An uncomfortable love for the Word of God
Your decrees are wonderful; and so my soul watches them.
The opening of your words gives light: understanding for the simple.
I open my mouth and pant with longing for your commands.
Turn and be gracious to me, as is your judgment for lovers of your name.
Keep my steps firm in your promise, and let no iniquity rule in me.
Redeem me from human oppression, that I may keep your precepts.
Let your face shine on your servant, so that I may learn your statutes.
My eyes gush streams of water, for they do not keep your law.
The way the psalmist talks about his love for the Word of God is confronting. It is so far beyond what we, or at least I, easily relate to. I open my mouth and pant! My eyes gush streams of water. Really? The psalmist speaks with the passion and abandon of a teenager in love, who does not care what anyone else thinks.
This should be a rebuke. It shows how far my affections are from what they ought to be. We are nothing if not lovers. And if we do not love God and his Word then we will love something else. Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it, says Jesus (Mark 10:15). And maybe, also, as a teenage lover.
