I'm a Wineskin in the Smoke

Scripture:
Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke,
I do not forget your decrees.
Psalm 119:83

Observation: Throughout this psalm, every section (this one is Kaph) has a similar theme and content. In each, the author declares his love of the Lord and for the Lord's law, tells of his own hardship which often come at the hands of those who hate the Lord, asks for protection and retribution, then calls on the Lord for support as he remains faithful.

Each section has this general structure, but they are all unique in their imagery and adjectives. Maybe the 'law' is precepts or statutes or word; maybe the hardship are related to labor or business or reputation, and those who deliver them are angry or slanderers or jealous or powerful; maybe the writer seeks comfort, or protection, or restoration, or to see the enemy destroyed. In combination, and with other imagery, this creates a nearly unlimited number of combinations about how this same theme can be stated, and it seems perhaps the point of Psalm 119 was to allow others to select the section that best fits their circumstances and personality and claim it as theirs.

Application: One of the things I love about reading the bible is that it allows me to practice a skill I long ago forgot ... literary analysis. I used to be so good at it that I coached undergrads and mentored masters students in doing it, despite myself not having a masters. For this reason, this verse appealed to me.

At first, I wondered about the "wineskin in the smoke" as these seem unrelated. Does a wineskin protect the wine from absorbing the aroma of smoke? Does this imply drinking wine around a community fire? I began ticking through some ideas ...

Wineskins and smoke are both temporary with short-term lives. Smoke is an image in Ecclesiastes used to describe the useless short-term existence of people, their work, and their ideas. Smoke exists, then is gone, almost in an instant. Likewise, a wineskin seems more durable as it is made from hide, but in truth its useful life is very short. The skin is made, and once wine is put in the skin stretches and absorbs some of the wine. However, when the wine is poured out, the skin doesn't shrink back and await more wine ... it is stretched, it now dries out, and is immediately worthless. Jesus even uses this imagery as a metaphor, explaining how new good things cannot be added to old worthless things.

Therefore, this writer is confessing that his very life is brief and short-term. His life is a snapshot in time, his usefulness only exists briefly, and even that context of 'briefly' is very brief in the context of the Lord. However, despite that, he will hold onto the Lord's decrees ... like a wineskin that holds wine, even though it is short-term, he will in fact keep the law. When the smoke clears, and his useful life comes to end and he is old and dried up, that law will have been faithfully preserved then passed to others.

(And yes, still to this day, I could have taken this one sentence prompt and returned a well-referenced, fully supported, three-page/1,000 word essay ;-) )

Prayer: Lord, your word is a joy for me to read every day. It challenges, illuminates, teaches, pleases, directs, entertains, and enlightens me in so many ways. My life too is brief, and I fear I am close to become an old, dried-up wineskin, rather than a good wineskin with your laws and precepts and commands stored in my heart. May I live into your word more and more, every day. Amen.