Definition of Waw (Vav)

The letter Waw doesn’t have a meaning like the letters Aleph or Beth, but is actually a conjunction, like the word “and.” Conjunctions are words used to connect sentences or other ideas together. Many people also liken Waw to a nail, hook, or peg, because of its shape. Conjunctions connect words and ideas, while nails connect physical things together.

In a few minutes, I’m going to reveal how to live in constant connection to God through verses 41-48. I feel like we miss this often and get drained by the mundane things in life. I, for one, used to compartmentalize the different areas of my life.

Work, home, my prayer closet, church, my relationships, my marriage, hobbies, chores, etc. Every area had its own little box that I opened when it was time to open it. Over time, this got exhausting.

Abiding in God

Abiding in God means to be one with Him. As we abide in Him, we’re able to produce fruit in every area of our life and glorify Him. We’ve gotten good at separating ourselves from Him, though. We separate Him from our jobs, our homes and hobbies, our dreams and so on, when He called us to be one with Him.

When we get behind in Bible reading, or miss our time in the prayer closet, we end up feeling like a bad Christian, like we’re failing. The issue with that is that we forget about our oneness with God, our redemption from sin, and our freedom in Christ. Subconsciously, we “know” this, but at the forefront of reality, we miss it.

In the middle of 2019, I felt like God called me away from my prayer closet. I had missed too many days, was way behind in my Bible reading, and felt like a complete failure. I was going around the same mental mountain of beating myself up and adding “time with God” to my planner yet again when I thought of John 15.

I quickly opened to it and skimmed the verses, stopping at:

4 Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. 

(Quick note: when you think of a verse or word from the Bible, open to it as soon as you can, more often than not, it’s God speaking to you)

This made me rethink my compartmentalized life, and I realized that I didn’t need a “prayer closet” time, that it was okay to miss a few days of Bible reading, and that these “actions of devotion” didn’t define me.

Christ does.

As I pondered more, I heard the inaudible voice of Holy Spirit tell me to simply abide in Him. Apart from the prayer closet.

It’s like marriage.

When you’re married, you become one with your spouse. Wives don’t need to wear their wedding dresses and recite their vows every day to prove that they’re wives. Husbands need not stand at the aisles’ end waiting for their bride to enter the room again. My husband can be miles away, but we’re still married and we’re still one.

In the same way, when you commit to a relationship with God (get saved, born again, whatever you want to call it), you become one with Him. Everything you do is now with Him. Whether you see it or feel it.

So, when God called me away from my prayer closet, He began showing me how involved He is in every area of my life. Your oneness with God isn’t dependent on your time in the prayer closet, or how much you pray, fast, or worship. These things are the fruit of your abidance in Him, and the best part is that it overflows into every area of your life.

My “time with God” multiplied because I stopped compartmentalizing every area of my life. My prayer closet was no longer limited to its physical space. I became a 24/7 prayer closet.

Psalm 119:41-48

This section of Psalm 119 touches six areas of our lives (it’s also the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet):

• Our conversations
• Our values
• Our identity
• Our areas of influence (family, friends, colleagues, etc.)
• Our areas of interest (hobbies, activities, dreams, desires)
• Our thought life

To abide in God doesn’t mean you have to constantly think “abide in God,” or hyper-spiritualize everything you say and do. Abiding in God means that you subconsciously know you’re connected to Him in everything.

Like marriage, or for a more intense example, like breathing. Without compartmentalizing, this is how Christ gets connected to us in these areas.

Our conversations

⁴¹ May Your lovingkindness also come to me, Lord, Your salvation according to Your word; ⁴² So that I will have an answer for one who taunts me, For I trust in Your word.

When we abide in God, He helps us in our conversations. In Isaiah 30:21, it says that whether we turn right or left, we’ll hear a voice telling us which way to go.

That’s Holy Spirit.

His lovingkindness and salvation came to us, and now it can extend to others through our conversation. Including those that “taunt” us. No matter how frustrated, annoyed, or angry you get, the Holy Spirit doesn’t leave you. And even when you don’t say the right thing, He still extends mercy to you.

