Ordinary Days #4: For my sister…

Happy are those who are blameless,

   …seeking God with all their heart (Psalm 119:&1&2)

I have wandered away.

   …seek me out, O Lord. (Psalm 119:176)

The longest Psalm ends with the Psalmist, who started out so sure of himself, wandering away; and now, at the end, praying that God will stick with him and seek him out “like a lost sheep.” One hundred and seventy six verses in praise of Torah, ending up with a plea for something more—for grace.

The Psalm is a technical marvel—an alphabetical acrostic eight times over. That’s how we get to 176 verses: 22 letters times 8 poetic lines for each letter from alef to tav, like our “A” to “Z” (no vowels in Hebrew so take out our five vowels from our 27 and you get 22) comes out to 176—a marvel. 

There are other technical achievements, like how the eight lines of poetry manage to use eight synonyms for God’s Torah: laws, decrees, precepts, statues, commandments, ordinances, word and promise. Yet, in the end, the greatest marvel is that God, out of his freedom—his love and his grace, seeks out those who have gone astray.