Midweek Musing- September 10, 2025

Musing 3 of 3: Psalm 119

In my reading and researching recently I came across the acrostic psalms. This Biblical poetry fascinated me. I think it did so in part because it was like a hidden treasure that I happened upon. Because of this I thought it was a good idea to do a series of three musings on the acrostic Psalms. And I still think it was one. But I have also learned that my good ideas aren’t always as easy to execute as I think they might be.

The first acrostic Psalm I began with was Psalm 111. This Psalm in its acrostic form declared that God’s praise is complete — A to Z, aleph to tav. Then I moved to Psalm 112 which showed us that our own lives are to mirror that same order and wholeness — not fragmented, but steady and generous.

But now we come to the longest and most complex of the acrostics, Psalm 119.

Psalm 119 is a masterpiece in its writing but also in its devotion to God and the Torah.

This Psalm is 176 verses long with eight verses for each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Every line in each section begins with the same Hebrew letter. That means the psalmist has written eight lines starting with aleph, then eight lines with beth, and so on all the way through the alphabet.

For me, as someone who writes a lot of words, I can only imagine the discipline in addition to the sheer devotion that it took to write that!

I also can only wonder about the number of drafts and rewrites and balled up scraps of parchment that were littered around the writer’s desk.

But I can also imagine the message it sent to the readers which is God’s Word is worth lingering over, letter by letter, line by line, thought by thought.

Additionally Biblical commentators share that for the ancient hearers; this acrostic was not only beautiful poetry but also an act of worship. The poetic Psalm’s structure itself proclaimed: God’s Word is all-encompassing. Just as the alphabet contains the building blocks of all words and speech, so too does God’s word to the Hebrew people - the Torah contains the building blocks of a faithful life.

Further Psalm 119 does not hurry. It circles back again and again with love for God’s commandments, teachings, laws, and instructions.

And in God’s serendipity this Psalm still speaks to us today. You see in our fast-paced world, where we often want quick answers or bite-sized inspiration, Psalm 119 invites us to slow down, to savor, to dwell in God and God’s Word as a lifelong practice.

Dr. Walter Brueggemann who I believe will be remembered as perhaps one of the most distinguished and influential Biblical scholars in history reminds us Israel’s poetry is not accidental but purposeful. Indeed, they are deliberate acts of faith written with great intentionality.

• Psalm 111: God’s character is whole and trustworthy.

• Psalm 112: Our lives are called into that same wholeness.

• Psalm 119: The path from God’s wholeness to our wholeness is the Word itself.

Brueggemann has said that acrostics are Israel’s way of “bearing witness to an ordered world in which God’s sovereignty makes sense of human life.” In other words, the alphabet is a symbol of completeness, and these psalms use it to proclaim that God’s order — God’s way — is the very framework that gives shape and meaning to our lives.

Yes, Psalm 119 is repetitive — but that is its gift. Just as we often return to familiar hymns and creeds, the psalmist returns to familiar words of Torah with fresh devotion.

And this Psalm does not apologize for repeating the beauty of God’s Word because the psalmist knows that to live faithfully is to return again and again to God’s teaching. This is why we can study and read and even hear sermons from the same text again and again. Because God’s word is alive and the spirit continues to speak to us through these same texts age after age.

Additionally, Brueggemann says: As Walter Brueggemann often insists, Israel’s poetry is not accidental but purposeful

“It is in the wrestling with the text, and not in our easy answers, that God’s newness breaks through.”

Psalm 119 is an invitation to that wrestling. To keep reading, to keep praying, to keep listening, even when it feels long or repetitive. Because somewhere in that lingering, God’s Spirit surprises us with something new.

We began this journey learning that Scripture is deeper than one translation can show us. We saw how acrostics invite us to see wholeness — God’s wholeness, our wholeness, and the wholeness of God’s Word.

So let us give thanks that we are not limited to one version or interpretation, but are invited to explore, to study, to question, and to grow. The Reformers were right: Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda — the church reformed, always reforming. And so too the Scriptures are always opening new doors, always revealing more when we dare to wrestle with them.

As we conclude this series, I would invite you to pray this prayer which asks God to be with us in our work to learn about the teachings of God through the mystery and wonder of Holy Scripture: O God, from A to Z, from beginning to end, your Word is life. Teach us to linger, to wrestle, and to rejoice in your commandments and teachings. May we be shaped by your truth, transformed by your Spirit, and made whole by your love. Amen