Psalm 119:68 – Doing Good
You are good, and you act in goodness.
Teach me your statutes.
If you find the turn from God’s goodness, to “teach me your statutes,” you may not have been following the Psalm thus far. One of the themes here is the value of God’s self-revelation in the form of laws and instructions.
The Septuagint (LXX) of this verse transfers the second instance of good, the active one, to the second part of the verse: “You are good, and in your goodness teach me your statutes.” This makes the teaching function of the law part of the goodness of God.
The parallel terms of the verse apply “goodness” to God’s statutes. This is not the way we usually think of goodness. Rules are annoying things you have to live with. They are not blessings for which we should be grateful.
This is a very human response. Just consider our response to traffic laws. If a cop stops us and gives us a ticket, we’re complaining about the stupid laws and generally feeling much put on. If there’s a really slow speed limit in a neighborhood, we’ll often complain that it is ridiculously slow. If we lived in that neighborhood, however, we’d likely be advocating for slow speed limits and effective enforcement.
8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?
Deuteronomy 4:8 (NRSVue, quoted from BibleGateway)
This is one of the most difficult “heart” things. It is hard to regard the law as a blessing while at the same time realizing we are not perfect. Far from it! But the law itself is a call to greatness, a greatness that is a gift of God and not a personal achievement.
Try to think of a rule today that is a real blessing in your life. Do you keep that rule?
(Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)