READ Psalm 119:161–168. 161 Rulers persecute me without cause, but my heart trembles at your word. 162 I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil. 163 I hate and detest falsehood but I love your law. 164 Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws. 165 Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. 166 I wait for your salvation, LORD, and I follow your commands. 167 I obey your statutes, for I love them greatly. 168 I obey your precepts and your statutes, for all my ways are known to you.
THE TREASURED WORD. The psalmist “trembles at [God’s] word” (verse 161). He is fiercely devoted to the Scripture because he rightly identifies the Word so closely with its author. If God is the source of life, then his Word will give life; if God is wholly truthful, then the Word cannot err. And if God is glorious, the Bible is a treasure. “I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil” (verse 162). “Spoil” is what soldiers received after a hard-fought battle. To learn and digest the Word of God requires a fight. We must fight our busy schedules, our distracted minds, our stubborn hearts, and the world’s opinion and disdain. But if we win, the result is pure gold.
Prayer: Lord, indeed your Word “is like a deep, deep mine, and jewels rich and rare are hidden in its mighty depths for every searcher there.”131 Give me the energy for study of your Word that comes from a deep sense of the value of what I will find there. Amen.