“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).

Psalm 119

Out on the mountainside, the shepherd communicates clearly with his flock through the skillful use of his rod, his staff, his voice, and in many cases his sheepdog. As a well-trained sheepdog understands and respects the voice of his master, so you and I have a direct line to the voice of God. No place in Scripture describes that great truth more thoroughly than Psalm 119.

A depressed and bewildered college student who worked on our camp staff sought me out for counsel one summer day many years ago. I had known her for several years and was aware that her condition was chronic and had crippled her emotional health for some years. Our counseling session was surprisingly short, but I assumed it would be only the beginning of the solution to her deep psychological issues. After we prayed, I asked her to go memorize Psalm 119:1-11.

To my great surprise, three days later she came back and said, “It worked! I did it. God took my depression away as I was memorizing and meditating on those verses.” As long as I knew her after that startling day, she never fell back into depression again.

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

• Psalm 119:1-4 – “How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart. They also do no unrighteousness; they walk in His ways. You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently.”
  • What does “diligently” mean in this passage?
  • What does the phrase “all their heart” mean?
  • What does it mean to “walk in the law of the Lord?”

• Psalm 119:9-11 – “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.”
  • Why and how is it true that “treasuring” and “keeping” God’s Word keeps you from sin and develops a pure heart?

• Psalm 119:14-16 – “I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.”
  • In this wonderful passage, the psalmist combines an attitude of “rejoicing over and delighting in” God’s Word with the practice of meditating on that which he had memorized. What makes that combination so productive?
• Psalm 119:18 – “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.”
  • What a prayer before your daily reading of God’s Word!
• Ephesians 1:18 – “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
  • What are “the eyes of your heart”? What are the psalmist and Paul asking you for?
• Psalm 119:24 – “Your testimonies also are my delight; they are my counselors.”
  
• Psalm 32:8 – “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.”
• Psalm 16:7 – “I will bless the Lord who has counseled me; indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.”
  • A good biblical counselor coaches a client through psychological and emotional difficulties. How does meditation on Scripture actually “counsel you” and “instruct you in the night”?
• Psalm 119:28 – “My soul weeps because of grief; strengthen me according to Your word.”
  • “Strengthen me,” “make me understand,” “remove the false way from me,” “enlarge my heart,” “teach me,” “turn my eyes from vanity,” “revive me,” “comfort me in my affliction,” “take away my reproach.” As you review Psalm 119 and see all the truths the psalmist ascribes to God’s Word, how does this psalm inspire you?

John 13:15 – “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.”

From today’s scripture, how does THE Shepherd inspire you to shepherd your flock?

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You” (Psalm 119:9-11).

Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication