The Best Poem Ever

Most people are familiar with some basic facts about Psalm 119

• It's long .... really long (the longest Psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible)
• It is divided into 22 equal stanzas (ahhh, beautiful symmetry!!!) 
• Each section is headed by a letter of the Hebrew alphabet (this is when I wished I spoke fluent Hebrew so I could really appreciate the beauty of this poem)
• It is the most elaborate acrostic: the first word of each of the 8 verses in stanza one all begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (Aleph), in the second stanza, each of the verses begins with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, beta, and so on and so forth. 
• There are many words used to describe the Word of God, 8 in fact (same as the number of verses in each section)
• Each of these is used an average of 22 times
• Each stanza contains most, if not all of these 8 words (a GREAT activity for school aged children, or yourself, would be to highlight these in different colors)
• I'll go into greater detail of the coloring of each word when we get to the Heth stanza, where they all appear one time
• This Psalm has been set to music many times. I recommend using any good resource you can find to help you (singing being one of the best) memorize this - even if you just write your own tune. There is a lot of not great art out there, so find something that is easy to sing/remember/and seems to be written well. Here is something I am investing in for our family. Not all of the sections are great, but the first one, aleph, is easy for my children to remember. Of course, you have to take the version you are memorizing out of in consideration too - make sure it matches whatever you sing. This is the reason, I think we will be writing most of our own songs. If you undertake a writing project for this Psalm, please share! 

I realize that's a lot of detail to go into, but I have found in my own memorization that the more I know about the Psalm, the easier it is for me to memorize and the more I enjoy, delight in, and appreciate the beauty of God and the way He gifted the psalmists to write poetry. 

C. S. Lewis says that 119, "is not, and does not pretend to be, a sudden outpouring of the heart [like Psalm 51 was, for example] ... It is a pattern, a thing done like embroidery, stitch by stitch, through long, quiet hours, for love of the subject and for the delight in leisurely, disciplined craftsmanship."

The Psalmist clearly loves poetry AND the Law.

Why Psalm 119 now? Why at all? 

Why am I starting this Psalm right at the start of my "memorizing the Psalms" quest? It seems so daunting... well it is ... but taken one section at a time and reviewing each week, I think we can do it. 

The biggest reason I chose now is that I wanted to start Psalm 119 leading up to the Passover/Resurrection season. Some believe that Psalm 119 rounds off a Passover liturgy. If that is the case, what a wonderful way to read about the Law and all that God's Word is and know that the True and Living Word, Jesus, has come to be the sacrifice for our sin.

The liturgy would look something like this beginning on Palm Sunday and will be what my family does this year (and will be revisited during Passion week):

Sunday morning: Psalm 105 / Sunday evening: Psalm 106

Monday morning: Psalm 107 / Monday Evening: Psalm 108

Tuesday morning: Psalm 109 / Tuesday evening: Psalm 110

Wednesday morning: Psalm 111 / Wednesday evening: Psalm 112

Thursday morning: Psalm 113 / Thursday evening: Psalm 114

Friday morning: Psalm 115 / Friday evening: Psalm 116

Saturday morning: Psalm 117 / Saturday evening: Psalm 118

Resurrection Sunday: Psalm 119

If you'd like to spread out the readings over the Lent season, you could do a few Psalms a week. Or, you could start on March 31 and read one section of Psalm 119 each day until Resurrection morning. 

So ... this Psalm will take commitment. #committedto119 here we go!