Put Down Your Phone, Write Out a Psalmਨਮੂਨਾ

Making goodness great (again).

William Wilberforce is famously known for giving his life and vitality to abolish the transatlantic slave trade, the first great object of his life. The second great object of his life he set out to achieve was to of work worth spending time with.

The second great object of his life he set out to achieve was to make goodness fashionable again. He is a modern example of what David seeks in this passage: goodness.

The word good continues to appear, and God is the ultimate example of it—his ways, his words, his law, his plan. And his goodness is a stark contrast to the nature of men. The Hebrew word here is טוֹב (pronounced towb). And it is rich in meaning.

It’s the same word used in Genesis to define what God creates. “And it was good”— suggesting perfection, harmony, beauty, sweetness, wealth.

“You are good and do good,” (68) David says, and the sentiment rings loudly throughout.

• David longs to receive God’s good judgment (66).
• He declares that God is good and does good (68).
• It was also good for David to be humbled (71).

This meditation is central in this section as David remembers his own pride and unfaithfulness and the guile and contempt that he’s been treated with by others.

Good friends, changeable hearts

Those who love God and want God’s laws are natural allies, and he declares as much: “Let those who fear you turn to me” (Psalm 119:79, NRSV). “Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word” (Psalm 119:74, NRSV).

Don’t you just love that? Has this idea jumped off the pages throughout Psalm 119 for you like it has for me?

Fellowship and affinity don’t come through politics, ethnicity, or tribe, social status, or the number of social media followers you have in your kingdom of dirt. It comes through shared love and affiliation with God. It’s not an exclusive club. Anyone can belong. Just drop your own little crown at the door, and step on in!

And another thing to love is how God allows the heart to change. It’s not through cunning or shaming (which seems more and more like the way in our times). It isn’t punishment or retribution from God that changes his heart. David’s heart was changed through humility, and ultimately, God’s mercy and kindness.

David says he is humbled and has gone astray (67). The astonishing standard of God’s goodness (and what that goodness is and means) redirects his heart and behaviour back to God.

Action steps

• Take time to write out Psalm 119:63 -79 verse by verse.
• 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).
• Reflect on what God is highlighting for you.