Today’s Reading: Psalm 119:1-88, 1 Cor. 7:20-40
Today’s Reflection: Psalms 119:54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
If I may, I would like to reverse engineer this verse. First, let’s look at the phrase “house of my pilgrimage”. The phrase seems to imply a lengthy stay in a temporary but difficult place through which one must travel to get to their desired destination. In fact, one of Webster’s definitions for the word pilgrimage reads like this: Time irksomely [in a wearisome or tedious manner] spent. So long was this wearisome stay that the Psalmist ascribed for it the word house [dwelling place].
If you’ve ever felt like you’ve made for yourself a house in a place that should have never been such a large part of your journey, then you are beginning to get the picture. Here, David relates to all of those who by way of difficulty have found themselves carrying crosses they never anticipated for lengths of time they never thought they would have to endure.
But what was David’s saving grace? It was that God supplied for him songs of joy for the journey! Look at the text again; “Thy statutes have been my song…” Statutes here signify those positive decrees, prescribed portions, allotted boundaries, and/or laws given by God’s Divine order for the benefit of His Heavenly citizens traveling through this place we call Earth.
Simply put, David made the promises of God his songs for guidance and sustenance, especially in his most difficult seasons of traveling through to higher ground. And that brings me to you and I. Will we, like David, make God’s promises the songs by which we take our marching orders, or will we sing strange songs in our strange land? A good question to ask oneself is this; what would I do differently today if I believed God for every promise He ever spoke over me? Whatever that is, DO IT!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill