Psalm 119:119 Prime Directive

Star Trek: City on the Edge of Forever

Any true fan of Star Trek will recognize the clip above from City on the Edge of Forever, a classic time travel episode from the original Star Trek series. Dr. McCoy has accidentally been sent back to mid-20th Century Earth, losing his memory in the process. Eventually, he saves a woman from being killed by an oncoming vehicle. That interruption in what "should have happened" triggers a ripple effect through history that causes major changes in the future.

Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock follow him back in time and manage to keep McCoy from saving her life, thus restoring the original timeline.

They do so, in spite of the fact that Kirk has fallen in love with the woman (Kirk falls in love in about every third episode of the original series). They put history back as it should have been because of the Prime Directive.

The Prime Directive, also known as Starfleet General Order 1 or the Non-Interference Directive, was the embodiment of one of Starfleet's most important ethical principles: noninterference with other cultures and civilizations. At its core was the philosophical concept that covered personnel should refrain from interfering in the natural, unassisted, development of societies, even if such interference was well-intentioned. The Prime Directive was viewed as so fundamental to Starfleet that officers swore to uphold the Prime Directive, even at the cost of their own life or the lives of their crew. (Memory-Alpha)

The plot line of many Star Trek episodes and movies has revolved around various complications with the Prime Directive, usually resulting in the main characters bending or breaking the directive. In this case, Kirk was following the Temporal Prime Directive, avoiding interference with a culture or civilization in the past.

All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross;
therefore I love your statutes.

Psalm 119:119

Is there a Prime Directive for the people of God?

As nearly every preacher has quoted at some point, "anytime you see the word therefore in scripture, you need to ask what it's there for."

In this case, the reason for the therefore isn't entirely clear. It's tempting to just ignore it.

But I think it's intended to emphasize the contrast between the two halves of the verse and draw a direct line of motivation.

The first half expresses in dramatic fashion the extreme character of God's wrath toward the wicked. The idea that He discards them like the scum or unwanted material that forms on the surface of molten metal, will make some readers uncomfortable. Which, I suppose is the point. We need to be reminded of the severity of God's wrath occasionally.

Once we get beyond being horrified by God's wrath, David says, the person after God's own heart will be motivated by it. Motivated toward loving God's ways with the same level of intensity as God despises wickedness.

It's the sort of love that doesn't pick and choose which statutes to love. It doesn't gloss over some, twist others, and ignore a few of them outright.

If you love God, you love all His statutes. Which is hard to do on a steady and unwavering basis.

Unless you focus on God's prime directive. Or prime directives.

You can take your pick among various expressions of our prime directive. Is it to "seek and save the lost"? To "Go into all the world and preach the gospel..."?

Those are good, but I like this expression of Jesus' Prime Directive, from Matthew 22:37-40:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Focusing on those two commands will make it much easier to love and follow all of God's statutes. Doing it the other way around, focusing on the many statutes, has historically led to all kinds of wickedness perpetrated in the name of God. If I cling tightly to the laws and fiercely enforce them, but have not love, I have become nothing but dross, unproductive and unwanted.

Psalm 119:118 Delusions

Signs from *M*A*S*H*

The TV show *MA*S*H* is another example of a sociological study of people trapped in extreme circumstances. In this case, though, the whole thing was played for laughs. There was plenty of tragedy and pathos during its 11 seasons, but it was primarily a comedy.

During the first four seasons of the show's run, Majors Frank Burns and Margaret Houlihan were cast in the role of judge and jury over the wayward behavior of everyone else in the camp. Many episodes centered around Frank and Margaret trying to make sure someone was reprimanded for their actions.

And they were right. The people of M*A*S*H* 4077 were frequently guilty of drunkenness, philandering, promiscuity, gambling, cross-dressing, disrespect, insubordination, and a host of other conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman.

There was just one problem. In addition to being judgmental, mean-spirited, and self-righteous, the two majors were involved with one another in ways unfit for a married doctor and the head nurse.

You reject all who stray from your decrees,
for their delusions come to nothing. 

Psalm 119:118

It's easy to read this verse as describing the people who stray from God's decrees as being caught up in delusions.

