Blessing in Keeping

Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:56

This has become mine because I have kept your precepts.  (NKJV)

This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts. (ESV)

“Saving Private Ryan” is considered by many to be one of the best war movies of all time. It has been out since 1998, so you have likely seen it, but if not, be warned of the graphic nature of the battle depictions. The basic storyline is about a group of soldiers tasked with finding James Ryan, a soldier whose three brothers had all been killed in action. They were supposed to find him and bring him out of the war safely so that at least one of the brothers would survive.

In the end, almost all of the men trying to save Private Ryan died. The leader, Captain Miller, dies in a battle at the end of the movie and just before he dies he tells Ryan, “Earn this,” meaning he needed to live a life worthy of all the sacrifices made to save him. The movie concludes with Ryan, now an old man, visiting the grave of Miller to tell him he tried to live life the best he could. He then turns to his wife and asks her if he is a good man before saluting Miller one last time.

Psalm 119 is all about the Word of God. The Psalmist interacts with it in various ways. In this stanza, he contrasts his own experience with the man who forsakes the law. In his experience, when he lies awake at night, he isn’t filled with regrets because he has kept God’s precepts.

He isn’t claiming to have lived perfectly. In the very last line of the Psalm, he confesses, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep.” So, this is not about sinless perfectionism or salvation by works. In a way that is similar to Private Ryan, this is about a man who knows the sacrifice that was made to redeem him and seeks to live well out of a spirit of gratitude and a desire to honor the One who made such a sacrifice for him.

Verse 56 is translated in the New King James Version as “This has become mine.” The English Standard Version tries to clarify what that means by saying, “This blessing has fallen to me.” The idea is that it is a blessing to be able to lie in bed at night and know that, while imperfectly so, you have lived a good life, seeking to love and honor Jesus Christ, the One who sacrificed His life to save you.

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