The Grand Canyon is spectacular and vast: 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and over a mile deep. Covering about 1,900 square miles, the Canyon is roughly the size of the state of Delaware. While millions visit this national park each year, the vast majority see the Canyon only from the rim and never venture onto the trails to explore its wonders.
Think of Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, as “the Grand Psalm.” At 176 verses, this single psalm is longer than Ephesians and 28 other books of the Bible! It includes many familiar lines, such as, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (verse 105). But studying the whole psalm is a bit like setting off on a hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
After a few hours on the trail in the blistering desert sun, weary hikers might conclude that they’ve seen enough of the limestone, sandstone, and shale rock formations and head for the air-conditioned gift shop. You might have similar thoughts about Psalm 119, as the verses seem to run together as they speak again and again about the Scriptures as God’s law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, rules, word, and promise.
To get our bearings, note that Psalm 119 is an intricate acrostic poem with 22 stanzas corresponding to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet: aleph, beth, and so forth. Just as the mighty Colorado River runs through the Grand Canyon with its sheer rock walls, so the poetic form of the Grand Psalm provides the walls through which a river of passion and praise flows. The inspired poet was so captivated by the loveliness of God’s word, so confident in its truthfulness, that he penned the Bible’s longest, most intricate poem celebrating the Book God gave us for our good.
Let’s explore three themes or “trails” in and through this Grand Psalm — devotion, dependence, and delight — to renew and deepen our love for the Book of God.
Devotion
The first trail through the Grand Psalm is devotion. Devotion is like checking the map, choosing your route, and setting off with eager expectation. We must orient our minds, hearts, and lives to God and his word. The psalm opens with a double blessing that captures this emphasis on heartfelt devotion:
Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways! (verses 1–3)
“Blessed” means truly happy and favored by God (as in Psalm 1:1). Our society defines the good life by accumulation of possessions, by personal achievements and autonomy. But the good life is actually found in seeking the true God, keeping his ways, and being happy in him.
And then, after only three verses of speaking about God, the worshiper speaks directly to God. We typically think of Psalm 119 as a lofty poem about God’s word. But it is also the most sustained “I-to-you” prayer in the Bible. The Grand Psalm reflects personal, passionate, and honest communion with the living God — in other words, devotion to the living God.
Time and again, this psalm ponders precious truths about God’s character and ways. “You are good and do good” (verse 68). In verses 4–8, the poet rehearses reality (“You told me to carefully keep your word”), makes a request (“I want to keep it”), then expresses his resolve (“I intend to keep it!”). These and other verses of the Grand Psalm summon us to a life of deep devotion, a life marked by confidence in God’s word and wholehearted commitment to God’s ways.
This first trail through the Grand Psalm orients us to what is true, right, and good and motivates us to trust God and seek him. The word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (verse 105), so the worshiper prays, “Teach me, O Lord” (verse 33). We need light from God’s word because we often face darkness — which leads to our second theme.
Dependence
Returning to the hiking analogy, dependence is when you are hours into your hike and you’re weary and hurting and wondering if you’re going the right way. This second trail through the Grand Psalm entails trusting God through trials. We move from the prayer of devotion, “Teach me,” to the desperate plea, “Help me!”
The psalmist identifies himself as “a sojourner on the earth” (verse 19), and he regularly expresses his neediness, confusion, and trouble. This believer is severely afflicted. He weeps, lies awake at night, cries for help, and longs for salvation. Think of King David on the run from his father-in-law Saul or his son Absalom. Think of David’s greater Son, Jesus, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He was mocked, betrayed, abandoned, accused, tortured, and killed.
The psalmist hits rock bottom in verses 81–87. This embattled believer feels like “wineskin in the smoke” — spent, burned out, shriveled up, cast aside. Think of Job sitting in the ashes, scraping his sores, or Jeremiah at the bottom of a muddy cistern. The poet cries out, “How long? Help!” He can’t see a way out. He is almost done — yet he clings to God’s promise. That’s how light pushes through the darkness, turning desperation into confident joy: “Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens” (verse 89).
Even after this hopeful turn to confidence, the trail of dependence in affliction winds through the Grand Psalm until its surprising conclusion: “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments” (verse 176). Elsewhere, the believer insists that he does not stray from God’s precepts (verse 110). Yet here, as he addresses the holy God, he is mindful of his own sin. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it!” This is the prayer of one who is poor in spirit and who has tasted the grace of God. The psalmist seeks God with his whole heart (verses 2, 10), but he also needs the divine Shepherd to seek him.
Delight
Our last trail through the Grand Psalm is delight. Ten times, the poet expresses his gladness in God’s word, as in verse 14: “In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.” The emphasis on delight recalls the happy man of Psalm 1, whose “delight is in the law of the Lord” (Psalm 1:2). Our psalmist sings because of the supreme value of God’s word, which is more precious than gold or silver (verses 72, 127). Indeed, the Scriptures are a savory feast for the soul: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (verse 103).
Remember that these euphoric expressions spring from the pen of the same poet who has endured days of distress, sleepless nights, and countless afflictions. He thought his life was over. He felt used up and worn out. God met him in the darkness, sustained him in the valley, and brought him to a place of abundance. So, he rests and revels in God’s faithful word. He treasures his God in and through trials, expressing the biblical reality that believers are often “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).
Devotion says, “Teach me!” Dependence cries, “Help me!” Delight says, “Thrill me!” This third trail through Psalm 119 reveals the aim of our devotion to God and dependence on his promises. Why does a hiker set off with eager expectation and keep going even when he’s tired, hot, and hurting all over? Because he knows that the trail leads to a spectacular waterfall where he can gaze upon glory and plunge into refreshing pools. As Augustine famously prayed, “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You” (Confessions, 1.1.1).
The Grand Psalm holds out for us a fresh vision of the God who has graciously given us his excellent word, the God who sustains and satisfies his weary saints. So take and read the Book of God with devotion, dependence, and delight.
