The Best You Can Get

“The sum of Your word is truth,” Psalm 119:160

The Best You Can Get

Sum – The Hebrew word rosh has a very wide range of meanings.  It can designate a person’s head, a chief, a leader, the source and even hair on your head.  But here it is used as a metaphor to mean what is the total amount.  The connection is interesting.  Is God’s word the head of your life?  Is it the top-of-mind consideration in every choice you make?  Do you know it so well that it is a reliable leader in every situation?  Is it the source of your existence?

All of these questions would come to mind when rosh appeared in the text.  If you knew that rosh was a word about what was most important, about leadership, about the source of things, then you could not miss the picture.  God’s word is the best you can get.  Everything God says is perfect instruction.  To dismiss, ignore or forget any of it is to do damage to your own life.

The Psalmist knew intimately that a single word from God could change everything.  A single word from God created everything.  A single word from God alters my existence (“It is finished” is one word in Aramaic).  If you want the best, you must have a word from God.  Didn’t David say that a word from God restored his soul?

We have seen (there’s the paradigm again – maybe we should say “heard”) that prayer is intimately connected with the words of God.  When God speaks, all creation listens.  All except the head (rosh) of His creation.  We are the one who can choose not to listen. More than anything else in the world, we need the best of God we can get – we need to hear His words and be drawn into fellowship with Him.

Prayer, the breathing of my soul in connection with the Creator, is the expression of a dialogue of words with Him.  His word must become the source of my words.  When my prayers reflect His words, then I pray the truth.  And God honors truth.