1. The heart of Bible Study – studying God’s precious word devotionally, not JUST scholastically.  There is a place for a scholastic mindset.  But the devotional aspect should supersede the scholastic, I am thinking ( Ps 37:4; Matt 6:33; and the psalmist who is writing Ps 119 exudes a love for God that motivates his love for God’s word ).
2. The discipline of Bible study – choosing to do it when other, more “fun” things are offering themselves.  Also, continue to prayerfully fight through it until God gives us the joy we desire.  Note that this is not to say that the Bible is boring, but in this world with all its distractions, we foolishly think that TV, for instance, will be more satisfying than spending time with God.  So we either choose to fight through this deception that is consuming us, or we give in and go to TV ( or whatever we go to instead of TV ).  The old adage “Pray when you do feel like it.  Pray when you don’t feel like it.  Pray until you do feel like it” applies here and that is where, in some cases, the discipline comes in.  While we should always “feel like it”, that is probably unrealistic considering the fact that we live in a sinful world and have the flesh to deal with ( Rom 7:14-25 )
3. The prayer of Bible study – choosing to depend on God during the study for wisdom, understanding, and change of heart.

I write this mainly because I expect there are many people who deal with these issues.  I know I for one like knowing that I am not alone, so maybe some of you will appreciate knowing that you are not alone.  May we all press on to know God through His word.  I know I desperately need His help, and I know He is their, patiently helping me and guiding me, even when I do not see Him.  He is our hope.

On a related note, I saw this on Twitter today: http://www.gty.org/Resources/Questions/QA168

Words used as synonyms for God’s Law, God’s word:

This reading plan is loosely based on the Figure 8 system, found http://www.figure8scripturememory.com/.  I have modified it to be more  reasonable for a weekly Bible Study.

Goal:  To know Ps 119 and its concepts backwards and forwards so we can meditate on it day and night.

Hope: That we will memorize the actual words of Ps 119 to aide our daily meditation.

What to do:

1. Each day of the given week, you will read the verses indicated for that week.
2. Try to read them at least 8 times a day.  Use the “cells” to keep track of your reading, marking each time you read the passage indicated on the day indicated.
3. Read the verses no more than once an hour.
4. List any key words for the passage you are reading on the “Key Words” line for the indicated passage.
5. List any key themes for the passage you are reading on the “Key Themes” line for the indicated passage.

One Essential:  Pray.  You will never be able to read any passage of scripture using the reading plan above without help from God.

Advice:  Stick it out.  The repetetition can get boring, but stick it out and read with emotion.  That makes it much more interesting for me sometimes, and also helps me worship God as I read it.

The dates below are approximate and each week starts on Wednesday because the Bible Study is on Tuesday.  Obviously if the Bible study was on another day of the week, the start of the week for our reading plan would be different.

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1. law ( 8451 ) – used 25 times
2. testimonies ( 5713 ) – used 13 times
3. ways ( 1870 ) – used 3 times
4. precepts ( 6490 ) – used 19 times
5. statutes ( 2706 ) – used 19 times
6. commandments ( 4687 ) – used 15 times
7. judgments ( 4941 ) – used 20 times
8. word ( 1497 ) – used 23 times
9. word ( 565 ) – used 17 times
10. testimonies ( 5715 ) – used 8 times.
11. ways ( 734 ) – used 1 time.
12. statutes ( 2708 ) – used 1 time.
13. commandments ( 4487 ) – used 6 times.

So, almost all 176 verse have at least one of these words.  My hope is to define each of these words and compare and contrast them, but I wanted to list them out ahead of time so that we can be on the lookout for them as we read and study Psalm 119.

