Mark's Blog

This is the second in a series of four guest posts by my friend and co-worker Craig Altrock. He and his family are currently in Rwanda on an LST mission trip. 

From October of last year until April of this year, I spent 119 days journeying through one psalm – Psalm 119.  Now, if you count up the number of days in those months you’ll get much more than 119 days.  I didn’t say I spent 119 days in a row!  However, it was my goal to spend a day for every verse in the Psalm.  And, over the course of those 7 months I met that goal.

One thing that becomes crystal clear if you stay in Psalm 119 long enough is that this writer has, to put it mildly, a passion for God’s word.  He delights in God’s word, he is consumed with longing for it, and he puts his hope in it.  Scripture is what he thinks about, it gets him up at night, and it’s what he sings about.  In fact, if we were honest, this writer is probably one of those guys that would make us feel slightly awkward if we invited him over for dinner.  His passion for God’s law is so all-consuming that our own concern for the Bible might dim in the light of his enthusiasm.

Where does this heightened passion for God and His word originate?  In short, the psalmist thought about God’s word in ways we might not normally think, and he practiced Word-centered disciplines that might not be normal for us.  I’ll simply list these here in this post, and then dig a little more deeply into them in future postings.

[Before you read the following you might stop and consider how you would answer these two questions:

• “What words or images guide your own understanding of what Scripture is and how it functions?”
• “What disciplines do I practice regularly that connect me to God’s word?”

I think in many cases you will find the answers the psalmist gives to these questions differ from our own in both intensity and form.]

Beliefs about Scripture that fuel this psalmist’s passion for it:

1. It is a PATH toward joyful living, not a roadblock to your desires.
2. It is a LIGHT to illuminate your way.
3. It is a DOOR to freedom, not a sentence of imprisonment.
4. It is a COMPANION that guides us toward heart-felt passion for God.
5. It is a REFLECTION of God’s character.
6. It is NOURISHMENT to sustain the journey.

This is what the psalmist believes about God’s word.  Scripture for him is not a static recounting of historical events.  Nor is it simply a collection of moral standards.  It is something much, much more.

However, thoughts about God’s word are not the only thing heightening the psalmist’s passion for Scripture.  He’s taken to doing something things about it as well.

Disciplines the psalmist practices in relation to Scripture that ignite his zeal for it.

1. A regular ASSESSMENT of his own life in relation to the way of God.
2. A VERBAL RESPONSE involving PRAISING God for his word, SINGING to God about his word, or actually RECITING out-loud God’s word.
3. MEDITATION on God’s word.
4. ASKING God to be the primary teacher of His word.
5. REMINDING God about his word and asking him to act in accordance with it.
6. PRACTICING the Daily Offices (conducting any and all of these other disciplines at set times of the day and night – even at midnight!).

What do you think about God’s word?  What images and metaphors guide your thinking?  Would anything change for you this week if you adopted a few of the images above and mediated on their implication for your walk with God?

Similarly, what disciplines are you practicing that are word-oriented?  Would anything change for you if you adopted one or two of the practices above for a week?

My bet is that, like me, if you shift your focus and perhaps even some of your practice to mirror that of the psalmist, your own passion for God and his word might find renewed vigor.  I pray that it is so! In my next post we’ll dive a bit deeper into some of these thoughts and practices.

“Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.”

Psalm 119:2