We are continuing our series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below. Read Psalm 119:1-32 Listen to Psalm 119:1-32 This psalm is a song of praise about the Torah, the Hebrew word for God’s covenant law with his people. It is an alphabetic acrostic, with each line of successive stanzas of eight verses beginning with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Verses 1 to 8 begin with Aleph, verses 9 to 16 begin with Beth, and so on through all 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. At 176 verses, it is the longest psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible. It was probably written after the return from Exile to Babylon, when there were no longer a monarchy nor a temple, and observance of Torah was the key identifying mark of the people of God. Eight Hebrew words that are synonyms for law appear throughout the psalm. Over the next five days we will look at each of these words with a selection of verses from the whole of Psalm 119. As we read or listen to each portion of this psalm, we will reflect on each of the eight words and what the Lord maybe speaking to us through them. Today we will look at: Law torah 25 mentions To translate Torah as law could imply that it was merely a set of rules and regulations that had to be followed. To the Jewish people it was more than that. Torah was part of the covenant relationship between God and his people. The first commandment begins with a story of that relationship. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Exodus 20:2). Verse 1 – "Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord." Verse 97 – "Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long." God had given the Torah to Israel, so that they may be his people and they may be rescued from their enemies. To observe Torah was to be in that covenant relationship with God and become part of the story of God's people. Father God, thank you that you want to be in relationship with each of us. Help us to walk in your ways and meditate on your law.