Sometimes It’s Not Easy

Psalm 119:153-160 – Resh
153Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law.

154Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!

155Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.

156Great is your mercy, O Lord; give me life according to your rules.

157Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies.

158I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.

159Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.

160The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.



There are days when God’s Word just doesn’t resonate through my heart. I read these words of Psalm 119 this morning and my response is ambivalence. The positive verses seem true for me, for indeed, I try not to forget God’s Law, I look to Him for life, and I know that His mercy is great. But the rest of it? It seems distant and foreign to me.



Maybe I’m bumping into “political correctness”. I try not to look on any other person with disgust. That verse caused me to stumble into silence. How can I look on another with disgust? I can’t. So I went and did a brief study of the Hebrew word that is translated “disgust” and it get even worse! The roots of that word lead us to “loathing”. Well that certainly isn’t better. Loathing someone doesn’t take me anywhere I want to go.



So, I will admit defeat; grab onto the verses that lead me closer to God and His word and allow the difficult stuff to stand on its own.

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