Psalm 119: 41-48: His Word Secures us

Psalm 119:41 “Lord, give me your unfailing love, the salvation that you promised me.” (NLT)
Psalm 119:48 “I honor and love your commands. I meditate on your decrees.” (NLT)

I recently had the opportunity to go on a camping trip next to a lake in Northeast Texas. As I was setting up my small tent and preparing my spot, the wind decided that it was going to have some fun. I would have my tent positioned how I wanted it and the wind would catch it and blow it across the grounds and I would have to chase after it again. Oh yes! The wind thought this a very merry game and the birds had a wonderful laugh at my expense. Finally I managed to position the tent and jab a peg into the ground to hold it somewhat while I finished the job. Once I had the tent pegged down, no matter how hard the wind blew, my tent would not move in any direction.

That tent peg imagery hold true in this section of this Psalm. Every line in this section of the psalm begins with the Hebrew letter “Vav” which literally means “peg” or “hook.” It represents more than that though. To the early Israelites, the letter “Vav” as used in this passage had a direct representation of the pegs and hooks used to hold the Tabernacle together! As I studied this, I came to see that David was comparing God's word to the very small, very mundane items that held His house together! God's steadfast precepts was the very thing that held David's world together! Because of God's continuous trustworthiness and steadfast word, David (and later Mordeccai, Esther, Daniel and his three friends, Ezekiel, Ezra, Saul/Paul and others) were able to freely walk before kings and emperors without shame or embarrassment and give witness and testimony to the mighty nature of our Lord!

The Lord's way, His word and precepts provide a way of freedom - freedom from self-righteousness and self-consciousness, freedom from the bondage of normal and ordinary life, freedom from sin, shame, and worry. God's instructions allow us to answer any who question or taunt us because of our beliefs. His love and salvation win out every single time no matter what the situation or problem may be! “In God We Trust” has been engraved on the coins and currency of the United States since 1864, a tacit declaration from the nation at that time, a nation plagued by civil war and the depredations it caused, that only God was trustworthy enough for the entire nation, and that God would provide. It was a declaration that God was the only thing that would keep the US together. You can hear many believers throughout the world claim that “To know God is to love God, to love God is to trust Him” and they trust Him indeed with all things. The majority of the world live day to day relying on God's great provisions for their lives and they claim that He has met every single one of their needs in a unique and exciting way. When people start giving testimony about the Lord's work in their lives, you always hear how He has broken them and then remade them and holds their lives together in a miraculous way, providing everything from health and home to ballgame tickets and RV's. To them, to me, to us, the Lord has proven time and time again that his word holds us all together and secures us to the solid Rock that is His Son, Christ Jesus. Because of this we can honor, love and obey His commands because we know just how wonderful and amazing they are!

Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life,
Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life;
Words of life and beauty teach me faith and duty.
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life,
Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful word