Lamed -- Psalm 119:89-96 -- Advent Blog Day 12

The twelfth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the letter Lamed.  As may be suspected, it makes an "L" sound.  The Hebrew verb "lamad" means to teach; the letter lamed is said to look like a shepherd's staff or a goad for moving animals around.  In many ways the teaching we learn is like a goad or staff that keeps our life in line.  This thought is prevalent in the passage today:
         The LORD exists forever; Your word stands firm in heaven.
         Your faithfulness is for all generations; You have established the earth, and it stands.
         They stand this day to [carry out] Your rulings, for all are Your servants.
         Were not Your teaching my delight I would have perished in my affliction.
         I will never neglect Your precepts, for You have preserved my life through them.
         I am Yours; save me!  For I have turned to Your precepts.
         The wicked hope to destroy me, but I ponder Your decrees.
         I have seen that all things have their limit, but Your commandment is broad beyond measure.
     The Hebrew text begins every line except verse 92 with the preposition "to" or "by".  The thought of guidance or keeping something in bounds -- the idea of a goad/staff -- is clearly seen.  Verse 92 -- "were not" -- reads the same in Hebrew as it does in English but again the idea of that which keeps us in bounds is also seen again.  The point seems to be clearly seen that God's Word, His character, and the knowledge of these realities is what keeps us in bounds and headed down the right path.  Now before I am accused of being "Captain of the Obvious" let us think about how we actually live instead of what our heads acknowledge to be true. 
     The Bible speaks of those "whose god is their belly"  (gotta love the KJV here) and hasten after all sorts of ungodly pursuits (see Philippians 3:19).  In the same breath, however, the Apostle Paul states, "our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." (Phil 3:20)  Clearly, there are only two realities: either we allow ourselves to be corralled by God's Word and His position as God, or we follow our own desires to our own destruction.  It is beautifully stated from God's perspective elsewhere in the Psalms: "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.  Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near to you." (Psalm 32:8-9, NASB)  When Jesus told Paul, "It is hard to kick against the goads" He most likely had this thought in mind!
     It is written: "All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field . . . the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever." (Isaiah 40:6-8, NIV)  This thought is repeated almost verbatim in this passage in Psalm 119.  Why fill up our lives pursuing things that have no ultimate value and which never satisfy and only require greater and greater levels to find temporary satisfaction?  Why not drink deeply from the waters of life and be renewed for everlasting joy and glory as true Sons and Daughters of the Eternal God?  The Psalmist has it right: "were not Your teachings my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.  I will never neglect Your precepts, for You have preserved my life through them!"
     Let us then take in the pure milk of the Word that we may nourished by it and grow ever more mature, complete, and lacking nothing!
Here is a song to accompany this thought.

Jewish Publication Society, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985), Ps 119:88–96.