This is article two of a four-part series on Psalm 119.
The last couple of weeks, Coach Mike Wallace prayed with our Wednesday morning prayer group. This week Coach told us a story from when he was offensive coordinator preparing to play Alabama, and two days before the big game, his head coach came and told him he needed to change the game plan. Yikes! Coach Wallace told us his head coach saw something he didn’t and gave him advice to fix it. He learned a valuable lesson that day to “trust those who know.” Trust those who know could be the theme of Psalm 119:41-48. And as we use this section for our prayer time, we should join our life to the words and ways of God, trusting the One who knows.
Psalm 119 uses a letter from the Hebrew alphabet for each stanza. The eight verses in the sixth stanza begins with the letter “vav.” Open your Bible and look, and you may see a VAV or a WAW centered above section 119:41-48. You may already be familiar with this letter, and not even realize it. For example, if you use one of the Hebrew names for God: “Yahweh,” or “Jehovah, the middle sound, “w” or “v” is the sixth letter in the Hebrew alphabet called vav. If something bad happens to you, and you say the Yiddish phrase, “oy vey,” then you just used the Hebrew letter vav in the middle of that expression.
The letter vav is also a word. We have the same thing in our English language with the letter “a.” The letter a can also be the word a. Vav works like that except it operates like the conjunction “and.” So the word/letter vav works like a fastener or hook, connecting each sentence to what came previously. Every sentence in Psalm 119:41-48 starts with vav and connects itself to the previous sentence, building a deeply practical prayer for us to practice.
The first sentence in this section opens with a request for God’s love and grace to cover, fill up, and save the psalmist laying the foundation for righteous living: “May Your favor also come to me, Lord, Your salvation according to Your Word.” Psalm 119:41. What a great concept to which we should fasten all our prayers. The only way we can speak with wisdom (verse 119:42) is if we fasten our thoughts and words to the salvation and grace foundation given to us from God (119:41). The only way we can walk in freedom (verse 119:45) is if our lifestyle is connected to the ways of the Lord. And the only way we will not be ashamed to courageously speak up for what is right and wrong (119:46) is if we “trust in the One who knows.” We have to vav ourselves to God’s ways, joining ourselves to His ways and words, because He is the One who sees all, understands the flaws in our plans, and can point us in the right direction.
This week, I encourage you to adopt the same strategy for your prayer life. Read through Psalm 119:41-48 several times and begin your prayer with verse 41, asking God to cover you with more grace, fill you with more of the Holy Spirit, and increase your trust in Him. Build the rest of your prayer from that request, fastening each part of your prayer to the vivid images found in this stanza and meditate on the ways of God. If you pray like Psalm 119:41-48 suggests, God will change your game plan, but in a good way.
Dale McCamish is the pastor of Wilmington Church of Christ.
