As we move through Psalm 119, we come to verses 33 – 40.

He starts with a classic statement of the purpose of spending time in the Word: putting it into practice!

Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, And I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. (Psalm 119.33 – 35, NKJV)

• Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes,
  • And I shall keep it to the end.
• Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law;
  • Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
• Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
  • For I delight in it. (Psalm 119.33 – 35, NKJV)

Understanding is not available for those who don’t intend to keep it. “…keep it…keep Your law…observe it…walk in it”

Here’s a choice: God’s Word or covetousness…

Incline my heart to Your testimonies, And not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way. (Psalm 119.36, 37, NKJV)

“…your testimonies…not covetousness.” Chauncy Billups and other NBA players/coaches recently arrested for gambling and being involved with rigged poker games could have learned from this.

“More to be desired are they than gold…” (Psalm 19.10, ESV)

A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. (Psalm 111.10, NKJV)

The other day I asked a pastor who has been reading my book That’s Not Church!, which is a compilation of some of my blogs about disciple-making in the local church, if anything had caught his eye. I was surprised at his response.

He referred to an essay that combined several blogs on The Living Word and featured these quotes from Eugene Peterson:

As God’s word written (scriptura) the scriptures are a great, but mixed, blessing. They are a blessing because each new generation of Christians has access to the fact that God speaks, the manner of his speaking, the results of his speaking. The scriptures are a mixed blessing because the moment the words are written they are in danger of losing the living resonance of the spoken word and reduced to something to be looked at, studied, interpreted, but not heard personally…

Words, separated from the person who spoke them, can be beautiful just as seashells are beautiful; they can be interesting just as skeletons can be interesting; they can be studied with profit just as fossils can be studied with profit. But apart from the act of listening and responding, they cannot function according to the intent of the speaker…The intent of revelation is not to inform us about God but to involve us with God…Some of Jesus’ sharpest disagreements were with the scribes and Pharisees, the persons in the first century who knew the words of scripture but heard the voice of God not at all…For them the scriptures had become a book to use, not a means by which to listen to God…

The Enemy has subverted the spoken word into an ink word. The moment that happens, the imagination atrophies, and living words flatten into book words. No matter that the words are believed to be true, they are not voiced words – Spirit-voiced and faith-heard – and so are not answered. They go through the minds of readers like water through a pipe. – Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder, quoted in The Word of God with Power by Jack R. Taylor, pages 58 – 60.

This pastor, a very good guy, told me: “I wish someone had told me this 40 years ago. I thought my job was to analyze the scripture and report what I discovered. Nobody taught me how to listen to God.”

Sad. Especially since pastors are the gatekeepers. If they don’t know how to listen to God, they’re not teaching their flock how to listen to God either. Praise that this pastor heard this lesson through the blog and received it, and I’m certain will act on it.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10.17, NKJV, emphasis mine)

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4.4, NKJV)

It’s All Saints Day, a time to remember those who have gone before.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12.1 – 2, ESV)

Please see last year’s post with explanation and the marvelous song “For All the Saints Who From Their Labors Rest.”

This year, I’d like to recognize a few saints that passed since the last All Saints Day. You can click the links for their obits or something I posted about them.

• Vern Betsch: Vern was a lifelong Navigator whom I saw at one of my first conferences in the late 60s. He was moving from Viet Nam to Indonesia as a Navigator missionary. He moved to Birmingham, AL, in 1973, and we connected when we were on church staff in Montgomery, AL, 2001 – 2006. He and his lovely wife, Elsie, were faithful and humble mentors for us and continued to strongly encourage us when we moved to Colorado as full-time Navigators.
• Jim Oraker: I wrote about Jim when I saw him in rapid decline. He and I co-taught a Sunday School class in the late 80s.
• Hulk Hogan: there will be all kinds of people with us!
• Pope Francis: read my blog. He washed feet that were actually dirty!
• Bill McCartney: I’m not a big event guy, but I made an exception for the Promise Keepers’ rallies. The early ones were amazing.
• Tony Campolo: faithfully called us to minister to the poor. My blog includes his telling the story of organizing a birthday party for a prostitute. Worth listening to.
• Charlie Kirk: a modern-day martyr, killed for his ideas.

These were all commended for their faith… (Hebrews 11.39, ESV)

I took a run at memorizing Psalm 119 last year. I thought half a stanza per week (four verses) was doable, but I ran out of steam about five or six stanzas in. Along the way, though, I had a title for each stanza linked to its Hebrew letter, and for Beth, verses 9 – 16, it was the obvious since nearly every scripture memory program includes Psalm 119.9, 11:

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. (Psalm 119.9, 11, NKJV)

“Your word I have hidden in my heart…” Thus:

Beth…don’t forget

Dallas Willard said that if he were limited to one spiritual discipline, it would be scripture memory. Navigator patriarch Leroy Eims wrote in The Lost Art of Disciplemaking something like this:

In my church, before the children can go into their Sunday School classes, they have to see the “Scripture Memory Lady” and quote their memory verse for the week. However, when I go to my Sunday School class, there is no Scripture Memory Lady sitting outside the door. Why not?

Scripture memory: you can do it! I describe the process in this blog from 2019, Deep Practice, and in this blog suggested by octogenarian Max Barnett.

Beth closes with:

I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. (Psalm 119.16, NKJV)

PS Praise the Lord with me: our house in Monument closed today, October 31, 2025! An adventure.

