A conversation about some PSALMS (Psalm 199: 65-72)

     One of my favourite Psalms is the 119th Psalm. (It's probably my most highlighted and marked Psalm right now). I call it the "alphabet Psalm" because this Psalm is a Hebrew acrostic poem with twenty-two stanzas, one for each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet (i.e Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, He, Waw, Zayin, Heth, Teth, Yodn, Kaph, Lamedth, Mem, Nun, Samekh, Ayin, Pe, Tsadhe, Qoph, Resh, Shin, and, Taw). Each of the eight verses within each stanza begins with the Hebrew letter named in its heading. (IT'S POETRY WITHIN POETRY!!)
    In this Psalm, I'm drawn to the stanza under Teth (Psalm 199: 65-72). It goes, "You have done many things for me, LORD, just as you have promised. I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgement and knowledge. I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word. You are good and do only good; teach me your decrees. Arrogant people smear me with lies, but in truth I obey your commandments with all my heart. Their hearts are dull and stupid but I delight in your instructions. My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees. Your instructions are more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver". This stanza (and the whole Psalm, really) is what I want my heart posture to look like towards God and the Word.
    It reminds me that God IS good and that He DOES good (v.68)! One of the words I was drawn to in this stanza was the term "smear" (v.69) and after looking up the meaning of it (of course I've heard it in context before in books and such but I wanted to see what it actually meant) it gave me a powerful visual of what approaching God might look like sometimes. The act of smearing someone means to "damage reputation, coat or mark something messily or carelessly with a greasy or sticky substance" or as a noun it's simply a mark. And that made me visualize someone coming before God absolutely covered by mud or flakes of dried clay, bruises and markings, with labels covering their body, possibly some bandaids on their knees. And they still raise their arms in worship, reverence, and surrender because of how good God is. And as they are in God's light, their marks and mud and smears vanish because they are pure in God's eyes.
    At the end of this stanza (v.72) David says that God's instructions are more valuable to him than millions of gold and silver. That reminded me of a passage in Acts (Acts 19:19), where "a number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars.*" (Greek 50,000 pieces of silver, each of which was the equivalent of a day's wage). Hearing the Gospel was worth more than millions of dollars and the new believers willingly burned their books after hearing it.
    This Psalm is what I want my heart posture to look like towards God. So captivated and devoted to his Word. Having the Bible be the most valuable to me. Knowing that God is good, that he does good, and that He keeps his promises.