Over and Beyond: New Things
153 Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget thy law. 154 Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word. 155 Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes. 156 Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord: quicken me according to thy judgments. 157 Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy testimonies. 158 I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word. 159 Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness. 160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever. Psalm 119: 153-160 (KJV)
Psalm 119 is a unique psalm. It has 168 verses, made up of 8-verse stanzas. It has 22 such stanzas. Each stanza corresponds to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This is called an alphabetical acrostic. For example, the stanza above corresponds the the Hebrew letter Resh. Each verse in the stanza begins with the letter of that stanza. It is interesting how this Psalm is constructed, especially the numerical meaning involved with the number 8.
Eight is a significant number in Bible numerology. It means a new beginning, a new day, a new week. This is derived from the fact that a week begins with Day 1 and ends with Day 7. If the counting were to continue, the new week would begin with the eighth day. So, the eighth day starts things anew. We see this principle in other places.
In music, on the musical scale, the eighth note, or an octave, begins a new sound. There were eight people in Noah’s Ark, the people God used to start over with the human race. They came out of the ark and started anew.
The Jews were circumcised on the eighth day to show evidence of the covenant. In Christ, we are circumcised in our hearts when we are born-again, and we are made new. God has a new beginning for each of us. We become new creations, beginning a brand new life.
The number 8 represents new life, resurrection. The number 8, placed sideways is the symbol of infinity.
Psalm 119 speaks of new things as we build our lives on God’s Word. The Word creates new things in us, through us, and for us.
Number 8 in Hebrew speaks of over and beyond, something not subject to the natural realm. We see this in the resurrection of Christ. Nothing n the natural could stop the supernatural. We are born-again, and God wants us to live above the natural, and live a supernatural life in Christ.
As you look to each new day, know God is working new things for you.
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 (KJV)
