109 I hold my life in my hand continually,
but I do not forget your law.
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me,
but I do not stray from your precepts.
111 Your decrees are my heritage forever;
they are the joy of my heart.
112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes
forever, to the end. [NRSV]
Again, I find myself looking at four verses that I’m not sure what to do with. Again, my first reaction is that the psalmist is singing his own praises to God about how righteous he is. Again, I asked myself what is here that I’m missing… And then I asked what must have inspired the psalmist to feel (the recurring) need to exclaim how much he loves living out God’s law.
So what type of world does the psalmist live in where he equates a set of righteous and purity laws with something worthy of 176 verses of gushing praise? It must be a world that lacks structure, or order, or equity, or fairness, or… so many of the things we have taken for granted in this country for so long. Much of the country is now worried about where we are heading as we watch the (attempted?) systematic dismantling of the basic institutions that ensure a safe environment, an equitable world, an expectation of universal education, …
I hope that we never get to a place where the psalmist may be writing from. I hope that I never need to truly understand the psalmist’s message here. But perhaps I dare hope that if we do find ourselves in such a world, that I too might find solace in knowing that God’s law is still fighting for a better world.
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