Psalm 119:23 – What Others Think
Prince sit around and plot against me,
Your servant meditates on your statutes.
To be honest, my first reaction to this verse was a laugh. Yeah, right, I thought. He really can sit meditating on God’s statutes while he knows people are plotting against him.
That thought isn’t entirely wrong. This really is a high-minded, and potentially dangerous, approach. If this Psalm goes back to King David, it would be extremely dangerous, and the story of David’s life would tend to contradict the claim.
On second thought, this isn’t a bad idea at all. Not that we’re likely to get it perfect. But it’s a good goal, and it can prevent a great deal of heartache along the way.
There was a time in my adolescence when I was very concerned that people might be talking about me. I’m not sure why I got to thinking that way, but I really didn’t want people talking about be and not knowing what they were saying. I don’t recall any particular event that got me past this stage, but I do remember that very suddenly I realized that it was quite rare for people to be talking about me. Then I realized further that only a tiny portion of the times people were talking about me actually did me any harm at all.
This was followed by a decision on my part that I didn’t really care to hear gossip. The inverse of my realizations about myself was that it was almost never of any value for me to learn things about others or talk about others, unless it was a specific, legitimate discussion.
I don’t know that the Psalmist was thinking this way, or perhaps simply stating that his knowledge of God and God’s will was vastly more important than human plots and conspiracies. But I think this verse has insight beyond its simple words. Think about important things. Think about higher things. Think about useful things. And yes, think about fun things. Plotting princes don’t count.
What should you be thinking about today?
