Psalm 119:49-56

Psalm 119:49-56 

Zayin

In life’s journey God's Word is all the poets thoughts and pursuit.

We are all on a trip, a long journey to the grave and beyond.  One should never expect this trip to be easy or fast or carefree.  In fact, the ancient nomads understood this much better than we.  In vs. 54 the poet refers to the house of his “pilgrimage.” We live in a culture that places a high value on a permanent place of residence.  To be a homeowner is a major or even the most important part of the “American Dream.” Pilgrims have no such concept.  For a pilgrim the destination is the objective, with lessons to be learned along the way.  It is unavoidable; we are on a pilgrimage, and the poet points out that on this journey God’s Word is a great help and comfort.  

Being a tourist is relatively easy.  If you have enough money, everything is catered for you.  Being a tourist is the ultimate consumer experience in which we are not changed but have our perceptions confirmed.  Being a pilgrim is hard.  It is not about being catered to but is about being challenged and changed.  It is about our own attitudes, convictions, and commitments confronted and reshaped by hardships, either our own or the lives of others.  Life is one long pilgrimage.  

That being said, and with the expectation that life will be hard, how do we cope?  Where do we find the strength to carry on the pilgrimage?  The poet tells us it is in the Word of God.  It gives him comfort when he is afflicted, and it revives him.  He is mocked and scorned by the arrogant—the word carries the connotation of frivolous persons, libertines, and freethinkers.  These people look at the self-imposed, hard life of a pilgrim and make fun, suggesting it is better to settle down and indulge in the good life of pleasure and self-satisfaction.  

The poet continues his life’s journey with the Word of God giving him strength as well as indignation for the life that forsakes the law.  Hatred for evil is both the right response and a preventative from dabbling in the evil.  That hatred is reinforced because the emotional support, the songs of the poet, is the Law of God.  Even in the dark hours of the night when it is easiest to become discouraged, the poet is turning to and being strengthened by God’s precepts.

“Lord, help me to never be a tourist but always a pilgrim. AMEN”