119: Heth

Pronounced chet, Heth [ח] is the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, called by Jewish scholars the “letter of life”. They teach that a soul at one with God is enlivened by the “essential life” God himself possesses, which does not seem an unreasonable proposition. Where Christianity differs with Judaism, of course, is over the matter of how being “at one” with God comes about.

As the New Testament teaches, it is only in the person of Jesus Christ that the essential life of God may be communicated to his creatures.

Psalm 119:57-58 — Allotment and Inheritance

“The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words. I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.”

My Portion

On the surface, Psalm 119 may seem to be all about the glories of words and rules, but the words and rules are only of value insofar as they point us back to the person who spoke the words and gave the rules, and tell us things about him. So the psalmist begins with “The Lord is my portion.” This is the real secret of the law’s value: through the law we receive not just the knowledge of sin but the knowledge of God.

In Old Testament parlance, a portion may be an entitlement, an inheritance or an allotment. The latter two are certainly true of the believer’s relationship with his God. (The first is not; everything we have in Christ is a product of grace, not entitlement.) The idea of the Lord as our portion is perhaps best summed up in Leviticus, where the Lord tells Aaron the priest, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.” This is truly a blessed place to be, and it’s probably where the psalmist gets his language. We would not dare to say it if God had not said it first.

But note that the contrast is between those who had an earthly portion (land and territory) and those whose portion is God. The Christian’s position is analogous to the second. Moreover, we might note that an allotment is what we have in the present while an inheritance is what we can expect in the future, though it remains as certain as what has already been received. The believer’s portion does not end with salvation in this life but continues into eternity and likeness to Christ, the full possession of all God has given us in his Son.

The Corollary

Much follows from the truth that our portion is the Lord. Obedience is obvious (“I promise to keep your words”). As treasured family members and heirs, what is more natural than to follow the direction of a loving parent? We can only truly become what we were designed to be by acknowledging the source of all good in our lives.

The appeal of verse 58 is along the lines of a teachable child acting in view of a destiny laid out for him by a loving Father. The heir entreats the favor of God in the same spirit that the Lord Jesus invited his followers to ask the Father to meet their needs: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

To those whose portion is the Lord, asking him for a favor is the most natural thing in the world. If he will give us himself as our inheritance, how much more will he give us every needed thing in this life?

Psalm 119:59-61 — Urgency and Determination

“When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies; I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments. Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law.”

Thinking on My Ways

Becoming what we ought to be requires perpetual realignment of our path and goals with that of our Father in heaven. The psalmist says, “When I think on my ways, I turn my feet.” We turn our feet when they are pointing in the wrong direction. A moment’s reflection reminds us to change course. We have our Father’s goals in view.

Sadly, far too many people are unreflective. They seek the goals and glories of this world without ever giving a moment’s thought to where that leads and what it will produce in eternity. I remember urging a co-worker years ago to give serious thought to the things in which she was investing her time. When you die rich, to whom would you leave it all and why? And if you have nobody in your life worth leaving it to, why are you still doing the things you are doing? Even asking the question alarmed her, and it should. We have an answer. The world does not.

Redirecting with Gusto

The psalmist is not half-hearted about making necessary course adjustments, and we ought to be the same way. He responds with both urgency (“I hasten and do not delay”) and determination (“though the cords of the wicked ensnare me”). Having entrusted himself to the Lord and his word, he does not have to weigh all of that again every time he discovers he is going off track. His decision was a once-for-all commitment, and he’s not about to turn back now. He is willing to face opposition and danger if necessary, and he’s not prepared to wait before acting in obedience to what he knows to be the truth.

Psalm 119:62-63 — Night Moves

“At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules. I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts.”

The Scriptures and Sleep

In the previous section of the psalm, its writer mentions that he remembers the Lord’s name in the night. Here he is more explicit: he makes it a conscious habit to devote hours to his God that others are devoting to sleep. The righteous rules of the Lord are so wonderful that he (metaphorically) sets his alarm for midnight to praise his God.

Medical science is constantly reminding us that we need our sleep, and that if we don’t get enough of it terrible things will happen: heart problems, diabetes, a failing immune system, higher pain sensitivity, memory loss and a danger to mental health. Doctors then go on to prescribe ridiculous amounts of healing slumber, including up to twelve hours for school-aged children. What a waste!

I’m not here to tell you they are completely wrong, because my own story is not over yet. Maybe I’ll expire at sixty-five of chronic sleep deprivation and prove them all right. But whenever medical science tells us something dogmatically, my mind goes back to my youth, when I was told eating cereal for breakfast was healthy, thalidomide was great for morning sickness, margarine was much better for you than that evil butter, and that drinking great quantities of milk and juice into your teens was the way to go. By my count, medical science is wrong as often as it is right.

In fact, I’m not sure there’s a single passage of scripture that encourages us to get more sleep. God will give it or not, as he sees fit, and the quality of sleep is more important than the quantity. In contrast, plenty of scriptures urge us not to enjoy it too much, and to use our time on earth to maximum spiritual advantage. That includes the night hours. At very least, we must admit scripture teaches that some things are simply more important than a good night’s rest.

One Among Many

There are times in this psalm when its writer seems like a lonely man, out of sync with his times and harassed and rejected by his peers. There’s an element of truth to that, but the psalmist also reminds us he is one among many: “I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts.”

There are always more of the faithful around us than we think. Supporters of common sense were shocked to wake up November 6 and discover they were a majority in the US, and the enemies of America shocked to find themselves fewer and further between than they had been told. The Christian’s experience is similar: we are never alone. One of my father’s favorite modern choruses was Bill Gaither’s “Family of God”. It expressed a truth he prized: that his relationship with the Lord connected him to all sorts of different people all over the world, many of them very different from himself.

In times when we feel very much alone in our spiritual travels, it’s good to remind ourselves that, as God told Elijah, “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” That’s an important enough truth that Paul quotes it in Romans. There is always, always a remnant that fears God. We are glad to be a small part of it.

Psalm 119:64 — Lovingkindness and Obedience

“The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!”

We did a little study earlier in this series on the subject of the Hebrew word translated “steadfast love”. The connection between the many practical ways in which the Lord meets the needs of the believer and the keeping of his statutes should be obvious: keeping the Lord’s statutes is evidence of faith, and faith pleases God. The man who lives by faith will experience the Lord’s lovingkindness in ways the man who lives for himself will not, even he claims to be religious or a believer.

When God commended Job to Satan, it was not for his faith, though he was obviously a man with great trust in God. No, it was to the outward evidences of faith that the Lord pointed: Job was blameless, upright, feared God and turned away from evil. These things were annoyingly obvious even to the wickedest and most value-twisted individual in the universe.

Let us then attend to the Lord’s statutes.