His Encouragement — Psalm 119 Series – The Christian Fiction Girl

Welcome to His Encouragement Thursday!

This week I am going to continue my 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: 129-136

Pe (pronounced “pay” and sounds like the “p” in park)

Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.

The unfolding of Your Words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

I open my mouth and pant, because I long for Your commandments.

Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is Your way with those who love Your Name.

Keep steady my steps according to Your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.

Redeem me from man’s oppression, that I may keep Your precepts.

Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes.

My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep Your Law.

Psalm 119 is all about hearing and doing the Scriptures.

The Aaronic blessing goes like this:

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”
Numbers 6: 24-26

To me, this is one of the most beautiful prayers in the entire Bible. What’s even more beautiful than the prayer itself is that God told Moses to tell Aaron, as High Priest, to tell His people this prayer. In other words, this is God’s prayer to His children. God wants His kids to know that He wants to bless us and keep us. He wants to look down on us as a proud Papa and pour His grace out to us. And He wants to lift His face upon us and grant us His perfect peace. I don’t know about you, but these words comfort me to no end. God truly is a good, good Father.

So, why am I bringing up the Aaronic blessing? Because the psalmist in 119 does!

The 17th letter in the Hebrew alphabet is the letter Pe. In Hebrew, Pe means “mouth.” This 17th stanza of Psalm 119 is all about the WORDS we choose to follow. For the psalmist, he chooses God’s Words — His commandments, statutes, testimonies, Law, etc. Why does the psalmist choose God’s Words? Because this man longs for God to turn to him and be gracious to him (ln. 132). Because he desires God’s face to shine upon him (ln. 135). Because the psalmist knows that if God turns to him and makes His face shine upon the psalmist, then the psalmist will have understanding, strength, knowledge, redemption, LIGHT, and PEACE.

The psalmist knows that the WORDS that come from God’s pe (His mouth) are life. Look at what happens when people turn from God’s Words — in this stanza, the psalmist is brought to tears and anguish because he knows what lies ahead for them — deception, ignorance, sin, oppression, and death.

So, the question to truly ponder today is this: whose WORDS do you choose to study, consume, and obey?