08-15-2010 AM Psalm 119 Series
“Putting First Things First”

Psalms 119:1-8 (KJV) Ps 1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. 3 They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. 4 Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. 5 O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! 6 Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments. 7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. 8 I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.

Here is the longest Psalm, as well as, the longest chapter in the Bible.
1. It has 176 verses
2. Every verse except maybe 2 emphasizes God’s Word.

As Christians, we too need to put the emphasis where God puts the emphasis – ON HIS WORD!!!

Psalms 138:2 (KJV) I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

Within this Psalm, we find MANY WONDERFUL aspects about God’s Word.
• Blessings
• Guidance
• Warnings regarding
• Joys to be expected
• Longings
• Desires
• Excitements
• And pleasures
All to be experienced within God’s Word (the Bible).

Here is a little extra information for you:
1. This Psalm is an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet.
2. Instead of on verse per letter there are 8 verses per letter, and there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet = 176 verses.
3. Now here is where it gets interesting. The number 8, according to Biblical numerologists, is number of the RESURECTION.
4. John 6:63 (KJV) It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
5. Jn 6:68 — Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
6. Ps 119:50 — This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
7. Ps 119:93 — I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me
8. Heb 4:12 — For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
9. 1Pe 1:23 — Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

How precious this Psalm has been to many a Christian:
• Late in life John Ruskin wrote, "It is strange that of all the pieces of the Bible which my mother taught me, that which cost me the most to learn, and which was to my childish mind most repulsive -- the 119th Psalm -- has now become of all the most precious to me in its overflowing and glorious passion of love for the Law of God.''
• William Wilberforce, the statesman who was converted in the Wesleyan movement, wrote in his diary, "Walked from Hyde Park corner, repeating the 119th Psalm in great comfort.''
• Psalm 119 shows us how we should perceive the Bible. In this psalm we see the intense longings and love of the psalmist for the Scriptures. If we consider what the Word really is to us in our Christian lives, I would think that we could scarcely be kept from it!
Dr. James A. Scudder, Your Secret to Spiritual Success, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 37.
• God's Word is true and wonderful. Stay true to God and his Word no matter how bad the world becomes. Obedience to God's laws is the only way to achieve real happiness.
, Life Application Study Bible, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1988), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Chapter 119".

As we go into this series we ALL must ask ourselves, “WHERE DOES GOD’S WORD STAND IN OUR LIVES?”

OR

“CAN WE SAY LIKE THE PSALMIST,

O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! 6 Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.”?