What we read, what we listen to, what we watch \u2014 what fills our mind \u2014 makes us who we are. We become what fills our mind. So also the psalmist:
\n\u201cYour statutes are always righteous;
\ngive me understanding that I may live\u201d (119:144).
\nLiterally \u2014 \u201crighteous are your statutes forever.\u201d What God calls us to do partakes in God\u2019s very being \u2014 the perichoretic relationship of Father, Son, and Spirit shapes the commands. They are designed to draw us into that relationship and to guide us in that very motion. If the perichoresis is God\u2019s eternally self-emptying love of Father into Son and Son in Spirit and Spirit into Son and Son into Father, then the commands of God are designed to lead us into that kind of self-emptying.
\nBecause whatever God does is perfect, his laws lead us into that perfection.
\nTherefore, the psalmist prays, \u201cgive us understanding so we can live.\u201d Perhaps in the sense of surviving the assaults of his enemies, and perhaps in the sense of \u201creally living\u201d. In Joy, in the Presence of God, in the Glory of being in God.
\nThe statutes give \u201cdiscernment.\u201d As they did for the anointed one (Isa 11:2) and Solomon (Prov. 1:2).
\nThe one who listens and learns and observes the statutes finds words of life \u2014 words that give life, words that are life, and words of life.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What we read, what we listen to, what we watch \u2014 what fills our mind \u2014 makes us who we are. We become what fills our mind. So also the psalmist: \u201cYour statutes are always righteous; give me understanding that I may live\u201d (119:144).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1753],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psalm-119"],"yoast_head":"\n