Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. Psalm 119:73 

Paul wrote: So then, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 NIV

Psalm 119 is a long Psalm consisting of 176 verses, focused on the joy of learning and following God’s commandments. In verse 73 the psalmist asks for understanding to learn these rules for our lives. He prays to a God that he knows have created him, fashioned him and all people. Now, understanding is needed to learn the right way to live, and then to follow those rules. Understanding is more than learning the words and reciting them to get stars on your Sunday school chart. Understanding includes following them, to the best of our ability.

Where can we get this understanding? Do we just pray and then we learn the rules and understand them all? That helps of course. However, we learn these rules from others who learned from others for generations. Starting, perhaps, with Moses, who directly received the ten commandments, the ten words that God gave him on tablets. Through the next generations, these rules, and another 600+ that were added, were passed down to children and adult learners in synagogues and subsequently to churches.

Now, how well do we follow them? Can we, as Paul admonishes, stand firm and hold fast all by ourselves? With great difficulty if we think we can rely on our own strength. Luckily, God knows that as He knows all about us. With the help of God through prayer and meditation, we can understand both the rules and that our efforts fall short. Jesus also summarizes the commandments telling us that we are to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.

Teaching God, open our hearts to your teachings so that we may be your disciples. Thank you for the teachers you inspire to help us learn about You. Your lessons bring us comfort and hope; for this, we are grateful. Forgive us for  straying from what we know is right. We ask that you give us the courage to share your lessons with the world. Amen.

Chris Gabel

Ministries
Teaching Mission Party