This section of the prayer-song answers the age-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? In this situation it involves obedience to God’s word. It’s clear to me that obedience (keeping God’s law) flows from loving it (47-48). Is this not what Jesus taught his disciples in John 14:15: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”? I, too, am the recipient of God’s committed love to me and salvation (41). Only as I trust in God’s word and hope in it will I be able to answer the pesky devil when he taunts me (42-43). Just as there’s a blessing for those who seek God wholeheartedly (2), obedience and true freedom comes from seeking God’s word (44-45). There certainly is nothing to be ashamed about in speaking God’s word to people in high places (46). Here again I am faced with delighting in and meditating on God’s words (47-48). There’s direct correspondence here, too, I believe. The more I think about God’s words, the more I delight in them and the more I love them. The image I get from verse 48 of “[lifting] up my hands toward your commandments, which I love” is that of a young child, who lifts her hands up to her mother or father because she wants to be held. She wants a loving touch from her parent whom she loves. So it is in revering God’s word and longing for connection to God through what he has spoken.
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