Psalm 119:52 – Finding Comfort

I remembered your judgments from ages past,
Oh Lord, in them I found comfort.

The division of this verse into two lines seems slightly odd. I’ve taken it as a chiasm, a b b’ a’: (a) I remember your judgments (b) from ages past (b’) Oh Lord, (a’) I found comfort. It’s interesting to watch for chiasms in the Bible, because it places emphasis on certain concepts. I may be wrong about the division, but if I’m right, the form places the emphasis on God’s eternal nature and God’s enduring judgments.

And that format led me to think about human tendencies, and two opposite things that we tend to like, not always consistently. First, we like to think of stability. The idea that a practice or a law has been done for a long time and has been successful gives us a feeling of stability. We also have a drive to change, which challenges that stability. We’d like to have complete freedom combined with absolute stability.

In the real world we can’t actually have both. Freedom and innovation always challenge safety and stability. We live with this sort of tension all the time, often resolving it by considering our own innovations as just natural developments, not threatening the fabric of society, while the innovations of others are clearly destructive and must be stopped!

In scripture, God is presented as being on both sides of this. God is the creator, a continuing creative force. God is also ancient, reliable, providing comfort to those threatened by hostile changes.

Am I speaking scripturally?

“I am YHWH, I do not change ….” Malachi 3:6

“Look! I am doing a new thing! …” (Isaiah 43:19)

Sometimes when asked if I think there are contradictions in the Bible I say, “Yes! I think they’re the best part!”

What exactly is God up to? Is it new or is it eternal? I like to think about this with what I call “orthodox Christian thinking,” by which I mean thinking formed by doctrines such as the trinity and the incarnation. “God is three, but God is one.” “Which?” “Yes!” … or … “Jesus is fully human and fully divine.” “Which?” “Again, yes!”

God never changes. God is doing a new thing. It’s really a beautiful and powerful contradiction.

“I am YHWH, I do not change. Therefore you sons of Jacob have not been finished off.” (Malachi 3:6)

Because God is faithful to God’s promises, because having chosen, God doesn’t give up, Israel will not be destroyed.

“Look! I am doing a new thing! Right now it’s springing up! Can’t you see it? I’m raising up a path in the wilderness, in dry places, rivers!” (Isaiah 43:19)

Wonderful thing, context. Useful to read each verse completely.

The end of each verse is this: God is redeeming Israel. God is not giving up. God is staying the same. God is doing something new.

What new path does the unchanging God have for you today?

(Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)