July | 2021 | Psalm Talks

PSALM 119 (Part 1: 1 -56) TALK: THE SUPREMACY AND BENEFITS OF GOD’S WORD

(The first part of the longest Psalm and chapter in the bible that sets down in some detail how God’s word shows us how we should live our lives if we want God’s blessings in it. God’s word shows us the way God wants us to walk in this life and we should therefore follow its instructions and praise God for his word to us).

INTRODUCTION

Last year I got involved in some long hot debates on line concerning a number of current issues of morality and faith and one of my non – Christian music friends told me that I was now completely out of step with modern thinking and attitudes because I both believed in God and the bible. He was actually saying to me that both God and the bible were not only outdated but irrelevant now in the 21st century.

This kind of claim is not new and even back in bible times amongst God’s own people the relevance of both God and his word was challenged. The people of Israel even lost the bible at one point in their history because they were fooled into looking to other God’s at the expanse of God and his word.

One Psalm stands out like a beacon advocating the supremacy and benefits or relevance of God and his word and that Psalm is Psalm 119 which is both the longest Psalm and longest chapter in the bible. Psalm 119 is a “acrostic Psalm” or “Alphabet Psalm” which along with eight other acrostic Psalms were written like this to aid memorization. Psalm 119 is devoted to the theme of the supremacy and value or benefits of the word of God in a person’s life. It uses 10 terms for God’s word. Only two verses in Psalm 119 don’t use one of these ten terms for God’s word and they are verse 84 and verse 122.

Here is a simple explanation of each of the 10 words or terms used in this Psalm for God’s word which I have been summarized by Stephen J. Coles in his introduction to Psalm 119:

Law – “In the first five books of the bible often called,“The Torah” or “The Law”.

2. Testimonies – “To bear witness points to the bibles witness of the things of God”.

3. Ways –“God’s characteristic manner of acting, as contrasted with our ways”.

4. Precepts – “Points to the particular instructions of the Lord”.

5. Statutes – “Comes from a word meaning ‘to engrave in stone’ thus they speak of the binding

force and permanence of Scripture”.

6. Commandments– “Idea of giving orders”.

7. Judgments– “These are the decisions of the all – wise Judge”

8. Word – as used in vs. 9 and 23 – “Emphasizing the fact that God has spoken”

9. Word – another Hebrew word for word used in vs. 11 and vs. 19, here means, “to say”

10. Faithfulness – God’s “Righteousness (vs. 40) or “Faithfulness vs.90 and Name vs. 132,

synonymous for the Scriptures in this Psalm”.

The big question of for this Psalm is who wrote it and how did they write it?

We have no definitive answer to these two questions but many commentators argue for David who we know wrote Psalm 19 and verses 7 – 9 which mirrors in a brief form much of what this Psalm has to say to us. However the Psalm was not placed in the book of psalms unto after the return from captivity in Babylon as it is part of book five of Psalms and therefore some commentators point to Nehemiah or Ezra as its possible authors.

Spurgeon makes this interesting speculation with this comment,

“We are incline to the opinion then expressed that here we have the royal diary written at various times throughout David’s long life”.

Could a person like Ezra or some Jewish scribe of that time somehow got hold of an old copy of David’s Royal diary and wrote from it what we now know as Psalm 119?

It is a fact that each of the 22 stanzas stand alone and are actually individual Psalms of eight verses only linked together by the acrostic pattern of the first word of each new stanza staring with a sequenced letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Psalm 119, no matter who wrote it, sets down twenty- two issues in life with information of how God’s word is the supreme authority for that issue and at the same time it spells out some of the bibles help and benefits for those issues.

In my Psalm talk for this Psalm. I will state the life issue and then attempt to explain what the Psalmist says the bible or the word of God has to say to that life issue.

Also because this Psalm is so long I have decided to break it into three Psalm talk parts:

Introduction and stanzas 1 – 7 (verses 1 – 56)
Stanzas 8 – 15 (verses 57 – 120)
Stanzas 16 – 22 and a conclusion (verses 121 – 176)

I hope that through these three Psalm talks on Psalm 119 you will be able to see both the supremacy and timeless practical value of God’s word even for us living in the 21st century.

My outline for the first seven stanzas of this 22 stanza Psalm is:

Stanza 1. (1 – 8) GOD’S TRUE HAPPINESS AND HOW TO FIND IT

Stanza 2. (9 – 16) GOD’S PURITY AND HOW-TO WALK-IN IT

Stanza 3. (17 – 24) GOD’S GUIDANCE IN THE FACE OF OPPOSITION

Stanza 4. (25 – 32) GOD’S HELP IN THE MIDST OF AFFLICTION

Stanza 5. (33 – 40) GOD’S INSIGHT OF HIS WORD AND THE DISTRACTIONS FROM IT

Stanza 6. (41 – 48) GOD’S LOVE AND HIS HELP TO PROCLAIM IT

Stanza 7. (49 – 56) GOD’S HOPE AND COMFORT IN HIS MANY PROMISES IN HIS WORD

STANZA 1. (1 – 8) GOD’S TRUE HAPPINESS AND HOW TO FIND IT

The Psalm opens in a familiar way as verse 1 says,

“Blessed are those whose ways are blameless who walk according to the law of the Lord”.

Psalm 1 opens with,

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers, 2. but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night”.

I wrote this about what the word “Blessed” actually means in my Psalm 1 talk,

“Being Blessed by God or being truly happy is what all people really want but true happiness seems to be such a fickle thing”.

The happiness God wants to give is so different than the happiness people seek today as it involves forgiveness of sin, Psalm 32: 1 – 2,

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit”.

And is more of a deeper spiritual sense of peace as Paul describes in Romans 5: 1,

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”.

And this peace transcends circumstances as Paul speaks of in Philippians 4: 7,

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”.

The writer of Psalm 119 now tells us how we can have this kind of happiness in verse 1 – 3,

“Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.

2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart— 3. they do no wrong but follow his ways”.

Note how these verses tell us how the word of God helps us find God’s happiness for us,

“Walk according to the law of the Lord” and“Follow his statutes”

If we are honest and real we will all say but I haven’t or even cannot do this and if this came originally from a diary of David he would agree with you and that is why he wrote as we previously saw in Psalm 32 verse 1 and 2,

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit”.

Words we believe he wrote after he had so badly sinned with adultery and murder but what David did after he realized God knew he had sinned big time is what the last part of verse 2 says in Psalm 119,

“And seek him with all their heart”

Even Psalm 119 suggests that the writer knew like David he had not obeyed God’s word fully as he writes in verse 5 and 6,

“Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands”.

He says this after stating again what God’s word the bible says how he should live in verse 3,

“They do no wrong but follow his ways”.

