Psalm 119:165 "Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble."

"Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble" (Psalm 119:165).

Question:

I have been dreaming about this verse for weeks, and it floods my mind all during the day. I wonder what this verse really means.

Comment:

This longest of all psalms is, in Hebrew, an elaborate acrostic. The first word of the first eight lines begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (aleph), and that pattern continues throughout, with eight consecutive lines beginning with each of the 22 letters of the alphabet. This makes it a more deliberate construct, and perhaps less of a personal expression, than other psalms. The overall theme is the rightness of divine law. This passage, in fact, offers a pretty good summary of the whole. What's interesting and important, I think, is the use of the word love instead of obey. People often obey divine law out of fear, and while that's a better choice than ignoring the law, it doesn't plumb the depths of support available to those who truly understand that the law is not a test or punishment, but a loving guide. It is when we “love” the law of God, fully embracing the love that it represents, that it can express in our lives as a sense of absolute assurance that all is working together for good. This doesn't mean we won't have challenges and dark days. But it does mean that we will move through even the darkest shadows without stumbling in fear and uncertainty, and we will know always that there is a power for good expressing through us.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed