Now that I have my three trips
out of town behind me, I am ready to resume these meditations from Psalm
119. We now begin the octave entitled Jod.
Recall that each octave is entitled by a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This letter Jod is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet (י) and was referenced by our Lord when He said:
Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Our Lord pronounced the letter jod as jot. The tittle of which our Lord spoke is the
smallest mark used in the Hebrew alphabet to distinguish one letter from
another. Now let’s consider the first
verse of this octave.
Psalms 119:73 ¶JOD. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
Thy hands have made me
and fashioned me. This verse is a
prayer to God. It is God Who “hath made
us, and not we ourselves (Psalm 100:3).
We do well to acknowledge this from time to time as we address our heavenly
Father in prayer. But God has not only
made us, He has also fashioned us.
Fashion – To give fashion or shape to; to form, mould, shape (either a material or immaterial object).
God not only makes us so as to give us an existence, but He also forms and shapes us so as to give us the kind of existence we have, an existence that distinguishes us from every other creature He has made. Man stands apart and above every other creature in that he was formed in the image of God. And each man is uniquely fashioned so as to be distinguished from every other man What would our world be if we could not tell one person from another? If someone introduced himself to you, how would you be sure it was he as opposed to some other man if we all looked and sounded alike? It boggles the mind to think of the teeming billions of mankind all looking different one from another. Indeed, our God is a designer of inexhaustible skill.
The Lord made and fashioned the first man Adam out of the dust of the ground. But it is equally true that the Lord makes and fashions every other man. Since we are made out of the flesh of our parents and since all men are dust (Psalm 103:14), it follows that God continues to make and fashion men out of the dust of the ground. When you were conceived in your mother’s womb and began to develop, God was making and fashioning you.
Psalms 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Note that the mother’s womb is called “the lowest parts of
the earth.” You like Adam were made out
of the earth.
Now the psalmist moves from the thought that God has made
and fashioned him to this request: give me understanding, that I may learn thy
commandments. But! Although God has made and fashioned all men,
their nature is corrupted through the fall. Therefore, men do not by nature desire to
understand and learn God’s commandments.
The following passages demonstrate this.
Romans 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
But thanks be to God for His amazing grace, God makes and
fashions His elect anew so that there is in them that desire to understand and
learn His commandments.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.Colossians 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
The newly created man delights to understand and learn God’s
commandments.
Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man….
Therefore, the prayer we are considering in today’s
meditation is the prayer of one who has been recreated and refashioned after
God’s image, a new creature in Christ Jesus.
Notice throughout this psalm how the psalmist fetches
various reasons to bring before the Almighty as reasons why He should
teach him His word. Here he cites the
fact that God created him as a reason for God to teach him. It reminds me of a child that can find so
many reasons why he should be allowed to have what he wants. The psalmist really wants to know and
understand his Bible and so he reasons with his God from several different
angles. How important is it to you to know that Book?
Observe that in order to learn
God’s commandments, you need understanding. You cannot very well learn something you
don’t understand. So what is understanding?
Understanding - Power or ability to understand (to comprehend; to apprehend the meaning or import of; to grasp the idea of).
The psalmist is praying for God to give him the ability to comprehend
the meaning of what he reads, to make sense of it. Some people think the Bible makes no
sense. If they read it, they don’t get
it. And, to be sure, the Bible was
written in such a way that if you don’t approach it on God’s terms you won’t
get it. But if you truly want to
understand, if you humbly ask God to help you understand, and if you seek to
understand by searching the Scriptures, you will understand and you will learn
God’s commandments.
Proverbs 2:3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
It all hinges on just how much you really want to understand
the Bible and what you are willing to do about it.
Of course, when you learn a commandment of God, it is
important that you keep that commandment if you are to learn more. God is not going to give more understanding
to someone who has no intention of doing what he learns.