It was the love of God or rather the mercy of God that David needed and sought in Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 and we read his prayer of looking up to God for mercy in Psalm 51 starting with these words,

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions”.

We have a far greater understanding of this mercy of God and how it has been won for us in the New Testament and Paul using the New Testament word for mercy, grace which he spells out in Ephesians 2: 4 – 9,

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast”.

The writer of Psalm 119 then closes his first stanza with two commitments that are vital to finding the happiness God wants to give us and they are:

A commitment to praise God as he learns about God in his word (verse 7)
A commitment to seek to obey God’s word (vs. 8)

Let’s have a quick look at each of these two commitments of the writer of Psalm 119,

i) A commitment to praise God as he learns about God in his word (verse 7)

David often finished his Psalm with a commitment to praise God as he does for instance in Psalm 35: 27 – 28,

May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, “The Lord be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.” 28. My tongue will proclaim your righteousness your praises all day long”.

So here in Psalm 119 we have a similar commitment to praise,

“I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws”.

The easiest times for me to praise God has been when I have been with others reading and studying God’s word together. God gives us so much to praise him for especially for the grace given to us through The Lord Jesus Christ and his death for us and when pondering these sorts of things either in my own private study of God’s word or especially with others praise for God naturally flows.

ii) A commitment to seek to obey God’s word (vs. 8)

Finally his last commitment that I believe flows also again from his understanding of God’s word is,

“I will obey your decrees; do not forsake me”.

Not only are these words a wonderful commitment that flows from any true study of God’s word but they sum up all that the writer has been trying to say through this first stanza of this long but beautiful Psalm.

He has said that it is through obedience to God’s word that true blessing or happiness comes from God but he indicated his need for God to help him because he knew he had not fully done this so he closes with a plea for God to not forsake him and therefore help him obey God’s word.

For this very long Hebrew Alphabet Psalm I have written for each Hebrew letter of its Alphabet my own English Alphabet verse and so my verse based on this first stanza starting with the letter A is:

Aperson is blessed by obeying God’s word

Walking in God’s word all their days.

Forgive me O Lord for my wrong deeds

Let me walk down your road with praise.

By: Jim Wenman

I close this first stanza with a word of prayer:

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven I thank you for your promise of true happiness and how it is found only through your love and forgiveness which we read so wonderfully and clearly about in your word to us. This word became flesh through your Son coming to our world to make the way of your forgiveness possible. Help me to live in praise of your word and your Son who is your word become flesh. In Jesus name I pray this, Amen,

STANZA 2. (9 – 16) GOD’S PURITY AND HOW- TO- WALK IN IT

This is the only stanza in Psalm 119 that opens with a question and the question relates to young people for verse 9a says,

“How can a young person stay on the path of purity?

Why this question is phased in the guise of a young person could have at least three answers?

First of all young people are especially under greater attack by the devil to get involved in acts of immorality and carnal sin.

2. The Psalmist could have been a young person when he wrote this.

3. Phrasing wisdom concepts in the guise of teaching a younger person is a common style

of writing in the Old Testament.

Let’s have a look at each of these three reasons why Psalm 119: 9a is a question how a young person can stay pure.

1. First of all young people are especially under greater attack by the devil to get involved in acts of immorality and carnal sin.

It is true that many sins like sexual or interpersonal relationship breakdowns are particularly problematic for a young person. Paul speaks of the sins his Ephesians readers were saved from in Ephesians 2: 3,

“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath”.

In Colossians Paul lists the desires of the flesh in a bit more detail when he writes in Colossians 3: 5 – 5 – 10,

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator”

It is true that we might find many of the temptations to fall into these types of sins more acute when we are young but Paul was not writing just to young people in his letters to the Ephesians and Colossians but to new Christians of all ages and I think the writer of Psalm 119 is speaking to all ages in verse 9 of his Psalm 119.

2. The Psalmist could have been a young person when he wrote this.

Some commentators argue that this first verse is phrased in the guise of a young person because he was young himself but even if that is true the walking of God’s path of road relates not only to when we are young but when we are older as well.

3. Phrasing wisdom concepts in the guise of teaching a younger person is a common style

of writing in the Old Testament.

This seems to be the more logical reason for the way this question is answered as we see in the book of Proverbs which are presented as an older person to a younger person as we see in the start of Proverbs 2: 1,

“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you”.

So how can any of us young or old stay on the road or path of purity”

Verse 1b answers this question simply with the words,

“By living according to your word”.

The rest of this stanza spells out how we can actually do this and I have broken this down into six things we need to do with God’s word (note they all start with the letter “S”):

1. (vs. 10) Seek not to stray from God’s word

(vs. 11) Store God’s word in our hearts and minds

(vs. 12) Saviour and learn God’s word

(vs. 13) Sing and Declare God’s word

(vs. 14) Strive to put God’s word into practice

(vs. 15) Study prayerfully God’s word

(vs. 16) Satisfy your desires with the word of God

Let’s have a closer look at each of these seven things we need to do to be able to live according to God’s word to stay pure:

(vs. 10) Seek not to stray from God’s word

All the advice we find in this Psalm is both practical and straightforward unlike the often complicated and confusing advice you get in self- help books these days.

The writes advice in verse 10 simply says to live according to God’s word to stay pure he will,

“Seek you (God) with all my heart”

He then asks God,

“Do not let me stray from your commands”.

James another easy to understand practical bible writer explains how we fall to sin with these words in James 1: 14 – 15,

“But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death”.

When we focus on God and his word our evil desires cannot drag us away to sin and I heard it said by a preacher one day that when any kind of evil non- God honoring thought comes into our minds the best thing we can do is follow Paul’s advice in Philippians 4: 8 – 9,

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you”.

In the case of Paul, “whatever you have learned or received or heard from me” would have been what he knew about Christ and what the word of God had taught so the right, pure and admirable things would include of course God’s word itself.

Also it has been suggested that Paul’s run down of “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy” fits perfectly a description of the Lord Jesus Christ so we should think about him when the devil seeks to tempt us with evil desires and thoughts.

(vs. 11) Store God’s word in our hearts and minds

The second way we can live according to God’s word to stay pure is found in verse 11,

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”.

The value of memorizing scripture cannot be over looked, I know so much scripture in my mind from my youth singing scripture in song songs that were popular at my church when I was in my late teens and early twenties during the 1970’s.

Also by regular daily bible study over many years again many bible verses and even passages are part of me now and I can easily bring them to mind.

To know the value of knowing God’s word in our heart and mind to stay pure we can go no further than the Lord Jesus himself who when he was tempted by the devil answered him back with God’s word.

