Psalm 119:4 – Tough!!
About your precepts you commanded,
“Keep them diligently!”
Sometimes things are tough. You wonder what’s coming next.
I’m meditating on these passages one at a time. I read the passage in the morning, and then I write these in the evening. During the day, I keep coming back to that verse. In deciding to do 176 daily meditations (that’s how many verses there are in this Psalm), I knew that some would be more encouraging than others.
This one is just tough. God says to do this diligently. Don’t just pretend. Don’t follow these precepts sometimes. Seventh percent is not a passing grade.
I’m reminded of choosing a Sudoku puzzle. How spiritual is that? Well, I like to pick the hardest level in the app I use. Sometimes I’m tempted to do an easier one. If I give in to that temptation, I’m drawn to watch the time and try to complete it as rapidly as possible. Most of the time, however, I choose the hard one.
Is the call of the toughest “right” living just as strong for me? Do I want to take the hard, but right path whenever possible?
The bad news, which I notice even in a sparse verse such as this, is that I don’t get there. Not ever. I have a desire, but it’s often a fairly week desire. The good news is that God is working on me, and the fact that he has such high hopes is very encouraging.
I think the Psalmist shares some of my feelings. But that’s the next verse!
(The featured image was generated by Jetpack AI.)
