The heart is a storage unit, so what will you hoard?

What I'm observing as I transcribe Psalm 119 by hand

Recently I shared that, in my morning routine (on Wednesdays, to be specific), I take time to transcribe a Psalm. That the big one was fast approaching.

A few weeks ago, I started to write out Psalm 119 line by line. It’s close to 200 verses, and I’m snacking on it, about thirty verses at a time.

So far so good!

As I write out Psalm 119 verse by verse, week over week, I’ll share some takeaways here. I hope the reflections bless you in the midst of your busy life, in these noisy times.

In my first session, I transcribed verses 1 - 32. A few things I’ve observed:

Amy Grant, biblical ear worms and an unidentified psalmist

Let me just get this out of the way.

When I read this psalm, I read it as David’s work. It’s too much like the other psalms attributed to him for me to read it otherwise. I hear his voice in my head. I imagine him at various stages of his incomparable life and leadership (the highs, the lows, the unforgivable crimes forgiven, the big-hearted, white-knuckled journey of the man).¹

Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path is perhaps one of the most well known portions of this Psalm. If you love that verse like I do and have had a literal mountain top experience in which you walked that verse out, then you read it for that moment.

While the famous verse doesn’t come until way later (over 100 verses later), the psalmist sets up the massive payload of this verse early on. And the entire psalm is replete with the metaphor of the words and laws of God as a pathway to walk.

Amy Grant recorded the verse for a song and it’s been popular for decades. I can’t not hear her lyric when I read the verse.²

I felt it was important to get that out of the way. David and Amy may sort of just hang out with you in the room while you read it.

Need to scroll less? Try this.

The heart is a storage unit for treasure, so what will you hoard?

The heart is a large territory that can be divided. It can be kept separate from God. It can also be hidden from the individual. It’s a storage unit of treasure and the riches it hoards accrue interest and whatever is invested grows. For better or for worse.

Be careful what you put into it!

When the treasure hoarded is the word of God, it truly changes a life and transforms the pathway of the treasure bearer. David wants all of his heart to be aligned to God’s ways. He commits to treasuring it as a strategy to protect against the bankruptcy of sin and despair (11-12).

But David also lives in the real world. He admires earthly treasures, values them, and seeks them. In fact, worldly value and blessing is a key way to frame and understand spiritual blessing. The riches of the world are not despised or neglected, which stands out to me.³

In a world of such inequality and disparity, which I’ve seen first hand in countries all over, this is a reality I sometimes smash up against.

David’s not too spiritual or good to desire nice things. But he values the decrees and words of God much more (14).

David seeks the bounty. He wants big blessing and he wants the spiritual spa treatment by God (see v. 17). In fact, the reception of God’s goodness and blessing helps reinforce, for the psalmist, that he is on the right path and it galvanizes or spurs him to live and observe God’s word even more.

Blessings—both material and spiritual—help him on the path. They spur him on.

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Life on earth is tough (the Bible tells me so)

Human reality isn’t for the faint of heart. And this psalmist in particular has it rough:

• his soul is consumed with longing for God’s ordinances at all times (20).

• princes plot against him (23).

• his soul clings to dust and he needs revival (25).

• his soul “melts from sorrow” (28).

There are external, circumstantial pressures coming against him at all sides. And the desire for the things of God is almost as agonizing.

The spiritual life, as characterized here, isn’t some barefoot walk on a beach. It’s not even a flower-picking picnic in sunshine. At least not the default state. It is a rollercoaster. It has adrenaline. There are terrors real and perceived. Without help, from God and from others, there’s no sense or hope for survival.

Yay.

In each high-stakes human experience, the word of God and meditation on it is the way through. The written precepts and words, in and of themselves, do not revive. An active, compassionate Person restores the soul.

Hear these cries from David and how they depend on a living God:

“Revive me according to your word” (25).

“Make me understand the way of your precepts” (27).

The agency, will, and activity of God in these circumstances brings the situation resolution, pulls one from the jaws of despair back into the confines of hope.

To experience a peaceful way, even in the midst of hardship and trouble, these first thirty or so verses make clear that active even desperate and vocal acts of turning to scripture to seek God makes the difference. For, he clearly guides, instructs, corrects, and directs.

Meditating on these verses by slowly writing them down was refreshing. I hope my outtakes encouraged you.

If you’re finding life a little noisy or seeking a little mental quiet I highly recommend that you give transcription a try. Pick a Bible verse or a favourite passage of writing from a worthy text.

If you do, let me know how it goes!

Throwaway thought

This was a fun takeaway that didn’t fit into the other themes in an obvious way. It jumped off the page early in the psalm.

David shapes his mouth with the words of God: “With my lips I declare all the ordinances of your mouth” (13).

We often say, “From your lips to God’s ears.” But David is saying From God’s lips to my lips: I want to say what he says, repeat it.

#FoodForThought

1. This is a compelling article that outlines why the Psalm is written by David, something that Rabbis of the Talmud and Midrash agreed upon. Some say it was written during the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, by Ezra or Jeremiah. Read the article “Who Wrote Psalm 119” here.

2. In fact, when you read the quote above, you may have felt that I misquoted the passage: “It’s Thy word, Andrew!”

True. In the King James. Which Amy used. However, I’m transcribing the NRSV.

3. I don’t know about you, but I find that Christians are so inwardly torn about these types of statements, the hangover effect of prosperity gospel preaching that does an imperfect job of uncovering the shalom prosperity of God (thriving in every area of life) or accounting for the real world suffering—seen and unseen—due to sin.