TUESDAY 8th
Psalm 119:54 ‘Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.’
I turned to look at how other translation had translated the words ‘in the house of my sojourning’ as it is found in the ESV, the first I turned to was the NIV which has ‘wherever I lodge’, the KJV, NKJV, NASB and the Amplified ‘in the house of my pilgrimage’, the CSB, ‘during my earthly life’, the NET, ‘in the house where I live’, the NLT, ‘wherever I have lived’, the MEV, ‘in the house of my temporary dwelling’.*
I think if I had to sum up using all the various translations the psalmist is saying ‘your statutes have been my songs wherever I have been and wherever I am’, he is saying that the word of God has been his songs right through his earthly life and will still be his songs as he eventually enters the presence of God.
Taking all the translations, we are reminded as we also read in the New Testament that this world is not our home, we are passing through it while we await the heavenly city, we are as pilgrims or sojourners, dwelling temporarily here on earth until we reach our eternal home, we learn of it through the example of the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, ‘These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.’
The psalmist said that the statutes of the LORD had been his songs, there is something powerful about songs and singing, and something even more powerful about singing out the Word of God, the Psalms themselves are a collection of songs, and we know that there are still those who sing the psalms on a regular basis, but whatever part of Scripture it is that has been put into song, it becomes a blessing to us as we sing them. I wonder how many songs you can recall that are the words of Scripture in song, think about some of them today, and how about singing some of them, so that you too, can say ‘Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.’
Let me give you some starters, and if you listen to the audio devotion, I have added another Scripture song at the end.
Jeremiah 32:17 ‘Ah, LORD GOD! thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power’
Psalm 150 ‘Praise him on the trumpet . . .’
Psalm 113:3 ‘From the rising of the sun . . .’
*
ESV – English Standard Version
NIV – New International Version
KJV – King James Version
NKJV – New King James Version
NASB – New American Standard Bible
CSB – Christian Standard Bible
NET – New English Translation
NLT – New Living Translation
MEV – Modern English Version