Paul tells us the value of knowing God’s word in 2 Timothy 3: 16 – 17,

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”.

God’s word is so valuable to every part of living the Christian life according to Paul in these verses and the writer of Psalm 119 is telling us the value and need to work at hiding or implanting God’s word in our hearts and minds to be able to follow God’s way of purity.

(vs. 12) Savor and learn God’s word

Suddenly the writer of Psalm 119 breaks out in praise at the start of verse 12,

“Praise be to you, Lord”,

This word of praise particularly for God’s word crops up all through this Psalm and it seems that one of our authors goals in writing his long Psalm is to give praise to God and particularly his word which he finds so valuable so he goes on to ask God,

“Teach me your decrees”.

The writer values God’s word so much that he wants to learn as much about it as he can so he really savors or values God’s word but at the same time he realizes that in himself he cannot learn all there is to be known about God’s word so he asks God to help him learn his decrees or statutes which Stephen J Cole says are,

“The binding force and permanence of Scripture”

I always pray for God’s Holy Spirit who inspired the whole writing of the word of God to help me both understand and teach me what it is actually saying.

Jesus promises his disciples and all who like them seek to follow him as their Saviour and Lord the promise of the Holy Spirit who will lead us all into all truth in John 16: 12 – 15,

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you”.

So Jesus himself is telling us to look in prayer to the Holy Spirit to help us understand and learn God’s word.

(vs. 13) Sing and Declare God’s word

Then in verse 13 the writer of Psalm 119 speaks of how we need to declare with our lips or tongues God’s word and I believe from many other Psalms this is by word and song, verse 13 puts it this way,

“With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth”.

David spoke on many occasions about declaring God’s word in song like Psalm 18: 49,

“Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name”

And by word in Psalm 35: 27 – 28,

“Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; And let them say continually,

“Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” 28 And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness And of Your praise all the day long”.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection he told his disciple to, Mark 16: 15 – 16,

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned”.

Paul’s final charge to his younger prodigy Timothy in 2 Timothy 4: 2, was to,

“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and teaching”.

Even if preaching the word is not God’s gift for us we still need to declare God’s wonderful saving message with our lives and do what Peter says in 1 Peter 3: 15,

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with gentleness and respect”.

Of course the main hope we have is found in God’s word so something of our defense or reason for our hope will be something of the word of God which we will declare or testify of.

How this helps keep our way pure or keeps us on the road or path of purity is linked to being connected to God through his word which the previous 3 points pointed to.

(vs. 14) Strive to put God’s word into practice

The next point follows naturally with the last as the last suggests that by declaring God’s word we are helped to stay on the road or path of purity so in order to declare God’s word we must strive to put it into practice and so verse 14 says,

“I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches”.

I mentioned in my introduction that aspects of some of the teaching in Psalm 119 is found in Psalm 19 verses 7- 11 which we know David wrote and the value and priceless nature of God’s word is spoken of so well in Psalm 19: 10 – 11 I want to share it with you,

“They (God’s word) are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. 11 By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward”.

Do we treasure God’s word?

Is the bible more precious than gold or as Psalm 119 verse 13 says, “great riches”?

Jesus said in Matthew 6: 21,

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

When I went on Mission trips to Myanmar my mission partner and good friend Ted Penney and I always took copies of the NIV English study bible’s to give to pastors or student pastors who did not have one. The fact is non- Burmese translations cannot be bought in Myanmar as the military Government their bans the sale of them. One mission trip years ago I gave one of these bibles to a local pastor there and he fell at my feet as he took the bible from my hands and said this gift is more valuable than a bar of gold to me and my church.

So it goes that if we are rejoicing and treasuring God’s word we are valuing it so much we will want to act upon it or put it into practice or as verse 14 says follow it. If we are putting it into practice then we will as verse 9 says,

“Stay on the path of purity by living according to God’s word”.

(vs. 15) Study prayerfully God’s word

Then in verse 15 we have a word that crops a lot in the book of Psalms and in the bible a lot, “Meditate” and I found this very valuable definition of Christian or the bibles meaning of meditation on the “gotquestions?.org sight,

“True Christian meditation is an active thought process whereby we give ourselves to the study of the word, praying over it and asking God to give us understanding by the Spirit, who has promised to lead us ‘into all truth’ (John 16: 13)”.

So verse 15 of Psalm 119 says,

“I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways”.

Psalm 1 verse 2 says,

“But whose delight is in the law of the Lord, who meditates on his Law Day and night”.

Putting both verses together we have the truth that if we want to stay on the path of purity you will need to read and study God’s word day and night and then you will know what to follow. If we do this Psalm 1 has a beautiful picture of what this word of God will do in us and that is in Psalm 1: 3,

“That person (he who delights and meditates on God’s word) is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers”.

(vs. 16) Satisfy your desires with the word of God

The final way a young person or even an older person can keep on the path or road of purity is summarized in verse 16 the last verse in this second stanza.

We have seen how by seeking to not stray from God’s word, storing it up in our hearts and minds, savoring and learning it so that we declare it in song and word after we have studied it prayerfully we will be doing what Psalm 119 verse 16 says,

“I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word”.

And not neglecting God’s word will help us to stay on God’s road or path of purity.

My alphabet poem verse for this stanza then is:

Be a person who lives by God’s word

And stay on the path to God

Reading and studying the word of God

To heaven you will surely trod.

I close this second stanza with a word of prayer:

PRAYER:

Father in heaven we thank you for your wonderful, inspirational and precious word which you inspired by your Holy Spirit to teach us, correct us and finally train us in righteousness. So Father by reading, thinking through prayerfully your word daily we can better serve you and stay on the road of right living equipped to serve you with all the good works you have planned for us to do. In the powerful name of Jesus we pray this, Amen.

STANZA 3. (17 – 24) GOD’S GUIDANCE IN THE FACE OF OPPOSITION

This amazing Psalm, 119 now looks at the important subject of “Guidance” and states clearly in the last verse of this third stanza, verse 24 that God’s word is where we find God’s guidance in our lives,

“Your statutes are my delight; they are my counsellors”

Even at the start of stanza 3 our writer is seeking God’s guidance and help to obey his word that we learnt in the last stanza that obeying God’s word is God’s path to God’s purity or the way he wants us to live. So we read in verse 17,

“Be good to your servant while I live, that I may obey your word”.

The two key terms in this verse are:

Be Good
While I live

Let’s have a quick look at each of these two terms:

Be Good

Allan Harmon says that this term “be good” actually means,

“Acting generously to someone”

And he gives three verses to explain this and I found two of them very helpful and the first is Psalm 116: 7,

“Return to your rest, my soul for the Lord has been good to you”.

The second reveals that we do not deserve to be treated good by the Lord but he does not treat us as we deserve, Psalm 103: 10,

“He does not treat us as our sins deserve or pay us according to our iniquities”.

We know from the New Testament that this is because God treats us with a special love which it calls “Grace” and that this undeserved love is made possible to us because of what Jesus has done for us in paying for our iniquities on the cross as Paul speaks of in Romans 3: 24,

“And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”.

So God is good to us, according his word the bible because he gives us love we do not deserve, called grace.

2. While I live

This is the first of many times in Psalm 119 that its writer will refer to living or life and I counted that this Psalmist in Psalm 119 refers to his life or to living 13 times and the others are, 25, 37, 40, 50, 77, 88, 93, 109, 116, 144, 154 and 175.

The writer is keen to not only show the supremacy of the word of God but how relevant and helpful it is to living the life God wants us to live which we learnt from the first stanza is the life of true happiness.

The writer now explains the relevance and even need of the word of God in the issue of guidance especially in the face of opposition in verses 18 – 24 and I have broken this explanation of how God’s word guides us even in the face of great opposition into four key points:

The need for God to open our eyes to what his word is saying to us (18 – 19)
The need not to stray from God’s word even in difficult times (20 – 2)
The need to stay focused on God’s word even when things get tough (22 – 23)
The need to see how God’s word is always supreme and why (vs. 24)

Let’s have a closer look at each of these four explanations of how God word can guide us even in the face of opposition and difficulty:

The need for God to open our eyes to what his word is saying to us (18 – 19)

The writer of Psalm 119 seems to be going through a difficult time in his life when he wrote these words and if the idea for this Psalm came from a kind of diary of David then either the time of his being on the run from king Saul for eight years or so or when he was on the run from his rebellious son Absalom would fit very well to the ideas in this stanza.

The writer has already asked God in verse 12 to,

“Teach me your decrees”

Now in verse 18 he asks,

“Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in your law”

The bible is not like any other book and is unique in a number of ways and one of them is that just as it is inspired by the Holy Spirit so it needs the Holy Spirit’s inspiration to understand it as Peter says about the word of God in 1 Peter 2: 20 – 21,

“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”.

Jesus words in John 16: 12 – 15 come to my mind here,

This first became clear to me when as a young Christian I was visiting a close Christian friend’s house and this friends father, who was a very convinced atheist said to us, “I have read the bible through twice and it did absolutely nothing for me”. This man now long departed from this life had read the bible without the eyes or thoughts of faith but rather with a closed mind to the things of God.

Even this very devout bible committed writer of Psalm 119 prays to God,

“Open my eyes that I might see”

And what does he want to see?

“Wonderful things in your law”

We read of how David saw the value of the word of God in Psalm 19: 9b – 11,

“The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. 11

By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward”.

Jesus said in John 7: 38,

“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them”.

I felt both frustrated and sorry for my friend’s father who had such a hard heart towards God and his word that he could read his word and get nothing out of it. Jesus has just said in John 7: 38 that faith in him, the word become flesh (John 1: 14) will lead to the wonderful experience of having rivers of living water within us and I can testify that I regularly feel overwhelmed by the wonderful truths God’s word has taught me and through that guided me in my life.

However the writer of Psalm 119 is not saying that following the leading of God in our lives leads to a life without difficulty as he writes in verse 19,

“I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me”

This idea of being a stranger on earth I believe is in the context of the writer feeling out of step with the majority of people around him who do not believe in the God of the bible or his word as David obviously felt in Psalm 39: 12,

“Hear my prayer, Lord, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were”.

Peter in the new Testament calls us foreigners and exiles in this word in 1 Peter 2: 11,

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul”.

I like the old song that says,

“This world is not my home I’m just a passing through”

Therefore while we live God’s way and value his word in this life we will often feel out of step with the world around us who do not share our faith and commitment in God and his word. The temptation in such conflict is to walk away from God and his word or at least water down our commitment to his word and it seems the writer of Psalm 119 felt the same way so he asked God to,

“Not hide your commands from me”.

We will see more of what the opposition this writer faced in the next four verses and how God and his word helps guide him through this opposition and difficulty.

The need not to stray from God’s word even in difficult times (20 – 21)

The writer now goes on to give the contrast to his stand as a believer in God and his word and those who are non – believers in verses 20 – 21, he writes,

“My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times. You rebuke the arrogant, who are accused, those who stray from your statutes”.

I like the MSG translation of these verses that says,

“My soul is starved and hungry, ravenous! – insatiable for your nourishing commands. And those who think they know so much, ignoring everything you tell them – let them have it!”

Not sure if I like the term “let them have it” but the rest of this modern paraphrase of these verses describe well the idea that there is a big contrast in attitude and actions between those who believe in God and his word and those who don’t.

The believers stay focused and committed to God and his word like a hungry man satisfied by God’s word alone and the non- believers arrogantly reject God and his word and seek to live their lives accordingly.

We must be like the writer of Psalm 119 and stay focused on God and his word even when the majority of people around us seem to be doing the opposite and always remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7: 13 – 14,

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

The need to stay focused on God’s word even when things get tough (22 – 23)

Now the opposition this writer seems to be up against is spelt out in verses 22 – 23,

“Remove from me their scorn and contempt, for I keep your statutes. 23 Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees”.

Those who oppose our writer are described it two ways as:

Those who give him scorn and contempt
Those who rule over everyone and slander him

Let me try and tell you what the writer means by these two descriptions of those who oppose him:

1. Those who give him scorn and contempt

Often when we as believers do not join or go along with the prevailing crowds attitudes and way of living we are scorned and abused with contempt and this seems to be the problem the writer of Psalm 119 is speaking of in verse 22 and Peter speaks of the same kind of thing in his day in 1 Peter 4: 3 – 4,

“For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you”.

I have suffered from this myself especially in my non – Christian contacts in the local music world I am often appreciated by my non – Christian music friends but also like my friend on Facebook I am also scorned with contempt because I dare profess a faith in God and a commitment to his word and for that my local musical prospects are far less than others. Some find me so offensive they merely put up with me because I have both have talent and always seek to be friendly as much as I can.

Peter also told his readers how they should act in the company of people in their non- believing world when he says in 1 Peter 2: 11 – 12,

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us”.

2. Those who rule over everyone and slander him

Then a far more difficult description follows in verse 23 as some of his enemies are the local rulers or we might say are people in high office who not only dislike this man who calls himself God’s servant in verse 23 and 17 but who slander him.

This sounds a lot like what David said about his enemies in some of his Psalms written we believe when he was either on the run from King Saul or his rebellious son Absalom.

As David writes sin Psalm 41: 5 – 9,

“My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die and his name perish?” 6 When one of them comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander; then he goes out and spreads it around”. All my enemies whisper together against me; they imagine the worst for me, saying, 8 “A vile disease has afflicted him; he will never get up from the place where he lies.” 9 Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me”.

David was a ruler himself as King of Israel but before he became king he was hunted down and slandered by King Saul only because he was filled with jealousy and later David for a short time was forced to flee for his life when Absalom rebelled and again sought to kill him.

I cannot relate to the idea of being opposed by those in high office except maybe from former non-Christian bosses who gave me a hard time because I was a Christian and they were not. I have read of Christians who face great opposition from their rulers in the counties they live in and my prayers go up for them.

So how did this writer of Psalm 119 find God’s guidance in the face of this terrible opposition?

His answer is both surprising and very helpful as in verse 23 he says,

“Your servant will meditate on your decrees”.

In the face of such great opposition the writer says he simply prayerfully studies God’s word, which is what I believe the word meditate means here. He does this obviously to find the guidance and encouragement that only God can give him.

David speaks of doing just what the writer of Psalm 119 verse 23b says in Psalm 40: 1 – 3, where David speaks of waiting patiently for the Lord and having his feet secured on a rock and a rock is always in the writings of David a poetical symbol for God and his word,

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. 2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him”.

Jesus offers the same sense of protection and guidance if we build our lives on him the rock in Matthew 7: 24 – 25,

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock”.

I mentioned earlier of how I have read of many Christians who suffer at the hands of ant – God or anti – Christian rulers or local authorities and how difficult their lives are but i also read of how many of these people are loyal to the Lord Jesus and his word and how so often they are finding his guidance and help in such difficult situations.

The need to see how God’s word is always supreme and why (vs. 24)

I started this third stanza of Psalm 119 with the words this amazing Psalm, 119 now looks at the important subject of “Guidance” and states clearly in the last verse of this stanza, verse 24 that God’s word is where we find God’s guidance in our lives,

“Your statutes are my delight; they are my counsellors”

So we have seen that only through obeying God’s word, having God open our eyes to it, longing for its truths, not straying from its commands, keeping it, prayerfully studying it and now delighting in it do we find God’s counsel or guidance even in the face of great opposition and difficulty.

My English Alphabet poem verse for this third stanza is:

Continually look to God’s word

In it wonderful things you’ll see

Even in the face of great difficulty

God will guide you and set you free.

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven we pray that you will guide us in our daily lives as we live in a fallen and often hostile world. May your word shed us light on how we should live in this dark world and may you through you presence in our lives through your Holy Spirit help us to stand as a light for others that points to you and the love which you have for this lost and dark world. In and through the powerful name of Jesus we pray this. Amen.

STANZA. 4. (25 – 32) GOD’S HELP IN THE MIDST OF AFFLICTION

I have recently become very aware of how fortunate we are living in modern times compared to even as far back as the 1940’s owing to the great blessed advancement of modern medicine. One of the ways that became clear me was after recently reading of a biography on Charles Dickens who lived from 1812 – 1870 and in that book it was said that sickness of some kind was so prevalent that most people were either sick or recovering from sickness in those times.

Before the days of penicillin (1930’s) flu and other viral disease could not be treated and any kind of problem needing an operation was not done effectively unto after 1900 owing to the lack of effective anesthetics people died often on what we would call primitive painful operating theatres.

So way back 2,500 years ago when Psalm 119 was probably written or at least placed in the fifth book of Psalms sickness and the treatment of it was even more primitive and therefore it is not surprising that the Psalms like this have much to say about dealing with sickness or affliction particularly on a spiritual level.

The fourth stanza then looks at sickness or physical affliction and offers both hope and comfort for any true believer when they experience sickness in their lives today.

How do we know that this fourth section deals with affliction or sickness?

Well for a start the first verse says,

“I am low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word”.

Being low in the dust Allan Harman says is a,

“graphic description of how close he feels to the grave”

This is because low to the dust is a poetic image that comes from Genesis 3: 19,

“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

So he is sick and so sick he is close to death. Also verse 28 speaks of how this sickness has affected him spiritually,

“My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word”.

Both verse 25 and 28 speak of God helping him,

“According to your word”.

This “according to your word” is probably a reference to passages in the Old Testament like Deuteronomy 28 which starts with these words, verses 1 – 2,

“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God”.

Then Deuteronomy 28 goes on with a long list of blessings God will give those who seek to obey his word.

Or the writer of Psalm 119 might have the words of Deuteronomy 32: 39 in mind which says,

“See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life,

I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand”.

He might even have had the words of God’s promises to help us in times of sickness in mind that the other Psalms speak of like Psalm 107: 20,

“He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave”.

Or Psalm 34: 19,

“The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all”.

Whatever he had in mind it clearly came from God’s word and he wanted God to act for him to save him from death owing to great sickness according to what God had promised in his word.

The writer of Psalm 119 however has a very different way of dealing with sickness and even death and this can be summed up by what he says in verse 30,

“I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws”.

So rather than trusting in man, or letting his sickness course him to turn away from God he determines to stay faithful to God and trust in God’s word no matter what happens to him.

I see then three things this writer seeks to do to find God’s help in the midst of affliction and they are:

Pray and trust in the word of God when you’re sick (26 – 27)
Pray and seek to not sin when you’re are sick (28 – 29)

3. Trust in God and seek to obey his word (30 – 32)

Let’s then have a good look at each of these three things the writer seeks to do when he is suffering affliction or sickness:

Pray and trust in the word of God when you’re sick (26 – 27)

In verse 26 the Psalmist writes,

“I gave an account of my ways and you answered me teach me your decrees”

Joseph Benson gives us a full and clear understanding of what this writer first did when he was so afflicted with sickness he felt he was going to die with these words,

“My manner of life, my sins, my temptations, my sorrows, my wants, dangers, fears, cares, and concerns; my designs, undertakings, and pursuits: I have spread them all before thee, by way of sincere confession, humble supplication, or solemn appeal”.

When I have got sick in the past all I can remember doing was asking God to heal me and maybe help me bare the pain and discomfort but this man of God goes into far more detail in his prayer to God when he was very sick.

A lot of God’s word teaches that affliction or sickness comes from God dealing with sin in our lives as David speaks of a number of times like Psalm 6: 1 – 2,

“Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony”.

The bible links the confession of sins to healing as we clearly see in James 5: 16,

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective”.

However the bible also teaches that sickness is not always caused by God disciplining us for our sins as we know from the example of Job.

Job was allowed to become sick at the hands of Satan to bring glory to God by being faithful to God even through sickness and difficulty as we see in the opening two chapters of Job. Jesus himself tells us that a man who was born blind did not have that affection because of his sins or the sins of his parents as he tells his disciples this in John 9: 3 just before he heals him,

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him”.

So the writer of Psalm 119 simple unburdened himself on the Lord like so many Psalms do when a person is in some kind of affliction and the result of this according to the second half of verse 26,

“And you answered me: teach me your decrees”.

This man said that as he unburdened himself on God, God answered him through his word. It is through the bible, the word of God that God primarily speaks to us as Peter declares in 2 Peter 1: 3,

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness”.

The writer who knew this fact of spiritual life then asks God to help him understand what God is saying to him through his great affliction in verse 27,

“Cause me to understand the way of your precepts, that I may meditate on your wonderful deeds”.

I have found that affliction like sickness will do one of two things when it comes on us, it will either drive us away from God or it will draw us closer to God. Our writer had the second experience through his time of affliction as he says it caused him to understand God’s word so much more.

He even wants to now medicate or prayerfully study what God has wonderfully done. His focus in affliction is not then centered on himself like sadly I have done in the past when I got sick but his focus was on God and his word.

Pray and seek to not sin when you’re are sick (28 – 29)

When I have got sick in the past as I have just said I have prayed prayers to God for healing or relief from my sickness which is quite OK but as we saw in the past two verses I should also widen my prayer to asking God to help teach me something of himself and his word through that time of sickness or any other kind of affliction.

However the writer in verse 29 picks up another flaw in most of our approaches to dealing with sickness and I include myself here and that is he wants to not sin when he is suffering sickness or affliction as he writes,

“Keep me from deceitful ways”.

In verse 28 he has indicated that he is in deep pain and difficulty particularly spiritually as he writes,

“My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word”

So now he wants God to help him not sin or be deceitful and Albert Barnes explains what he is really asking for here with these words,

“He was, like all people, in danger of acting from false views, from wrong motives, or under the influence of delusion and deceit”.

Another reason we suffer all kinds of trials like sickness or some kind of affliction the bible teaches is to test our faith as Peter says in 1 Peter 1: 6 – 7,

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed”.

So often when I got sick I did not really exercise faith in God but simply grumbled and complained and even have doubts in my faith but God through other Christians encouraging me and through his word taught me to trust in the Lord and his word and in a sort of way I too was able to join with the writer of Psalm 119: 29 to find God’s grace and even learn from my experience as he writes in verse 29b,

“Be gracious to me and teach me your law”.

3. Trust in God and seek to obey his word (30 – 32)

In the final two verses we find his final helpful words of how we as God of the bible believers should face sickness or affliction and this is expressed in two resolves:

Trust in God’s word (30 and 31)
Seek to obey God’s word (vs. 32)

Let’s have a closer look at each of these two resolves:

i) Trust in God’s word (30 – 31)

In both verse 30 and 31 the writer of Psalm 119 resolve in the face of affliction or sickness is to trust in God’s word as he goes through it. In verse 30 he puts this resolve this way,

“I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws”.

It is though there are two ways to face affliction or sickness as I said in a previous point either give God away or believe in him more. In many popular films I hear people say something like, “I once believed in God but once this or that happened I gave up my belief for how could a so -called loving God allow that to happen”.

This is not what the writer of Psalm 119 says rather his reaction to his affliction was to say, now even more because of what I am going through I am going to trust in God and his word, I am deliberately going to go the way of faith in God.

Then he says much the same thing in verse 31,

“I hold fast to your statutes, Lord; do not let me be put to shame”.

I remember an illustration I once read Charles Spurgeon gave of what it means to have God as our anchor in life and he said it’s like a boat that is anchored which might move around this way or that but it will never go off into disaster as it is tied securely to an anchor. As the writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 6: 19,

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure”.

I remember when I was very young and going through Bible College and attending a local church near my college as a trainee church worker and one of the elders called a church warden in my denomination gave his Christian faith away when his wife died painfully of cancer. The minister I was working under said “isn’t it sad that just when this man needed God and his church the most he had chosen to walk away from them”.

Things will and do happen in life and we will probably not often know the reasons for them but God knows and he offers his help to cope as Jesus promises in Matthew 11: 28 – 30,

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Will you choose the way of faithfulness or holding fast to God and his word the next time you face affliction like sickness?

If you do let me assure you Jesus promises to help you carry the load of that burden.

ii) Seek to obey God’s word (vs. 32)

The writer concludes his fourth section of Psalm 119 that deals with dealing with sickness or affliction in his life with a final resolve to this time obey God and his word expressed this way in verse 32,

“I run in the path of your commands, for you have broadened my understanding”.

To run in the paths of your commands is a poetic way of saying he will seek to put into practice God’s word in his day to day life and this final verse in this fourth stanza with its image of running in the way of God’s commands or word reminds me of one of my favorite verses in the bible namely Proverbs 3: 5 – 6,

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”.

That’s how you run in the path of God’s commands even as you face great sickness or affection.

My English Alphabet verse for this fourth stanza is,

Determined to look to God’s word

Even in the face of great pain

Trusting in God not turning away

In sickness and in health you’ll reign.

I conclude this fourth stanza with a word of prayer:

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven when we face times of sickness or some other affliction may we learn from this Psalm and your word that we must turn to you in prayer trusting that not only will you hear our prayer but you will help us carry the burden of our pain and through it bring us closer to you and even teach us something about you and your word we would not have learnt otherwise. In Jesus Name we pray this, Amen.

STANZA 5. (33 – 40) GOD’S INSIGHT OF HIS WORD AND THE DISTRACTIONS FROM IT

Before I study God’s word or before I seek to present it publicly I always pray a prayer like, “Lord help me by your Holy Spirit to understand your word” or “Help me and those here today to understand your word through your Holy Spirit”. I and most of the preachers of God’s word I listen to always pray something like this before presenting God’s word. They have already prepared the sermon or lecture but they still pray for God’s insight for themselves and their hearers by his Holy Spirit before they seek to present the message they have prepared,

Why?

I think Paul answers this question very well with 1 Corinthians 1: 14 – 16,

“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ”.

The writer of Psalm 119 now devotes a stanza to a prayer for God to give him insight into God’s word because he too knew that without God’s inspiration he in himself cannot understand God’s word and because of many temptations we can easily get distracted from both understanding and putting into practice the wonderful truths found in the word of God.

