I long for your salvation,
O Lord, and your law is my delight.
Let my soul live and praise you,
and let your rules help me.
Psalm 119:174-175 (ESV)
I’m homesick, God, for your salvation;
I love it when you show yourself!
Invigorate my soul so I can praise you well,
use your decrees to put iron in my soul.
Psalm 119:174-175 (The Message)
How often don’t we (me) rave on about nature and God’s beauty in all of creation?
How much more shouldn’t we find amazement in God’s Word?
Do we take the time to really meditate on the words written by our Lord?
Have we found them to be exceptional and glorious? And do we rave on about God’s Word as we read the Bible and cling to the words within the pages? God’s living word is alive and active like a two-edged sword! Do we talk about it, wonder at it, ponder it, and share it with a passion and a love for it?
God’s Word can be the light of our soul, our passion for living, and the encouragement of our hearts.
Have you allowed it to be all that and more? Is it the delight of your soul? Mine?
Do we long for God’s salvation (help, deliverance) as David did?
As you and I read the Bible do we love it when God shows himself through a verse that convicts, encourages, or comforts?
Do we make it our first love to spend time with God to find the rest and encouragement our souls’ need?
The English Standard Version of the Bible is the more accurate and theologically sound choice for daily reading of God’s Word, so I listed it first when outlining the Verse of the day today.
However, I love the paraphrase The Message Bible gives for Psalm 119:175…
‘ “Invigorate my soul so I can praise you well; use your decrees to put iron in my soul.”’
When we ask God to “invigorate” our souls, we are asking Him to give us strength and energy. We are seeking to be revived, rejuvenated, enlivened, motivated, encouraged, exhilarated, fortified, uplifted, and strengthened.
Doesn’t that picture make you want to go to God to be “invigorated?” That dictionary definition does its work in my corner of the world.
As much as we stand in awe of God’s majesty through nature and creation, all the more shall we be in awe of His living Word, the Bible!
It puts the pep in our step, the exhilaration in our daily living, the iron in our souls!
What does it mean the iron in our souls?
God’s Word makes us strong. His laws mean good for us, not harm. The Bible is an instrument that brings us strength and makes our way sure. When we follow God’s ways, we have a firm foundation, and nothing can shake us.
As we are “invigorated” by reading the Bible, we also learn to praise God well. It encourages our souls to the point we can’t keep it silent. We long to praise God well!
Is God’s salvation our delight? Is His Word our delight? Do we love His Word, His law? Do we praise Him while letting His decrees put iron in our souls?
Let us become rested and encouraged in the picture of what God’s Word means to our lives, today and every day, as we turn to it, meditate on it, and believe it with all our hearts, souls, and minds.
Prayer-
Dear LORD,
We thank you that YOU are the iron in our souls.
And that the Bible is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword.
YOU are the Word. YOUR living presence is in the WORDS on the pages!
YOU are our joy.
May our lives radiate YOUR glory.
For now and always.
Amen.