Psalm 119:129-136
Psalm 119 is a formidable companion. No need to couple this chapter with other devotional readings. A morning meditation of the 176 verse Hebrew alphabet acrostic is enough for even the highly spiritual and disciplined hearer.
It is not just the length, but the messaging that beats like a drum, wearing down any hope to be free from that old “Word” and “Promise.” The repetitive use of those terms as well as “laws,” “decrees,” “precepts,” “statutes,” “commandments,” and “ordinances” leave only 4 verses in the whole chapter untouched by one of them.
It is so unlike the regular forms a Psalm can takes, that some have suggested it has a category all its own.[1] Some of the unique parts are the 8-lines each letter of the Hebrew alphabet get, as well as messaging – which is as repetitive and predictable as a Coca Cola ad. Literarily, it seems like overkill, and perhaps it is intentioned to make a bold claim: God’s law orders everything from A to Z.
My week, on the other hand, was disorderly at best. My experiences of chaos this week included a neighbor calling codes on our deck refurbishment project, a host of ceiling maggots that turned out to be an infestation of something called pantry moths, my 1-year-old and 4-year-old’s daycare announcing its closing, and our local ice hockey team losing the Stanley Cup finals… to name a few in the past 72 hours. I know God doesn’t anoint hockey games, but when you’ve had a week like mine, you start to wonder how likely it is that these are all random occurrences happening simultaneously. Is something bigger not going on?
Behind the authorship of this series of songs we call Psalms is a people who view the chaos of the world through lenses of faith. These are lenses that look for the order of God within disorder and we see God everywhere, even amid the pain; maybe especially so. Something bigger is going on.
“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.”[2]
Something bigger is going on here, and it is bigger than most of us even want to imagine. A-Z thinking at the writing of the Psalm was one thing, back when the world was smaller, limited, and, dare I say… simple? They didn’t have to deal with the idea of life on other planets, or the bees going extinct (and what then?), or the threat of nuclear war. A-Z for a contemporary human is bigger faith claim than it used to be it seems. Still we stand together this Sunday morning to recite the Psalm and confess:
Something bigger is going on.
Then there are ethics. Right action and wisdom. Who knows it? How can we know the unseen results of our actions in complicated situations? How can we control perception? How can we ensure we don’t miss the mark? Young people are confident and blameless, but sometimes age imparts humility. “With open mouth I pant, because I long for your commandments.” I can’t know I all, I must humbly confess my human limitations:
Something bigger is going on.
Consider that word “custom” in this week’s passage is more appropriately translated “justice.” Is it not incredible that this verse then reads, “Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your justice to those who love your name.” God’s gaze and grace is God’s justice? Could it be that grace is the order of the world for those who can see that:
Something bigger is going on.
And then there is oppression and violence that is done to others, choices made to oppress, and leaders who destroy human life; from our food to our shoe choices, from A-Z, oppression is everywhere. We can see it with one click on the Netflix documentary queue. We weep, but not to despair, because we confess in faith:
Something bigger is going on.
Our world is contrary to our faith. Our circumstances are full of uncertainties, contrary evidence, evil actions and pain. Our faith is not from sight, but is a gift God. Sometimes that gift can come in form of an ancient hymn of impeccable order and repetitive terms. Maybe we need repetitive terms to combat the flood of evidence to the contrary. To remind us that there is in fact:
Something bigger is going on.
That which is bigger is the incarnational order of the world that reveals God, gives us a way to live, redeems us from oppression, touches us so deeply we weep at evil and injustice, and invites us into a bigger faith.
Maybe the point of all this is that the medium has become the message. The reading and reciting have become statements of faith that lead to wisdom and the revelation of God’s created order. The wording seeps in through repetition of lengthy liturgy and finally we see through the lenses of faith: there is nothing A-Z in life that escapes the Alpha and the Omega.
[1] J. Clinton McCann, Jr., The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume IV, (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1996), 1167.
[2] Psalm 119:129-136, NRSV.