“Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long.

Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. 

I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on Your statutes. 

I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey Your precepts.

I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey Your Word.

I have not departed from Your laws, for You Yourself have taught me.

How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

I gain understanding from Your precepts therefore I hate every wrong path.” -Psalm 119:97-104 (Mem)

This octave begins with love and ends with hate. Like the psalmist, we love what God loves and hate what He hates. God calls us to love Himself, His Word and others. We hate sin, specifically starting with our own. We rightly understand that sin ushered in a Curse, which hangs heavy over humanity. The effects of sin are seen and felt everyday in this broken world, which is why the psalmist declares his passion for God’s Word and zeal to obey. He also knows a Perfect Kingdom will be ushered in one day. Promises fulfilled and yet to be bring comfort and purpose in this life. As the psalmist looked forward to the coming Messiah, we have the distinct privilege of seeing this promised fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The Christian’s faith and hope lies in the “already and not yet” side of history as we wait on the Lord. 

As we live in the interim, before God consummates full redemption, believers can enjoy the sweetness of His Word. The psalmist loves the life giving fruit God’s Word bears. He takes the Lord’s commands seriously, not wanting to grieve his Holy Father. As a result of his emotions toward God, the psalmist pens a beautiful octave of unrestrained adoration with devout seriousness in approaching His Word. Meditation, obedience, love- in this order the Christian life flows, over and over. It is in this faithful cycle, by God’s grace, we receive sweet words of spiritual nourishment.

Grace upon grace,

April