Thursday, July 23, 2020

Scripture for the Day
Psalm 119:129-136

Your decrees are wonderful;
therefore my soul keeps them.
The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.
With open mouth I pant,
because I long for your commandments.
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
as is your custom toward those who love your name.
Keep my steps steady according to your promise,
and never let iniquity have dominion over me.
Redeem me from human 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 your law is not kept.

Continuing the acrostic poem that is Psalm 119, today’s selection offers a collection of guiding words to help us continue to follow God. In first part of this reading, we are reminded that God’s decrees are wonderful, that God’s word gives light, that God turns to and is gracious to us. Among these declarations, the psalmist longs for God’s commandments to the point of panting. In these hot summer days we know what it is like to pant. It is almost as soon as your foot crosses the threshold from your home to the outside that the humidity and heat enter your lungs and force a gasp of air from you. It is not a comfortable breath. It is the first realization that it is so much hotter than we remember it being two hours ago. Or that despite the sun having gone down already, it is still so hot.

I hear the psalmist panting in a different way. With all of the closing verses, the psalmist stitches together an image of why they long for God’s commandments. In this portion, we are reminded that we need God’s help to keep our steps steady, that iniquity tends to rule us, that human oppression is something we experience, that God’s law is not kept. With all of these statements, the psalmist’s pants echo louder in my imagination. How exhausting it is to try to fully understand and seek God’s justice. We see around us and within us the ways that God’s law is not kept and we know too much about iniquity in our society. Oh, how we try to walk God’s path for us, but so many things pull us from it. The psalmist is tired. We are tired. The work of justice is a slow grind, albeit with some bursts of movement through history. As we continue to cry in the face of injustice, may God’s face shine upon us so that we might be beacons of light in the world. As we continue to listen to God’s light-giving words and wonderful decrees, may we know that God turns to us and is gracious to us, as is God’s custom. Amen.