Psalm 119:17
Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.
Psalm 119:17
I am so thankful for this verse. When feeling empty and out of options in my flesh, I have this verse to lean into. When life is hard, the Psalmist makes a humble request of His Perfect Father “deal bountifully with your servant.”
When hopelessness is at the door... “deal bountifully with your servant.”
In the midst of not acting on God’s Word... “deal bountifully with your servant.”
When life feels like it is slipping away…“deal bountifully with your servant.”
There are many times I have found myself exactly where the Psalmist is. There are times I choose anger; or pride, self-pity, shame, hiding, deceit, lying... These are the time that I am acting out of my flesh that I choose “paths that lead to death” instead of asking my Father to “deal bountifully” with me.
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:26 ESV
Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! Luke 12:24 ESV
So what do I conclude from this one simple verse?
I can restate the verse in many different ways, “In order to live and keep the Word of God; God, Himself, must deal bountifully (abundantly) with me.”
Here is another take, “The very fact that I am alive today and the reality that I even have had a desire to read my Bible today, points to one fact; ‘God is actively dealing bountifully with me.’”
I pray that I remember the abundant reality that God blesses me every morning with new and bountiful mercies. Even thought I wander and drift, my desire is to remember the bountiful blessings that are new every morning and I want to walk in that truth, live in the truth, and keep God’s Word close to my heart.
Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Psalm 119:17
