Happy and Blessed - Pt. 23

Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word! Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word. My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes. My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right. Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. (Psalm 119:169-176 ESV).

 

Today we come to the end of our look through this longest psalm in the Scripture. It should come as no surprise that in this last section of Psalm 119, which starts with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the psalmist offers up one last lament. What may surprise us, though, is the psalmist’s confession of his own guilt: I have gone astray like a lost sheep (v. 175).

 

School has resumed in most of Texas, albeit with a modified schedule to accommodate safety in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. I’m told that every year schools accumulate phones, water bottles, clothes, and an assortment of other items simply lost through the year and never claimed. It is a bit surprising that the greatest quantity of lost items come from the upper grade level students. It’s somewhat sad that these items that were once useful now simply sit waiting to be found.

 

The writer of today’s reading openly admits being “lost.” At the very end of his psalm, the author compares himself to a wandering sheep. By his own admission, he stands guilty of failing to keep God’s instructions. He needs help. Throughout the psalm, we have seen the psalmist passionately crying out in desperate situations. Often he asks for God’s rescue, and repeatedly he finds peace and joy in meeting God in his Word, even when God may seem silent.

 

The irony, of course, is that the psalmist hasn’t been searching for God so much as God has been seeking the psalmist all along, from the very start. Much like the “stuff” that ends up in the “lost and found” can’t go find their owner, we have no power to find our redeemer. These inanimate things don’t “know” their lost. They simply are. There are those times in which people don’t recognize their lostness. They simply accept it as their lot in life. Thankfully God has provided the solution. He has come to us. Beyond the shadow of a doubt his mercy and his love are apparent in all of creation. God seeks us first and continues to provide for us. This is the basis for our happiness and joy. The moment I begin to think there is no hope, I merely need to recall the truth that God will never give up on me!