In the Christian media in recent months there has been something of a back-story about Ravi Zacharias detailing accounts of the sexual exploitation and abuse of women. That back-story came to the front in early February when the Board of Ravi Zacharias’ International Ministries released, in full, an independent report into Ravi’s exploitative and abusive activities.
There can be little doubt that what Ravi is stated to have done over the course of many years is true, and that a number of women who sought to bring this into the open were silenced, ignored and/or bought off.
We’re now looking at the sixth of the 22 stanzas of Psalm 119. This covers verses 41 to 48 under the letter vav (also spelt waw).
These verses, from the NASB®1, interspersed with my comments read as follows:
41. May Your lovingkindnesses also come to me, O LORD, Your salvation according to Your word; This is the first (and indeed only) verse from the Psalm whose structure per the NASB continues over two verses.
This is my fifth post reflecting on stanzas from Psalm 119. This covers verses 33 to 40 under the letter he (also spelt hei).
These verses, from the NASB®1, interspersed with my comments read as follows:
33. Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, And I shall observe it to the end. This verse contains a prayer or request and a declaration. The first clause prayer is answered in many ways and times, but seen explicitly in Scripture in John 14:26 (which I mention in relation to Psalm 119 verse 26) where Jesus speaks about the role of the Spirit.
This is my fourth post reflecting on stanzas from Psalm 119. This covers verses 25 to 32 under the letter dalet (also spelt daleth).
These verses, from the NASB®1, interspersed with my comments read as follows:
25. My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word. ‘My soul cleaves to the dust’ is such an interesting and evocative phrase. A soul (our mind, will and emotions) grovelling and wallowing in the dust.
My third post looking at a stanza of Psalm 119. This covers verses 17 to 24 under the letter gimel.
These verses, from the NASB®1, interspersed with my comments read as follows:
17. Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word. The word translated as ‘bounty’ is the Hebrew gamal (H1580) and speaks of bestowing, doing good, rewarding or serving. So ‘deal bountifully’ could equally be ‘do good’, ‘bestow reward’.
This is the second post looking at a stanza of Psalm 119. The first looked at the first eight verses called aleph. This second stanza is called beth (apparently pronounced like ‘bet’). In Hebrew these eight verses all begin with the letter beth.
These eight verses, from the NASB®1, interspersed with my comments read as follows:
9. How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.
This is my first post looking at a stanza of Psalm 119 which I’ve spoken about here and here.
The first staza of Psalm 119 is entitled ‘aleph’ - being the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet where each verse begins with this Hebrew letter1.
The first eight verses, from the NASB®2, interspersed with my comments read as follows:
1. How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the LORD.
This year (all nine days of it) I’ve been taking advice that pastor Philip Henry gave to his son Matthew some 300 years ago. Matthew was the author of the well-regarded commentary he called An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, but is more commonly known today as Matthew Henry’s Complete Bible Commentary. I wrote about this particular piece of advice mid last year. The advice is to meditate on a new verse from Psalm 119 each day.
Much of what we do, how we dress, where we go, what we eat and what we celebrate is built around or at least partly dependent upon seasons. A season is a period of time during which certain conditions exist or prevail which facilitate, encourage or discourage particular behaviours. Some seasons are designed to fit within a calendar year whilst other seasons can exist for much longer or shorter periods of time.
A classic, acapella
And something more widely known (gotta love that really deep voice, and the others are pretty good, too!)