1. Memorization of scripture ( marked with “mem” ) – there are many verses in Psalm 119 that discuss memorizing scripture.  For instance, sometimes the psalmist says that he meditates on God’s word during the night watches.  He would probably do that by knowing God’s word in his heart.
2. Constant action ( marked with “C” ) – there are many places in Psalm 119 where constant action is encouraged.
3. Seeking God ( marked with “S” )
4. Walking in God’s ways ( marked with “W” )
5. Loving God’s Word ( marked with “LW” )
6. Understanding God’s word ( marked with “U” ).  This also includes the concept of just general understanding and wisdom for life.
7. Salvation ( marked with “Sa” ) – Psalm 119 does discuss salvation and the psalmist goes to God for salvation.
8. Telling others of God and His ways ( marked with a “T” )
9. Meditating on God’s word ( marked with a “M” )
10. Heart issue ( marked with “HI” ) – Many times in Psalm 119, the psalmist addresses a heart issue, not just an external issue.
11. Guidance from God’s Word ( marked with “G” ) – On many occasions, the psalmist seeks guidance from God through His Word.
12. Praise of God, especially for His word ( marked with “P” ) – This is a really broad category, on purpose, but quite helpful to look at.
13. Request to God, often for understanding ( marked with a “R” ) – This, also, is quite a broad category, but quite helpful.  For instance, take note of how many times the psalmist asks God to teach him the Word.

I am quite sure there are other themes and topics, but these are the ones that my heart and mind often gravitate towards when I read Psalm 119.

The good:

1. The main character ( Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills ) is trying to reconnect with his daughter, to make up for lost time.  His job with the CIA took him away from his family and ruined his marriage, so he is  trying to get to know his daughter.  He gives up a lot to do this, which is a great lesson.  Granted, you could argue that he should have spent more time with his family, BUT you can see that even when he was away, he was highly devoted to his daughter.
2. The importance of family.
3. The main character defends those in need, like a young lady sold into prostitution.  OK, admittedly, he does this in an effort to get information about his daughter, but he does show care for this young lady.
4. The selling of women is portrayed as wrong, as evil.
5. The daughter genuinely loves her father.
6. Bryan Mills does anything to save his daughter, and I mean anything.

The bad:

1. Girl lies to her father, and her mother lies to him as well.
2. I admit that it seems he was a rather absent father, but his ex-wife and her husband seem to take him for granted.  I mean, at the end the step-father thanks the father for saving his own daughter, promising him anything he needs.  That just struck me as offensive.  I know the step-father cares for her, but did he really think her father did it for any other reason then a deep love for his daughter?

Well, that is enough for now.  Go here for a more thorough review.

1. Psalm 119 shows us how to love God through loving His Word.
2. Psalm 119 shows us how to  think through God’s Word prayerfully.
3. Psalm 119 shows us how to apply God’s Word in various situations.
4. Psalm 119 shows us how much God loves us.  He did not leave us in the dark but gave us His Word to show us Himself and His ways.
5. Psalm 119 says similar things in many different ways.  Thus, the truths are bound to get through our thick skulls.

I suppose there are many more good reasons, but these are a good start.  In the coming months I will be walking through Psalm 119 with the guys in my Sunday School class at church.  It will be an exciting  time, and I hope to blog about some of the things we learn.  Pray for us, that we would learn from God, as He is the only Teacher ( Psalm 119:33 ).

The good:

1. The father strives to protect his family.
2. Dustfinger is a rather cowardly character who at the beginning and through most of the movie cares more for himself then others.  I put this in the “good” section because it is not treated as a positive character trait, but as a negative one.  Also, we get to see him fight against it, to struggle.  We all have weaknesses and have to fight those weaknesses ( Rom 6:1ff ), so it is always  good to see people grow.
3. The daughter truly cares for her father.
4. Family is important.

The bad:

1. I don’t really like that the father keeps the truth from his daughter about what happened to her mother.  I understand needing to protect her and not telling her what she does not need to know.  That is fine.  But there came a point in the movie where they are running from Dustfinger and going to the great aunt’s house where I think it would have been good to tell her something.  Maybe I will think differently when I have children, but that is what I think now.

I probably could say more, but that is enough for now.  Go here for a more thorough review.  Probably won’t win any awards, but I think it is worth seeing.