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We return today to our ongoing series entitled “Psalms Greatest Hits” where we are in a sub-series, focusing on the one-hundred and nineteenth Psalm. Today we arrive at the seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Zayin. The word Zayin in Hebrew has multiple meanings, including:  weapon, sword, sustenance, or nourishment. Each of these terms comports well with the text, but sustenance jumps out to me as the most deeply aligned with the Psalmist’s experience.

The Hebrew letter, Zayin (pronounced Zah-yeen) looks similar to the number seven and has a “crown” upon the “vav” (the vertical part represents a straight light from God to man), and the crown is the light reflecting back. From the Christian perspective, there is some nuance which is worth considering. Namely the symbol is that of a “crowned man”, a Messianic foreshadowing, and in the New Testament, Jesus is depicted as the Logos, the two-edged sword, and not only wears this sword, but speaks it from his mouth, which is also found in ancient Midrash (Hebrew commentaries focused on interpreting and exploring the sacred text).

As we reflect, remember the mind and inner self of the Psalmist is focused on the laws, precepts, commandments, promises, word, and rules of God as a life-giving resource, not as cosmic killjoy. When God has spoken to us, and provided direction on how to live, how to act, how to think, then life is blessed, by contrast to the non-life, of those who ignore, reject, or despise God’s voice.

⁴⁹ Remember your word to your servant,
    in which you have made me hope.
⁵⁰ This is my comfort in my affliction,
    that your promise gives me life.

I like how the Psalmist begins by calling God to remember. I’ll try and transliterate here: “Don’t forget God…” (as if forgetting were possible) that YOU (the Lord) are the cause, the one who made me have hope in your Word. Your voice and counsel has become the consolation to me in the midst of my humiliation, the “sayings of you…she makes me alive.” In other words, I’d be dead or remain dead if it weren’t for your Word.

The proof that the love of God has taken over our heart (inner self-not emotion) is the moment of realization that life is not the tiny definition of science which is our ability to fog a mirror, but life is the experience of integration…of making peace with all the so-called parts that seem disparate or meaningless. Life is forgiving reality for being what it is, and receiving each moment as containing all things and lacking nothing. This comes as a gift of God’s word which reveals us all things.

⁵¹ The insolent utterly deride me,
    but I do not turn away from your law.
⁵² When I think of your rules from of old,
    I take comfort, O Lord.

“The arrogant ones mock me.” Consider how our modern culture shares this insolence. The world sees believers as “extreme” or “haters” or “those who judge and condemn”. Those who love and identify with their sin, and are proud to reject God and his law, are those most hostile to faith, laughing at it, all the while living from (disintegrated) blindness. The Psalmist lived within the same tension. The arrogant always think their myopia is true seeing, but those in fidelity and faith in the “judgments from eons”, are comforted with true seeing of Reality. Seers have been where the blind are, we know how they see. The blind haven’t been where seers are, and cannot fathom what we can see. It’s laughable that they remain so proud.

⁵³ Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,
    who forsake your law.
⁵⁴ Your statutes have been my songs
    in the house of my sojourning.

Simoon (horror) has taken hold of me because of the wicked who know what the Lord has said and just ignore it. It’s shocking how many people willfully ignore the greatest gift to humanity, and as a result, we all pay the price. It’s infuriating.

As a point of reflection, it’s easy to see how judgmental this sounds. In fact, it comes off as if the Psalmist is some perfect adherent to the law of the Lord. In this context, yes, that may sound this way, but the greater context of the Psalms reveals that the Psalmist knows that he is in the same boat. He knows that despite knowing better, despite knowing the law of the Lord, he too willfully ignores at times the word of the Lord.

We know this because of how this section of the Psalm concludes. Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning. In other words, the Psalmist keeps coming back to the tune of God’s rules in all his comings and goings.

⁵⁵ I remember your name in the night, O Lord,
    and keep your law.
⁵⁶ This blessing has fallen to me,
    that I have kept your precepts.

What started with a plea for God to remember the Psalmist, now concludes with him remembering God. This remembrance comes in the night, when life is darkest, when it’s the hardest, he gives himself to obedience. Though seeing is difficult, fidelity to the Law of God is his plan.

The blessing that has fallen on him, ties into the Zayin, the straight light of God to man, and the crowned man reflecting man back to God. It is a blessing to hear and receive and know the Word of the Lord, and the fruit of this blessing is a life that is blessed. The benefit of obedience is a blessed life, not an easy life. This is not the same as perfect adherence, but it is an unchanging truth about the blessings of God.

May we reflect in silence upon our love of God and His Word. Is there anything at all that we desire more than that? If so, we’re not in step with the Psalmist. Let’s sit quietly with this reality until it dawns on us that there is literally nothing that will make our lives more rich, more full, and more content, than the Word of God, His Voice, and rules. May we learn to see what the Psalmist sees, and experience the same comfort in our affliction…and know a truly blessed life.