This section follows a three -part pattern which is:

(33 – 35) A prayer to God for insight into his word
(36 – 39) A prayer for God to help him avoid the distractions from insight into God’s

word

(vs. 40) A final prayer for insight into putting God’s word into practice

Let’s then have a look at each of these three parts of this fifth stanza of this Psalm:

(33 – 35) A prayer to God for insight into his word

The first three verses of this fifth stanza are a prayer for insight into God’s word and the first word for insight is the word “Teach” so verse 33 reads this way,

“Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end”.

All through this long Psalm the concept of walking a path or road is used and here he wants God to give him insight to walk that road to its end. He knew that he constantly needed God’s help to understand and learn from God’s word. This prayer for God to teach him his word is not unique to this Psalm as we have seen it twice already in Psalm 27: 11 and Psalm 86: 11 both Psalms of David.

David prayers in Psalm 27: 11,

“Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors”.

Psalm 27 features the need for us to have spiritual light in our lives and as verse 1 of that Psalm says,

“The Lord is my light and my salvation”.

Jesus spoke of himself as being both God’s light John 8: 12,

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life”.

And Jesus also claimed to be the truth, John 14: 6,

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.

So we must ask Jesus through his Holy Spirit to teach us so we can know him, God’s light, truth and way in life that leads all the way to the end which is heaven with God forever.

Then in verse 34 the writer of Psalm 119 asks in prayer for understanding,

“Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart”.

The bible is a unique book and Jesus who is the bible or God’s word become flesh, John 1: 14 is a unique person as only he has the words of life as Peter declared to Jesus in John 6: 68. Because of the uniqueness of both the word of God the bible and its main focus, The Lord Jesus Christ, we need God’s help to both understand it and put it into practice which the writer of Psalm 119 says is to,

“Keep your law and obey it”.

The wonderful thing is Jesus promises all of his disciples, those who seek to follow him help to understand his word through the Holy Spirit in John 16: 12 – 14,

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you”.

Some say that these words or this promise was only for the disciples of Jesus present at the last supper but what these men and men like Paul received from Jesus through the Holy Spirit was his word which presents and glorifies Jesus and so that same Holy Spirit of God that inspired the disciples to write down what Jesus said and did will help us through him to be guided into all the truth.

The New Testament only contains the work and words of Jesus declared, explained and applied through the Letters of men like Paul, Peter, John and other men who heard and saw what Jesus did and said.

So when we pray to God for insight before reading, studying or presenting God’s word Jesus promises through his Holy Spirit to give us that insight or understanding we need to have.

Even in verse 35 of Psalm 119 the writer of this Psalm is asking for insight and particularly in this verse direction into the word of God for his path or road to walk in life,

“Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight”

It is such a wonderful delightful experience to gain God’s insights into his word but this cannot be gained by human intelligence alone for we need the direction of God’s insight, through his Holy Spirit to fully understand and be able to apply this most precious word of God. As Paul prays for his Ephesian believers in Ephesians 1: 17 – 20,

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms”.

(36 – 39) A prayer for God to help him avoid the distractions from insight into God’s

word

The writer then reveals that he because he is human or a sinner living in a sinful world faces daily many temptations to look away from God’s word. Things that will prevent him having insight into God’s word and particularly things that will stop him from putting God’s word into practice so in verses 36 – 39 he prays for God’s help or assistance to avoid the temptations and distractions that cause him to not have insight into God’s word and stop him from putting it into practice.

He speaks of four temptations or distractions that stop him from having insight into God’s word and also stop him from putting that word into practice in his daily life and those four things are:

(vs. 36) Selfish gain – or money and riches
(vs. 37) Worthless things – or materialism
(vs. 38) Reading God’s word falsely

iv) (vs. 39) Fear of opposition to God and his word

Let’s then have a closer look at each of these four temptations or distractions to insight into God’s word and putting God’s word into practice:

i) (vs. 36) Selfish gain – or money and riches

The first temptation or distraction to insight into God and his word is expressed in verse 36 as “Selfish gain” as verse 36 says,

“Turn my heart toward your statutes and not towards selfish gain”.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 6: 10,

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs”.

Paul is pinpointing out a great fact of life that the love for money or more money and riches is a great evil that leads many astray in following God and here in Psalm 119 verse 36 understanding his word.

Some might think that this problem with money is one only rich people have but Paul does not say money is the root of all evil but the love of money. Even a very poor person who has very little money can be consumed with desiring and seeking money and when poor and rich people make trying to get more money or riches their aim or goal in life then God and his word very quickly goes out the window or out of a person’s sight and they quickly become spiritually dead.

I have seen many times even in my own church and churches I have belong to in the past sadly money issues causing conflict and division. Church committees I have been on in years past operate often very well unto a money issue comes up and then the real spiritual state or commitment of those on the committee is often revealed.

I went to youth fellowship groups with many far gifted and talented Christian young people than me but so many of those more promising Christians than me no longer believe and follow the Lord Jesus Christ because they got caught in the money trap as Jesus explanation of in his parable of the soils in Matthew 13: 22 says,

“The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful”.

The problem then is that the love of money can easily pull us away from God and his word if we let this pursuit of money or riches dominate our lives so the writer of Psalm 119 verse 36 asks God to,

“Turn his heart towards your statutes”

Note that the problem of seeking riches is a problem of the heart and Allan Harman explains that the heart is,

“Regarded as controlling the whole direction of life”.

We then need to put Jesus at the center of our being or heart by putting into practice what Jesus tells us to do in Matthew 6: 33,

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”.

The poorest time in my life or when I had the least money in my life was when I was in Bible College for three years in my early twenties but I can testify to the fact that during those three years I lacked nothing I needed and in fact in many ways God blessed me with what I needed in abundance.

Just one example here for your encouragement is when my old VW car broke down on the way to a church youth fellowship camp. My old car was completely finished as the motor died. Within three weeks of that church youth fellowship camp the members of my Youth Fellowship group collected money amongst themselves and purchased another VW car for me. One Sunday night after our fellowship meeting before church they blindfolded me and led me to the church car park and there they gave me my new second hand car.

I have heard Christian preachers say in the past, “God is no man’s debtor” which comes from Hebrews 6: 10 and so if you want insight into God’s word and the ability to put it into practice ask God to do what the writer of Psalm 119 verse 36 wants God to do,

“Turn my heart toward your statutes and not towards selfish gain”.

ii) (vs. 37) Worthless things – or materialism

Something that follows on from the problem of the love of money as our main priority in life is the pursuits of things called “worthless things” in verse 37. Materialism goes with the love of money because to buy lots of things you need lots of money. So verse 37 says,

“Turn my eyes away from worthless things; persevere my life according to your word”.

Note how the writer views the pursuit of what he calls “worthless things” as a problem of our eyes and Allan Harman points out that,

“The mention of eyes suggests the external influences that effect behavior”.

