comes down to whether anyone of any time before us has been able to react to these items in the best prescribed way, even the most religious of us?

Notice in the first verse it is stated "Blessed are the undefiled in the way". Who of us has ever done that? been "undefiled" in one sense or another in "the way" and are continuing still? "Who walk in (not trailing behind or in some imagined proximity to) the law"? Again in verse two it is written "Blessed are they that keep his testimonies"; kept them in the weight and shape and perspective they were given us to be held? Worse yet, who is it that fully "seek him with the whole heart"?

It may seem like a simple thing, LORD just give us your top ten commandments, and we'll make sure to do them. Turns out not to be so simple. Not only do you have the the kind of people who from the outset refuse to do them and those who only do so when convenient, you also have the type that will take those ten to the extreme (or make it appear as if they do) when all in all they are just as defiled in "the way" as all the rest. It can get to the point as it did in the case of the Pharisees with Jesus that they grow so legalistic in their obedience that they justify themselves murdering Jesus their very "come in the flesh" LORD and Savior". Certainly then, there is much more to the Holy Scriptures then just the 10 or 620 commandments, there is also the seeking of God on his terms with one's "whole heart".

There is a sense of this complication already in verse 6 "Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments". By insisting upon the washing of hands and the keeping of Sabbath and minute details of the Pharisetical life, these men lost sight of the much bigger picture of God's righteous plan. Now there is much for them to be ashamed of, even while sticking to the hundreds of smaller obediences that they did stick to.

"O forsake me not utterly" v8

For many souls not yet attuned to the "whys and wherefores" of these scripture, perhaps scripture makes God to look as if always judgmental and condemning. There is a problem most definitely within us that needs our urgent addressing. That being said, there hundreds of years often times between when God speaks, when the people dig their own trap and fall into it, and when HE reaches down with HIS undeserved mercy, pulls them back into HIS good graces. It is as if HIS loving kindness warns them far in advance of the problems and the consequences, sends them wise kings or prophets to help steer them away from it, comes back instantly upon whole hearted confession and repentance. What kind of towering ogor could this God be? There then is an importance that Scripture must address, not only in the giving of law and direct commandment, but also the much bigger pictures of interactive testimony, time frames, multiple perspective, guiding principals, narrative of man's experience and experiences with HIM while confronted by HIS "righteous judgment". It is the combination of all these things that bring about the sought for "whys and wherefores" of scripture.

Shall we say it is the synthesis of all these scripture related things that works upon the heart of mankind, both as groups and individuals, male and female, Israelite and worldly Gentile. Furthermore, it does not pretend to make the heart achieve to it's own perfection, but to a perfection that is only accomplish-able in relation to Jesus it's Christ. One might ask "how is it that I am not utterly forsaken if these things and their correction are fully beyond my personal or religious grasp". The "how" is in the person of Jesus, the accomplishment of HIS diligent and intensified obedience, the purity of the Son's blood that the Father sacrificed alluded to in-front of Abraham and Isaac atop that very same mount, the raising of His lifeless body to the right-hand of God's throne, first born from the grave and evermore preeminent.

"Blessed are the..."

The relevance of the Holy Scripture in our present generation has to do with the objective of being the "blessed" (ultimately happy/fulfilled). What generation is there that does not wish for it's ultimate happiness/fulfillment? Despite it's historic prosperity and personal self worth, our present generation is not happy nor is it in the slightest regard fulfilled. This generation perhaps like no other has chosen to abandon the precepts/statutes/testimonies/commandments of Scripture, deciding to devise and rely upon it's own formulations of "blessedness" instead. There is a blessedness envisioned of my happiness being the outcome of oneness to the rest. There is a blessedness envisioned of my own making and pursuing that which makes me the happiest the most. Neither require that there be a God. Neither require that God correct us or set us on an entirely different path. Evidence proves that the further we go down that path, the unhappy the vast majority of us get.

The testimony of the ions recorded here in the scriptures proves to us this fact as well. If the question is "can man be ultimately happy without there being a strong resemblance of relationship to God" the answer has been substantially proven over multiple generations "absolutely not". Oh, it can be fun and pleasurable to attempt to do such, but fun and happiness are not cut from the same cloth.

Now it is a much different question to ask "if I personally can be happy without God". That would depend on how much or how little you wanted to be happy, what to you happiness in it's ultimate state would mean. One man's happiness could bring another man's dearth. The first question was presented as mankind's happiness, the second as an individual man's. Both in the end are ultimately important. Neither then can be adopted if they be not ultimately in the hands of an ultimately merciful and righteous God.

"...when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.." v7

"With uprightness of heart" is where the pursuit of this all must begin. When will the uprightness of heart begin? It begins "when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments". When counted individually or as a whole, every judgment of God past/present/future should be considered by us to be righteous. That may not mean we can immediately explain to another how each judgment is ultimately righteous, but that until such time as we can explain them we will hold them in the logical probability of being ultimately righteous.

The frequent reading and study of the Holy Scriptures offers us case by case studies of what we do know to be righteous. We have been taught from and have learned that. From that basis, further righteous claims can be hoped on and extended. The infinite mind operates at an entirely different level than the finite. Yet, it seems that through scripture the infinite has gone far out of its' way to reveal and prove itself to us (at least enough to our finite understanding). That fact alone in and of itself is righteous.

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