Psalm 119:88 – Grant Me Life

In your lovingkindness grant me life
that I may keep your testimony.

This verse opens windows onto many other concepts. And, for what it’s worth, this verse is halfway through the Psalm’s 176 verses.

First, it again sets the order of events. God is the initiator. God is the creator. Whatever you do with your life, that life is a gift of God. You could not create yourself. Often we get tense about the idea of salvation by grace through faith, because we think that somewhere, somehow there must be some works we can contribute. But how do you contribute to the one who gives you the ability to contribute?

“In your lovingkindness” means that God loved us before we had the capability of loving God. God doesn’t need our contribution to God, but God asks our contribution. In the end, that contribution turns out to be truly to ourselves and to one another in the community. Blessing is poured out so that it can pour out again, just as God gives us life so that we can bring forth new life.

In Genesis 12:2 God says to Abram: “I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Our blessing of anyone else is the result of God blessing us. Blessing overflows and builds up others.

When we talk about church, what are we there for? Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14, repeatedly uses the word “edify” (archaic) or “build up.” We are meeting together to be a blessing to one another. We can be a blessing, because God has blessed each one of us. Worship, acknowledging this, is not some kind of ego stroking that God requires. Rather, it is the simple and grateful acknowledgment of how things work.

God has a purpose for you. What blessing is God pouring out on you that God wants you to let flow on to those you meet?

(Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)