Your word O Lord

Your word, O Lord, is my delight,
it plants me like a tree
that's rooted by the streams of life:
so, Lord, set your word in me.

Your word, O Lord, it lights my way,
and by this light I see.
It guides me in every step I take:
so Lord, set your word in me.

Speak, O Lord,
speak, O Lord,
we are ready to receive.
Speak, O Lord,
through your mighty word,
O set your word in me.

Your word, O Lord, renews my mind,
with truth that sets me free,
and in this truth I am sanctified:
so Lord, set your word in me.

I have always been intrigued by Psalm 1 and the sheer ‘delight’ of the Psalmist in ‘the law of the Lord.’ In those days that ‘law’ meant the Torah – the first 5 books of the Bible –  and I don’t know if you’ve read Leviticus lately, but ‘delight’ is probably not the word I’d use. But the thing that the Psalmist understands is that it is in God’s law, God’s statutes, God’s word to us in Scripture that he’s revealed himself to us. It’s in the reading of his word that we understand who he is, what he likes, and what he wants for us. And the same is true today. It’s God’s word that plants us ‘like a tree’ as we seek to grow in our love and commitment to him; it’s God’s word that guides us and transforms us as we seek to live our lives more fully for him.

This song then is designed to be sung before the reading or talk as a way of just opening ourselves up to God and asking him to speak to us afresh by his Spirit, through his word. Sometimes, in our tiredness and busyness we can come to church closed off and distracted – singing a song like this before we open God’s word together might just help to refocus our attention and remind us each of why we’ve come; to meet with and hear from the Living God, that we might grow in him and follow him more closely. And what an awesome privilege it is to hear God speak – that’s why the Psalmist is so excited about opening the Scriptures and that’s why we can be excited too!