And they are. They're deluded in thinking any amount of money, possessions, fame, or power will give them the peace and joy they crave. They make the wrong choices repeatedly, returning to the same futile schemes in pursuit of a good life.

But what about those of us who pretend we're the good ones, as though we never stray like those other people? We're also deluded, just like Frank and Margaret. We stray from God's decrees when we dabble in legalism and criticism, gossip and meanness, self-righteousness and hypocrisy.

We're all on this road together.

Psalm 119:117 Toddlers

The Handmaid's Tale, Hulu

Like many pre-reading children, our son would memorize the stories he heard us read to him. Left on his own, he'd open up one of his little books and turn the cardboard pages, reading the story out loud. He made few mistakes, even though he couldn't actually read any of the words yet.

Gifted with a fertile imagination, he would sometimes pick up a book at the library, one he'd never heard read to him, and "read" through it, making up a story based on the pictures he was seeing.

Sometimes our Bible reading resembles the reading of a toddler. We interpret the scriptures according to whatever we've heard from the preacher or other leaders. Or we read between the lines, filling in the gaps with creative interpretations that fit into our preconceived notions.

People have been doing this throughout the history of the scriptures. Inquisitions, witch trials, domineering legalism, political crusades, and cults have been born of reading the Word like toddlers.

The picture above is from the Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale, set in a near-future society where an extreme religious group has capitalized on fear to take over the government of a portion of America. Their defining feature is the enslavement of young fertile women, who are forced to submit to unspeakable acts, all in the name of God's work.

It's a detailed extrapolation of what can happen when believers apply the scriptures through a distorted lens of their own making.

Uphold me, and I will be delivered;
I will always have regard for your decrees.

Psalm 119:117

An alternate translation for this verse could be, "Prop me up, and I will be safe; I will always gaze closely at your decrees."

David isn't saying he's going to prop up the scriptures in front of himself so he can figure out which angle is the best for reading and interpreting the decrees. He's actually not the one doing the propping up at all.

Like a toddler, he's asking the Father to prop him up, so he can see the book as God holds it before him tells him what it says.

How much greater would it be if God's people came to His Word like children, not making up stories, but relying on God to see and understand His decrees. Then we could be saved from becoming the latest ones to call ourselves by His name while making a mockery of His Word.

Psalm 119:116 Dashed Hopes

Mad Men, AMC

"You’re born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I’m living like there’s no tomorrow because there isn’t one."

That's just one of many cheery quotes from Don Draper, the central character in the TV show Mad Men. If you've never seen the show, it's not an over simplification to sum it up as the story of a man (Don Draper) who started with nothing, stole someone else's life, had everything the advertising world tells us we could ever want, and was so miserable he threw it all away. And he knew it:

"We’re flawed because we want so much more. We’re ruined because we get these things and wish for what we had."

Everyone around Don Draper spends the 92 episodes doing the same as he does, continually scrambling to discover what their life is about, or should be about. Or maybe just what they can piece together and settle for.

In the final episodes most of the characters are shown grabbing hold of a way of life they think they've always wanted. The perfect job or the perfect family, self-fulfillment or love at long last.

But still, having watched these characters throughout the arc of the show's decade, I can see their hopes being dashed in the next season, the one after the series ended.

Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live;
do not let my hopes be dashed. 

Psalm 119:116

None of the Mad Man characters are portrayed as knowing God. Even the occasional religious side characters don't seem to have much grasp of the heart of God.

But as someone deeply embedded in the fellowship of believers, I feel qualified to say that we are often no better at keeping our hope on target than the irreligious people of Mad Men.

We sing, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness", all the while leaving behind one church family after another as we move from one job to the next rung on the ladder.

"I dare not trust the sweetest frame", but I'll gladly go into debt for a nicer home while never considering borrowing for money to give to a church building project.

"His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the 'whelming flood," but I'm willing to excuse unholy behavior in any politician who will stand for the "right" policies to protect us from the overwhelming onslaught of the "wrong" sort of politics.

Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live. Sustain me financially, sustain my career, my family, my country, my congregation.

Do not let my hopes be dashed.