We just looked at Psalm 117, the shortest chapter in the Bible. Now we come to Psalm 119. If you know your Bible trivia, you know it’s the longest chapter in the Bible, 176 verses. Some Bibles explain that the 176 verses are divided into 22 8-verse stanzas, and each of the eight verses begins with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, beginning with aleph and continuing through tau. Some translations include the Hebrew representation of the letter.

In addition, all 176 verses except 5, by my count, refer to the scripture in some way (you find the five!). Here’s the way it starts: the first half of the first stanza, Psalm 119.1 – 4 in the NKJV. I have highlighted the references to God’s word: law, testimonies, ways, precepts. And notice that the emphasis is on action – “walk” and “keep” – not merely knowledge.

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the LORD!

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart!

They also do no iniquity; They walk in His ways.

You have commanded us To keep Your precepts diligently.

It’s a fun read, and our reading plan calls for just two stanzas, 16 verses, per day. A friend of mine once was having trouble being motivated to have his daily time with God, so he decided to camp in Psalm 119 until he was motivated. Not a bad idea.

If you’re following our reading plan, you’ve read Psalm 117 and observed, “Wow! That’s short.” Yep. Shortest psalm, shortest chapter in the Bible:

Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! For His merciful kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD! (Psalm 117, NKJV)

• Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles!
• Laud Him, all you peoples!
• For His merciful kindness is great toward us,
• And the truth of the LORD endures forever.
• Praise the LORD!

It’s not trivial to say, “Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles! Laud him, all you peoples!” Most Israelites would have said, “Wait! He’s OUR God! Who cares about the Gentiles?”

Answer, God cares about the Gentiles. That’s why he chose Abraham:

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12.1 – 3, ESV)

“In you ALL the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? …we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” (Acts 2.4 – 11, ESV, emphasis mine)

The shortest psalm reminds us of the biggest truth: “God so loved THE WORLD…”

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 7.9, 10, ESV)

The opening of Psalm 116 reminds me of Jonah:

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. (Jonah 2.1, 2, ESV)

The pains of death surrounded me, And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!” (Psalm 116.3, 4, NKJV)

When in distress…”I called upon the name of the LORD.” It’s the central theme of Psalm 116 and certainly one of the central themes of the whole Bible.

What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the LORD…I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, And will call upon the name of the LORD. (Psalm 116.12, 13, 17, NKJV, emphasis mine)

Why do I need to call upon the name of the LORD?

Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful. The LORD preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. (Psalm 116.5 – 7, NKJV)

“The Lord preserves the simple…” The simple. I think in some respects we’re all Winnie the Pooh, “a bear of very little brain.” All we need be is smart enough to know that we need to call upon the name of the LORD.

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. (Psalm 107.6, 13, 19, 28, ESV)

I had an experience a week or so ago that I’m still processing…

I almost never give to panhandlers, and we have a lot of them in our area, sometimes stationing themselves with their cardboard signs at busy intersections hoping for some charity while drivers are stopped for a red light. I’m especially not a fan of seemingly able-bodied men who have the energy to run up to a car for a donation. Couldn’t they apply that energy to useful work?

Anyway, I was driving down an urban street in Denver, and at a red light there was a small lady. Her sign said she had children. She was dressed very simply and really did look poor. I had been to the ATM recently, so I knew I had a wallet full of $20 bills. Unlike our lesson yesterday about giving all we have, I did pull out one of those twenties.

I should have said but didn’t: “Jesus told me to give this to you.”

She was very appreciative, and I drove off. Here’s the thing. I see panhandlers all the time and never think about them again. This lady, however, has some of my money, and I think about her often and pray for her. It seems to give new meaning to:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6.21, ESV)

I love the way Mark 8, the Feeding of the 4,000, starts:

I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. (Mark 8.2, ESV)

How much compassion do I have on the crowd? I thought about it Saturday a week ago when I was at a sports bar in Denver watching the Clemson game while June was at a music teachers’ conference. Crowded. Noisy. The people had plenty of physical food, but what about their spiritual lives?

The story goes on after Jesus observed that he couldn’t send them away hungry:

And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. (Mark 8.4 – 7, ESV)

What it takes to feed the people is all that we have. “He took the seven loaves…”

I hope yesterday’s blog on Psalm 113 on our trusting God’s power with respect to our house sale encourages you to trust God for a practical, perhaps overwhelming, need in your life. Let’s continue that line of thinking as we move to Psalm 114:

God can and does work. He is powerful. He can move mountains and seas:

When Israel went out of Egypt…The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, The little hills like lambs.

What ails you, O sea, that you fled? O Jordan, that you turned back? O mountains, that you skipped like rams? O little hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the God of Jacob, Who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of waters. (Psalm 114.1 – 8, NKJV)

These are scenes from Exodus – Joshua. The Red Sea parted (Exodus 14) and the Jordan River (Joshua 3). Mt Sinai trembled at the presence of the Lord and and no doubt skipped like a ram (Exodus 19). And when they needed water, it came from a rock (Exodus 17).

I need to be reminded:

Is anything too hard for the LORD? (Genesis 18.14, ESV)

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? (Jeremiah 32.27, ESV)

Not one promise from God is empty of power, for nothing is impossible with God! (Luke 1.37, TPT. Monday’s Impossible? blog gave us examples from the world of sports)

There are obstacles in this move, but God can make them go away. Solid rock can become a pool of water. The sea and the river can part.

There is nothing here challenging ME to do something. God works.