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.