As one reads the 176 verses of (Psalm 119) it becomes evident that the psalmist has a love affair with the Word of God. Over and over, he asks the Lord to teach him to obey and cherish His Word. And the psalmist in nine separate verses lets the reader know how much he delights in the Word of God.
But the thing that strikes me the most about this psalm is that the psalmist’s overarching theme is that he stands in awe and reverence for the Word of God. And I also believe that he has found the great secret of how to experience joy from the Word and that is to reverence it whenever we read it. Matthew Henry understood this connection well when he shared: “The more reverence we have for the Word of God, the more joy we shall find in it.”1
And this connection between reverence and joy makes so much sense because the more we reverence God and the Bible the more the Lord will help us mine the incredible riches contained in its pages. And once we see how awesome and wonderful the Word of God is we just can’t help but become filled to overflowing with the joy of the Lord. Just look at some of the ways the psalmist expresses his thoughts about God’s Word: “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.” (Psalm 119:18). “Princes persecute me without a cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your word.” (Psalm 119:161). “I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure.” (Psalm 119:162). “I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.” (Psalm 119:14). “The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver.” (Psalm 119:72).
As I meditated on these above verses, as well as the remainder of (Psalm 119), I too can’t help but reverence God’s Word because it is the one supreme source of life, meaning, peace, and joy. No wonder the psalmist states: “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.” (Psalm 119:97). And when you love something you want to spend as much time as possible with them, if it’s a person, or in the case of the Bible, reading its sacred pages.
I would like to close with one final comment on this magnificent psalm. My friends, I concur with the writer of this amazing psalm when he shared in (Psalm 119:129): “Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore, my soul keeps them.” The more we read the Bible the more we see how wonderful a book it truly is. It’s not just a book, but our Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, our compass that guides us into great peace and joy, our most cherished external traveling companion, and so much more.
If you aren’t reading your Bible every day I challenge you to read (Psalm 119) several times. I believe it just may kindle your love affair with the Bible. My prayer for you comes from one of the verses I shared with you previously – (Psalm 119:18): “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.”
1 TOP 25 QUOTES BY MATTHEW HENRY (of 207) | A-Z Quotes (azquotes.com)