Pray Psalm 119.73.
Your hands have made me and fashioned me;
Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.

Sing Psalm 119.73, 74.
(Brother James’ Air: The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want)
Your hands have made and fashioned me, teach me Your Law, O Lord!
All those who fear You, when they see me will obey Your Word.
Full gladly they will hope like me, as I hope in Your Word.

Read Psalm 119.73-80; meditate on verse 73.

Preparation
1. How did the psalmist come to be?

2. To what end did he exist?

Meditation
The י (yod, as in “jot or tittle”) stanza continues the theme of affliction elaborated in verses 65-72. At the same time, the psalmist declares more firmly than before his conviction about the truth and reliability of God’s Law, as well as his desire to learn and exemplify it.

We are made for the Law of God – to love God and our neighbors. We note the sense of personal attention with which the psalmist expressed his having been created by God. His “hands” “made” and “fashioned” the psalmist. God is intimately and personally involved in the creation of every human being, commanding us into being in our mother’s womb and endowing us with that combination of DNA and soul that can shape our lives for Him (Ps. 139.13-16). Each of us is unique. We share many features with all human beings; but God has uniquely formed us so that, as we obey His Law, we glorify Him in the specific ways for which He made us.

But since we cannot obey His commandments on our own, God has given His own Son to fulfill all righteousness for us and His own Spirit to teach and empower us. Faith in Jesus Christ and submission to God’s Spirit are essential for us to fulfill His purpose for us. Looking to Jesus and listening to God’s Spirit, we are empowered to understand and learn His will (Ezek. 36.26, 27; Phil. 2.13).

“Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find repose in Thee” (Augustine). We are made to learn God’s holy and righteous and good Law. This is our life (Lev. 18.4, 5: Eph. 2.10); this is where we find our greatest happiness (Ps. 119.1-8), and where we make our unique contribution to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10.31).

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.16.
Maybe it is time for a paradigm shift in our thinking? I’m talking about the idea that our lives look like the back of a needlepoint work, but someday, ah someday, we will see our lives as the front of the needlepoint work (i.e., not a scraggly hot mess).

I think perhaps God wants us to see the process of our lives as a beautiful thing. Right from the start.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5.17).

“Your hands have made me and fashioned me…” (Ps. 119.73)
And if God is good and does good, then we are “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…” (Eph. 2.10). Or written as the psalmist said, “that I may learn Your commandments” (Ps. 119.73).

“Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Ps. 139.16).

Truly, this all sounds far more fantastic than we could ever imagine. Created by God? All our days planned for us by Him? Before we were ever born? Yes. Yes. And yes.

“The LORD looks from heaven; He sees…He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works” (Ps. 33.13-15).

This God, our God, has taken the time and made the effort to pay attention to each one of us. To make and fashion us for the very purpose of loving Him, serving Him; and loving and serving others in His creation.

In and through Jesus, all things were made and without Him nothing was made that was made. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (Jn. 1.3, 4).

So, “though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me. The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands” (Ps. 138.7, 8).

We are His, now, created by Him. We are a new creation. Now.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in [our] hearts…” (Eccl. 3.11).

Let’s make the paradigm shift and see ourselves as He sees us. Ready for service. Cleansed. Beautiful.

For reflection
1. God made you. God sees you. God knows you. God loves you. With whom can you share this Good News today?

2. Why is knowing Jesus essential for learning and keeping God’s Law?

3. Why is learning and keeping God’s Law indispensable for following Jesus?

As we are the creatures and the workmanship of God, and as he has not only bestowed upon us vital motion, in common with the lower animals, but has, in addition thereto, given us the light of understanding and reasons ― this encourages us to pray that he would direct us to the obedience of his law. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Psalm 119.73

Pray Psalm 119.79, 80.
What believers will you encourage today by your walk with and work for the Lord? Pray for them now, and ask God for mercy and grace to help you encourage them in Him.

Sing Psalm 119.79, 80.
(Brother James’ Air: The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want)
Let those who fear You turn to me, all those who love Your Word.
Let my heart pure and blameless be before Your statutes, Lord!
That shame may not attach to me, I hold fast to Your Word!

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.