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\u201cI meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word\u2026Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law\u201d (Psalm 119:15, 16, 18).

Even though this is a very long psalm, we offer only this one meditation based on it. Many of us have found ourselves daydreaming as we tried to read through the whole song. It's a psalm that we should not try to conquer but chew on slowly in bite size pieces.

Let's begin by noticing that, for the Christian, this psalm helps us in handling the Scriptures. It offers us some postures of the heart and mind that improve how we use the Word of God. Like this psalm, Scripture is not for us to conquer, but to savour until it conquers us. Here are five postures towards the Bible.

TRUST THE WORD OF GOD Repeatedly, David expresses his belief that the Scriptures are true. He believes in them. He trusts in their reliability. Not as in a science textbook, of course.

He means that God reveals Himself truthfully in the Bible. Here, we learn who God is, his long-range plans, his deep and abiding love for us and for all he has created. We are invited to respond to him in love and shown how to love.

STUDY THE WORD OF GOD David doesn't just believe the Word; he is a student of the Word. He learns it, he seeks it, he memorizes it, and regularly meditates on it.

If the Bible is worth trusting, it is also worth studying. Its not just a matter of the head, but of the heart. The Word is like a seed that gets planted in soil. We cannot always see its fruit immediately. Study the Word and tend it in your heart and mind but leave the results up to God.

USE THE WORD OF GOD Believe it. Know it. Rely on it. In times of trouble, the Bible shows us God\u2019s faithfulness. It encourages us in perseverance when we are tired. We are shown the way of gracious responses to ungracious people. It teaches us both how to handle stress and how to celebrate and enjoy life.

DELIGHT IN THE WORD OF GOD David takes things one step further than we might expect. It's not just that he trusts, studies, and uses the Word of God. He has affection for it. He has a deep emotional affinity towards it.

David has passion, zeal, and excitement for the commandments of God. He loves them not because he is a closet legalist, but because they reflect God's own nature and character. He loves God's law because he loves God. His delight is contagious.

OBEY THE WORD OF GOD The prior four postures of the heart towards the Scriptures naturally lead to this. David repeatedly expresses his desire to obey God's law. He wants to follow it, keep it, and fulfill it.

We do not keep the law to earn salvation. We obey out of love for God. Check out John 15. Jesus himself was very much about "obeying the law." Jesus delighted in keeping his Father's law. He embodies all five of these characteristics and asserts that if we love him, we will obey him.

Embodying this prayer does not happen quickly. Think about a mother hen sitting on her eggs. What is she doing? Its not a trick question; she is sitting on her eggs. Nothing more, nothing less. One might say that she is wasting her time. She isn't doing anything. Nothing is happening.

For 21 days the eggs look the same, until they don't. Like David, sit on the Word, and one day\u2026 well, you\u2019ll see.