Psalm 119:5-6 We Cannot Keep What We Do Not Have.

Scripture:
Oh, that my ways may be established
To keep Your statutes!
Then I shall not be ashamed
When I look upon all Your commandments. -Psalm 119:5-6, NASB

Observation:
-if only it were a way of life for me to follow God's way rather than mine...then I would never be ashamed of anything I have done

The Milky Way. Credit: Rensselaer Polytechnic Insititue

Application:
Well, that seems pretty straightforward.  I looked up the word "established" and found it to be rather convicting.  I came across the following:
-to put (someone or something) in a position, role, etc., that will last for a long time. -
-to make firm or stable
-to put on a firm basis
-to put into a favorable position
-to put beyond doubt
-to begin or create (something that is meant to last a long time)

 Synonyms for established include:
-entrenched, settled, traditional, fixed, ingrained, rooted, secure, set, stable, vested, deep-rooted, permanent, unshakable.

That paints a pretty good picture of what the psalmist is saying here.  When I read these verses it comes across to me almost as a plea, "Oh, if only I would make Your ways the unshakable ways of my life.  If I would just walk in them I would never be put to shame;  I would never cringe when I came to read Your words, Your commandments."  

I was reading a little bit about the Puritans and how they meditated on Scripture.  That word "meditation" has taken on a lot of different meanings over the years.  For the Christian it can only mean one thing: we meditate on God's Word.  It is not an emptying of our minds in order to hear something divine.  Rather, it is a filling of our minds with the sweet words found in our Bibles.  It is coming to sit with those words and consider them, and pray for understanding of them, then pray that we allow those words to change us into the women God intends us to be.  That kind of meditation is truly transforming and the only kind that the Christian should engage in.  


Look at the photo I posted.  When you step outside at night and look up into the sky you may see a star or two shining bright.  If you live somewhere in the country as I do then  as your eyes adjust you may even see the milky way and marvel at all the stars you can see across the night sky.  Now if you have an amazing telescope at your disposal, look at the view you can get.  If all I do is let my Bible sit on its shelf or coffee table it is just as when I first step outside at night.  Perhaps I hear a good sermon or pick it up and do a l little reading.  I see a little more, maybe even a "milky way" type view.  But when I take time to sit with a couple of verses my understanding truly grows beyond anything I could have imagined.  It is like I have focused that telescope on a particular part of the sky and can see more than I could have imagined.  And the amazing thing?  There is still more out there to see, still more beyond our current capability.  I truly believe that I could continue to read my Bible everyday for the rest of my life and only get a glimpse of all that it contains.  The depths of its riches are far beyond my imagining.  I can read the same verses year after year and still I learn more, I see that which I did not the previous year.  

The image is from the European Space Agency. It is listed as the LH 95 star forming region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The image was taken using the Hubble Space Telescope. Image used in accordance with Commons License.

So let us be a people who meditate on God's words.  Let us be a people who establish our ways upon the words we find in our Bibles so that we will have nothing to be ashamed of.  May our journey be as rich and beautiful as the universe God has created. May He give us eyes to see deep into the "hidden things."

Grace, Peace, and Mercy,
Deb