Just like I beat myself up for not spending enough time with God, I bullied myself for things I said or should’ve/shouldn’t have said for far too long. If God’s grace and mercy is enough, then why don’t you take it?

This doesn’t mean that you can say anything anytime, but it means that even when you do mess up, you can own up to it and make it right. That’s what it means to trust in His word.

Our values

⁴³ And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, For I wait for Your judgments. ⁴⁴ So I will keep Your Law continually, forever and ever.

Once the word of God enters us, it transforms us. When Jesus comes into your life, your transformation begins and doesn’t end.

In David Guzik’s commentary, he states that the psalmist’s request here is rooted in the understanding that it is only by the goodness and grace of God that His word does dwell with us. Therefore, the prayer comes that it may continue so. You know that the word is in you, but you also need to remember that the word is actually in you!

I believe this is a prayer of affirmation for the psalmist himself, a way to remind himself that the word is inside of him. Because the word is already at work within you, your values and principles begin to align with God’s will and word (so you keep His law continually forever).

Our identity

⁴⁵ And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts.

Growth, or personal development, is part of our freedom. In order for me to grow in God, I had to step away from my prayer closet to fully embrace this freedom. I hurt myself by thinking I had to go in my prayer closet in order to be close to God.

When you walk at liberty, everything you put your hand to holds righteousness because of WHO is in you and because you’re already seeking His precepts (His values).

With this understanding, there’s room for mistakes, not sin. You cannot sin as a Christian unless you willfully do so. Nothing and no one can compromise our identity when we abide in Christ, and abiding in Him means to walk at liberty in every area of our life.

Our areas of influence (family, friends, colleagues, etc.)

⁴⁶ I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings And shall not be ashamed.

These are people we’re in constant contact with. Though the psalmist addresses kings and people in authority, I believe that this includes people above, around, and right by us.

As you abide in Christ, the surrounding people will notice. His fruit becomes your fruit. If God is love, and you’re one with Him, that means you are, love.

Abiding in God instills a confidence (or God-fidence) in you that isn’t arrogant, but attractive. It attracts and inspires others, and before you know it, your areas of influence expand. That’s Christ working in you and through you and with you and for you! Where we don’t measure up or qualify, Christ comes through and meets the quota. That’s Christ being our conjunction in our areas of influence!

Our areas of interest (hobbies, activities, dreams, desires)

⁴⁷ I will delight in Your commandments, Which I love. ⁴⁸ And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love;

Before this revelation, I didn’t really include God in my areas of interest. I would pray about it, reach out to the Holy Spirit at times, but still feel somewhat disconnected. Like my attention had to be on one thing at a time.

Truth is, being in a relationship with God means we somehow connect everything to Him. For example, you can watch a movie with God. While watching whatever movie, He can speak to you through it and give you revelations for your needs.

You can also simply watch a movie and enjoy it, without feeling bad afterwards for spending your time on it. God delights in the things you enjoy (unless, of course, SIN is involved).

You can’t delight in life or in God’s commandments when sin is involved. When sin is present, there’s no freedom. Your hands get tied and you can’t freely lift them. He blesses everything we put our hand to when we abide in Him.

He’s not giving you an excuse for sin, but making room to make mistakes. And to clarify, sin and mistakes are not the same thing. Which brings me to my last point:

Our thought life

And I will meditate on Your statutes.

Part of being connected to Christ is being transformed. And part of being transformed is renewing your mind. When we accept Jesus, our life turns around. To repent means to change the way you think, so in essence, we live in constant repentance because Romans 12:2.

What we talk about (our conversations) starts with what we think about. Renewing the mind is part of abiding in God. As we renew our minds, we begin to think like the One we’re connected to. The psalmist makes this declaration because he understands how transformational and life-giving the word, Jesus, is.

What you think about is what you’ll eventually talk about. So, make room to meditate on Christ and His statutes as you go about your life and connect every area to Him. He is our conjunction with God.