Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
WEDNESDAY, August 3
Psalm 119:97-120. Oh, how I love your law! all the day long it is in my mind.
In our friary, we read parts of Psalm 119 every day at midday prayer, covering the entire 176 verses in one week. It’s a remarkable psalm. It has been called a love song, not one of youthful passion, but of sustained reflection on God’s law, which has become for the psalmist as familiar as a lifelong partner. The psalmist delights in naming God’s “law,” “precepts,” “commandments,” “decrees,” “statutes,” “way,” “promise,” “word,” “ordinances,” and so on in a kaleidoscope of variations on a theme.
It’s also a very personal psalm. Nearly every verse has personal pronouns such as “I,” “my,” or “your.” God is not an abstract being, only approachable indirectly. God can be addressed and known personally.
This “law of God” is not the legalism condemned by Jesus, but an encounter with the living God. “Law” (Torah) is not an endless series of regulations to be obeyed but an invitation to follow God on the way. It is a way of life, the way of love.
PRAY for the Diocese of Rajasthan (North India)
Ps 119:97-120 * 81, 82; 2 Samuel 9:1-13; Acts 19:1-10; Mark 8:34—9:1
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