Put Down Your Phone, Write Out a PsalmNäide

Hide away, in God

This passage, strangely, reads like a hostage negotiation. There’s a lot of pleading and negotiating as David longs to be free from people who oppress him.

David emphasizes that he’s in a camp totally separate from the godless and goes out of his way to be identified with God. This picks up a theme that appears throughout the Psalm. Not only do friendship and belonging come through a relationship with God, but shelter and protection are found in him:

You are my hiding place and my shield (Psalm 119:114, NRSV).

This verse is a popular song you may have heard in church. It’s personal and emotive, and it’s easy to imagine David signing it under a bedazzled, star-filled sky on the hills outside Bethlehem.

It’s the heart’s cry and the leverage for negotiating the release from the sin, pain, and trouble of human existence. And God delivers, setting the captive heart free.

The biggest shame of all time

One of the things to be free of is shame. Past regrets and failed attempts. The things we’re known for by others who hold a grudge or are trapped in it themselves. Addressing shame is profoundly healing.

For David, the biggest shame would be to see God not come through for him. For God not to live up to his word, the truths David so boldly declares. To be holding an open bag of faith and for it not to be filled with proof of God’s presence or plan in his life would be the ultimate shame. To come up empty because his hopes are disappointed would be a plot twist that would be impossible to recover from.

Let me not be put to shame in my hope (Psalm 119:116, NRSV).

What a vulnerable and honest plea!

Does it cut you to the core, too? This is the guy whose life is an open book, whose pleas and antics, glories and failures are on display for the world to see. We read about him and nitpick David’s decisions from the comfort of our 21st-century armchairs, often ignoring the 10th-century BC context of his life.

But he’s not asking God to cover up, for posterity, his moral failures or mishaps. He’s not asking God to redact the big moments that reveal his sin or faithlessness from the historical record. He’s begging God to prove himself to be who God has revealed himself to be to history: present, good, vindicating.

Because if he doesn’t, David is without hope.

Notice how it’s not beneath David to beg. It’s not a glitch, but a feature of his faith. He pleads, begs, and persuades. David nakedly, unapologetically wants to thrive. He has an almost uncomfortable and bold desire for self-preservation and the success of his family and his own person (body, soul, profession, and relationships).

It’s a desire most of us don’t speak out loud.

David’s vertical relationship to God has none of that contesting. He’s fine to be the apple of God’s eye, in fact he angles for high standing and favour. David’s posture should challenge us to hold our heads high. Be honest with God about your desires and needs. Vocalize them, too!

The alternative—not growing to fullness—is a poor option.

Action steps

• Get a journal or some paper and a pen.
• Put your phone in a drawer or another room.
• Get a physical Bible (so you won't get distracted by anything else).
• Take time to write out Psalm 119: 101 - 119 verse by verse. (If you’ve completed every day of this plan, then you may have already transcribed this, so you can also just read what you’ve already written down).
• Reflect on what God is highlighting as you write it out.