Psalm 119:8 – I’m Going to Do It; Help!

I will observe your statues.
Don’t completely forsake me!

Sometime we’re so busy looking for the really holy things and the absolutely correct commands in scripture that we fail to see the human element. But to miss that human element really misses much of the message of scripture. Scripture speaks in the way it developed and was preserved, as well as through the nature of its human authors, as much or even more than it does in propositions.

This verse is very human. It’s the cry of most religious or spiritual people, or rather those who aspire to be such. I’m going to do this. Here’s my plan. Here are the spiritual practices I’m going to carry out. These practices will help me be truly spiritual, holy, and generally a better person.

At the same time, there are those moments when we realize we need all the help we can get. Consider my idea of taking Psalm 119 a verse at a time, meditating on it for a day, and then writing a post that evening to be published the next morning. Yes, I’m blogging, but this blogging is based on me carrying out a spiritual practice, simple in structure, and personal.

Then there was the day when I realized in the middle of the afternoon that I couldn’t even remember the words of the verse I was supposed to be meditating on. Things had gone multiple directions and I don’t handle that well. I had to pull out the text and remind myself.

Or I could talk about right now. It’s later than I planned to write this. Suddenly I thought, Oh no! I have to write something about that verse. It was another of those scattered days.

So I’m coming to my computer sort of like the Psalmist to his writing. Lord, I have a plan. Don’t give up on me completely.

It may not be the best theology in the world, but it’s very human.

(Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)