Psalm 119:15 (Revisited)
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. Psalm 119:15
According to Logos Bible software the word ‘meditate’ is similiar to words like “study, talk about, sing, speak to, consider” while the word ‘fix’ means the “to set right or prepare.”
This verse appears to provide the reader with both a current and future focus. Meditate now and going forward as well as fix your eyes on a way that leads to life. This provides an answer to the tension of “what do I do?” and “where am I going?”
It is almost like the Psalmist is staying, “get your thinking right and then get your feet headed in the right direction and let God handle the heart change necessary for sanctification to take place."
This verse has a very pragmatic feel while it is comforting to the young believer who may be asking, “What can I do?” The answer is “meditate on God’s precepts and fix your eyes on His ways!” That feels very tangible.
But how do we actually do that? What if I don’t feel like it?
We must remember that Psalm 119 was written to teach the Hebrew children the Hebrew alphabet from a young age. The children would learn this as a catechism or framework; a way of doing things or even a way of seeing life. So much of the Hebrew culture would be seen in this simple verse. Cultural norms are found here. “We meditate…, we have been given precepts…, we are to fix our eyes on something…, there are ways that we follow.” All of these things would be repeated until it was an accepted way of thinking and living. The only way it would not is if the children were no longer taught.
The application for us in the modern, western world is to actually go back and begin teaching ourselves and our children these same “precepts and ways.” We need to unlearn what we learned from secular culture and learn afresh these biblical truths that were so much a part of the Hebrew children’s learning. We need to learn to see our world through new eyes. The eyes of children learn everything from Alpha to Taw; from the beginning to the end.
That is how our Father intended to teach us.
