His Encouragement — Psalm 119 Series – The Christian Fiction Girl

Welcome to His Encouragement Thursday!

This week I am going to begin a series on Psalm 119.

For those who may not know, Psalm 119 is broken down into 22 stanzas and each stanza begins with one letter from the Hebrew Alphabet. Each stanza is broken up into 8 verses for a total of 176 verses. It is the longest Psalm in the Psaltry. And, Psalm 119 is an example of an acrostic, which is a poem where the first letter of each verse spells out a word, message, or follows the alphabet. In this case, Psalm 119 follows the Hebrew Alphabet.

My goal with this series is not lofty. I am not an expert on Psalm 119. I just love its symmetry and message, and I want to share that with you over the next 22 weeks. Perhaps I will be able to share some insight, some interesting tidbits and facts, or just some thoughts on how the verses strike me. My true goal is that this series is an extra encouragement to you, and helps you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you. I hope you enjoy and are blessed!

Psalm 119: 41-48

Vav (the letter V)

Let your faithful love come to me, Lord, Your salvation, as You promised.

Then I can answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in Your Word.

Never take the word of truth from my mouth, for I hope in Your judgments.

I will always obey Your instruction, forever and ever.

I will walk freely in an open place because I study Your precepts.

I will speak of Your decrees before kings and not be ashamed.

I delight in Your commands, which I love.

I will lift up my hands to Your commands, which I love, and will meditate on Your statutes.

Psalm 119 is all about hearing and doing the Scriptures.

What struck me this week is the speaker’s loyalty to God. Specifically, I appreciate his bravery. He will speak of God’s Truth before kings and NOT be ashamed, or cowed, or scared, or insecure. The speaker’s courage comes from God’s Word. In God’s Word are truths and promises. There are pictures of God being faithful and His love enduring forever. This speaker is confident in God because in this speaker’s life, God’s love has always been faithful just as it is illustrated in God’s Word. That love the speaker experiences is enough to make the taunts of an enemy void. And, in that, the speaker is confident to stand up in front of kings and share the Gospel — God’s love, His promises, and His commands. Isn’t that beautiful?

I’m reminded of Matthew 10:32-33 where Jesus says, “…Everyone who will acknowledge Me before others, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in Heaven. But whoever denies Me before others, I will also deny him before My Father in Heaven.” I don’t know about you, but the idea of Jesus denying me in front of His Father, my Abba, makes me want to hyperventilate. But I also know that I can be quite the scaredy-cat. I get nervous about missing my opportunity to speak about Jesus. When a pastor proclaims in church that it’s my duty to get out into the world and spread the Gospel I break out into hives. I don’t ever want to disappoint God, and I never want Jesus to deny me, but I also don’t know how, or feel comfortable with, just walking into a room and randomly speaking about Jesus. God made me an introvert. Just walking into a room filled with people is 99% of the time difficult for me to do. So what do I do? How is someone like me brave for Jesus?

It all comes back to God’s love (verse 41). When God’s faithful love comes to us, we are capable of anything. God’s love is so powerful it can take a scared introvert like me and make me a warrior for Him. Knowing God’s Word gives me the strength to trust that in the right moment the Holy Spirit will give me the words I need to say (Luke 12:12) whether it be in a room full of people or for a blog post. When I trust in God’s faithful love, when I trust the Word in my Bible that I study daily, I, too, can become like the speaker in Psalm 119. Even I can stand before kings, talk about Jesus, and NOT be ashamed. In my weakness, God makes me strong. And, the same is true for you, too, dear reader. No matter your area of weakness, God’s love can make you strong too!