Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

Today’s psalm readings contain the first three lettered sections of Psalm 119. I am just looking at the second section, Beth, and contemplating the general sense of the text.

“How shall a young man cleanse his way?
By keeping to your words.’”

It is not surprising that my mother, a very earnest and pious Christian woman, wished for me to commit this passage to memory as a child. After all, this passage seems to be about laying a good foundation for life, a beginning which is to be recommended to the young in their early formation.

What strikes me now is that this passage seems to be a kind of textual marinade that brings us, if we will let it, into the mind of the Church. Why would I say that? Well, it seems that some prayer books work in a similar way to this psalm. That is, they both lay a huge emphasis on contemplating God’s commandments.

At first blush, such an idea produces an ambivalent response from us. After all, rules have a way of highlighting our failure to live up to the standard they delineate. They make us aware of our sinfulness. Sin is, after all, a missing of the mark.

But the psalmist has more in mind than to simply remind us of our inadequacy. I think the idea here is that God’s commandments are life for us, and this they have a formational value. Contemplating God’s law makes us aware of His character—as we might think of it—and we may thus learn the shape and quality of real life.

Now, an important qualification is needed here. When we speak of God having a “character,” we do not mean that He is the greatest instance of a quality with which we are familiar. God is not a “superlative example” of something, say, love or mercy. God is love, and we only know of this quality because we are His creatures. We say this frequently, but I suspect we think in the “greatest instance” categories most of the time.

Contemplating God’s commandments teaches what God is like, and thus, what we are supposed to be as His creatures.

“Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statues.”

“Blessed are you, O Master, make me to understand your statues.”

“Blessed are you, O Holy One, enlighten me with your statues.”

Yours in Christ,

—Justin