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Lamedh – v.89-91

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Memorization & Meditation – Lamedh ל as Worship

89Your ____, LORD, is _______;

  it stands ________ in the heavens.

90Your ______________ continues through all _______________;

  You _____________ the earth, and it __________. 

91Your ______ endure to this ______.

  for ____ things ________ You. 

Psalm 119:89-91

Questions:

  1. This psalm is about God’s __________(v89). What synonyms for this word are included throughout this Psalm? (Different translations will have different synonyms.)
  2. What is the nature and character of God’s Word (v89, 91)? What does it mean to “stand firm”?
  3. What word is used to describe God’s own character (v90)? 
  4. What words are used to describe the lengths of time (v89, 90, 91)?
  5. This Psalm describes God as having _________the earth (v90). This is another way of saying God is Creator.
  6. What phrase is used to describe present time (v91)? __________ How does this verse impact you?
  7. What conjunction is used to describe cause or reason (v91)? 
  8. What does “all things” mean or include (v91)? It seems obvious, but take a moment to reflect on this.
  9. What do “all things” do (v91)? Does this include you? Why or why not?
  10. These first three verses are the psalmist’s Statement of Faith. This kind of statement establishes a foundation of understanding concerning what one believes is true. What is your Statement of Faith?

Thoughts:

Sometimes, I doubt. Betrayal can cause a form of hypervigilance, an anxiety about who can and cannot be trusted. Sometimes this backwards retreat can spill over to a distrust of God’s Word, disbelieving His promises. Did I misunderstand those promises? Did I do something to cancel out God’s blessing such that the words of promise are erased from only my Bible? Sometimes, when prayers are not seen or felt to be answered in the way I hoped, I retreat from intimacy with God. I may take His commands to heart but not the hope. I can keep Him at a safe distance, believing with mental assent but somehow reserving a little place in my heart for those unanswered questions to solidify and turn my devotion cold.

But just like water that creeps into the cracks of a stone, God’s word continues to seep in a bit at a time. When the freeze hits, God’s word expands and opens the crack a little farther. I will momentarily depend on Him in crisis before the next thaw. If I keep reading God’s Word, rather than turning away from it altogether, more showers of blessing rain down and fill the void. A seedling of truth takes root within the slim vulnerable place and pushes the crack farther open—ever so slightly. More rain. More freeze. More seed growth.

At some key point in time, my “stony” heart gives way and crumbles open to receive God’s promise in full:

“And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart” (Ezekiel 36:26 NLT). 

It is not the anvil of God’s eternal word that gives way; it is I. God’s Word is eternal. His faithfulness is from generation to generation. 

Thomas, the faithful yet truth-seeking disciple and apostle, never had to touch Jesus’s pierced hands and feet to know that His Rabbi and Friend had not forsaken His word. Thomas only had to be in His presence and hear His voice of gentle yet firm command to wipe away all doubt and to bring him to his knees in awe and wonder. He followed through on his renewed faith with a life sacrificially dedicated to His Lord (John 20:24-29). Thomas found Christ faithful to His Word, even past the seeming finality of physical death. Thomas learned to trust again and found his own resurrection life. 

Have you felt that God has let you down? Have you felt that God’s promises are “evidently” not for you because you have not seen them fulfilled in the way they should have been (according to your understanding)? You are not alone. 

I don’t believe this psalmist would have even made this statement of faith if it hadn’t been in defiance of previous doubt. These words are stakes in the ground to stabilize the psalmist’s life. He had come to a point where there was no other hope but God alone. He remembered God’s faithfulness of the past and, by faith in the remembrance, he trusted that God would indeed remain faithful to the end. Can I relinquish my fear, anxiety, doubt and even depression to trust God again at His Word? With God’s help, yes. I can.

My response then, the newfound desire of my heart, is to follow the example of all the created world, including Thomas. I choose again to serve Him and ask no longer for sight, but only for more faith. God will do it:

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13)

“Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:13-14)

My Prayer:

Heavenly Father, Thank you for bringing these three verses to my attention. How easily I look to Your Word for help or guidance or for solace and comfort, and yet these give me pause to simply look to You in praise and gratitude. These truths are beyond my comprehension as a mortal soul—the magnitude of words like “eternity” and “enduring” is too great to grasp. I faint and fail to persevere, but Your Word yet endures. I doubt, and your mercy overwhelms my retreat. You have promised to give strength to the weary (Isaiah 40:30-31). You lift us up and help us to continue on each day (Psalm 40:2), no matter what that day holds, because You, Lord, endured to the cross for me and beyond the cross to Your glorious Resurrection (Hebrews 12:2). You now intercede for me at the throne of God (Romans 8:34; John 1:21; Hebrews 7:25)! I can now enter in to Your Peace—now as I seek You (Philippians 4:4-7), but in full on that Day when You come again to receive me into Your Heaven and all Your promises to me will be fulfilled utterly in joy (Rev. 22:1-7). I believe. I therefore pledge to persevere, for You are faithful and True (Rev. 19:11-16). I bow before You today with many deepest thanks. Whatever You command, I will to do it with Your help. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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