We see things which appeal to us and desire them. For me musical instruments will be a delight to my eye and I have two high quality Ukulele’s.

However Ukulele friends of mine who are not believers have many but when I see an attractive Ukulele in a shop or at a festival I say to myself, I can only play one ukulele at a time and both Ukuleles I have sound great so why do I need to spend lots of money on another one.

When you are young the temptation to buy lots of material things are even greater and young Christians need to look away from the “things” that they are attracted to buy and work out what they need rather than what they want before they make a purchase of anything.

Some might say how can all material things be called “Worthless” well in the terms of eternity and what is important to God anything else is relatively worthless as the old saying says,

“You can’t take it with you when you die”.

John has this to say about loving things in this world more than God in 1 John 2: 15 – 17,

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever”.

So with all this in mind we should pray what the writer of Psalm 119 prayed in verse 37,

“Turn my eyes away from worthless things; persevere my life according to your word”.

iii) (vs. 38) Reading God’s word falsely

The writer of Psalm 119 then prays what seems a strange prayer in the context of what we have been looking at in previous verses for in verse 38 which reads like this in the NIV translation,

“Fulfil your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared”.

But other translations do not use the word “Fulfil” but “Confirm” and I like how a modern translation phrases this verse with the word confirm and it is called “The Christian Standard version” at it reads like this,

“Confirm what you said to your servant, for it produces reverence for you”.

When we use “Confirm” or “establish” rather than “fulfil” Albert Barnes says the meaning of this verse is,

“Stablish thy word unto thy servant – Confirm it; make it seem firm and true; let not my mind be vacillating or skeptical in regard to thy truth”.

Therefore the writer of Psalm 119 wants God to help him understand God’s word correctly Tremper Longman 111 says,

“He again counts on God to keep him on the straight and narrow”.

To tamper with God’s word to suite our own purposes is another temptation or distraction that will interfere with gaining God’s insight into his word and if we continue to do so we will lose reverence or fear of God as the last part of verse 38 says,

“that you may be feared”

Paul warned Timothy about the danger of false teaching coming into the church and says this to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4: 2 – 5,

“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry”.

So if we want to have God’s insight into his word that leads to greater reverence of God we should also pray the words of verse 38 which says,

“Fulfil or confirm your promise (God’s word) to your servant, so that you may be feared”.

And that is not only feared by us but by those who hear our teaching from God’s word by ear or in print.

iv) (vs. 39) Fear of opposition to God and his word

Then the final temptation or distraction to finding God’s insight into his word is expressed this way in verse 39,

“Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good”.

This word “disgrace” could also be translated “reproach” and most commentators believe it is referring to the reproach or disgrace given to us by those who oppose God and his word. Allan Harman says that he is actually praying,

“For release from such attitudes of his enemies”.

This writer is very real and human by indicating he does not like or even finds opposition to God’s word by his enemies hard to handle as he uses the word “dread” or “reproach” as some commentators translate.

No matter how difficult or uncomfortable opponents of God and his word can make us feel the writer of Psalm 119 says that God’s laws or God’s word is good. Some Christians do find the modern pressure to see God’s word as out of date and irrelevant to much to bare and either stop reading their bibles or abandon the bible all together.

We heard what Paul told Timothy to do in 2 Timothy 4: 2 in the previous section,

“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction”.

The bible today is definitely out of season but we must not abandon it for as the writer of Psalm 119 says,

“Your laws (or God’s word) are good”.

(vs. 40) A final prayer for insight into putting God’s word into practice

The writer of Psalm 119 makes a call or prayer to God for God to give him insight into God’s word to now put that word into action in his life he writes,

“How I long for your precepts! In your righteousness preserve my life”.

The Geneva Study bible explains what the writer is asking for with these words,

“Give me strength to continue in your word even to the end”.

So we have seen that the writer of Psalm119 longs to be taught by God and his word as in verse 33, he prays for understanding of God’s word by God in verse 34, he asks God to direct his path in life to follow God’s word in verse 36 and 37 he asked God to turn his heart to his word. He then asked God to help him to not let earthly distractions cause him to not have insight into God’s word in verses 36 – 39.

Now in verse 40, the final verse of this stanza he asks God to answer his longing for his word to be given to him by God’s righteousness or saving power so that he can put or have God’s word into all the days of his life.

One commentator saw the words of Peter in 1 Peter 1: 3- 5 as fitting closing words for this stanza of Psalm 119,

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time”.

The living hope Peter speaks of in this passage is found in the message of Jesus death and resurrection which we know through God’s word that he makes this clear to us through the work of the Holy Spirit therefore we must read, study and act upon this word of God looking to God for insight to do so.

My English Alphabet verse for this fifth stanza of Psalm 119 goes like this,

Enlighten me O Lord above

By your promised Holy Spirit’s power

Help to understand and apply

Your saving word each day and hour.

I close this fifth stanza of Psalm 119 with the following word of prayer.

PRAYER:

Dear Father we thank you that through your Holy Spirit you have given us your wonderful word we call today the bible. We thank you that you sent to our world your Son, your word become flesh. Help us to understand your word then by your same Holy Spirit that originally inspired it and may no human or earthly distraction get in the way of both understanding your word or putting it into practice in our lives today. We pray this in and through the powerful name of Jesus our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

STANZA 6. (41 – 48) GOD’S LOVE AND HIS HELP TO PROCLAIM IT

In June 1967 the Beatles performed the song ‘All You Need is Love” as Britain’s contribution to a TV program called “Our World” a TV program described as the first global television link watched by over 400 million people in 25 different countries being broadcast for the first time via satellite. The single released the previous month became a world-wide super hit. The simple but haunting chorus says:

“All you need is love, all you need is love

All you need is love, love, love is all you need”.

In the sixth stanza of this 22 stanza Psalm the writer of Psalm 119 has a similar message but his message of love is not human love but what he calls in verse 41, God’s,

“Unfailing love”

May I suggest the Beatles got the message the world needs right in one sense; all the world needs is love but as Psalm 119: 41 – 48 presents that the world needs more is the message of the love of God and like the writer of Psalm 119 we need God’s help to obey and proclaim this message of God’s love to the world.

The structure of this sixth stanza is again like the other stanzas very simple and follows this four-point pattern:

(vs. 41) The content of the message – God’s love
(42 – 43) The value of the message – It is truth
(44 – 45) The commitment to the message – obey it and live it out
(46 – 48) The need to proclaim the message – Speak, delight and praise God for it.

Let’s then have a close look at these four parts to this sixth stanza of Psalm 119 that relate to the message of God’s love and the need to believe in it and proclaim it.

(vs. 41) The content of the message – God’s love

The sixth stanza commences with a wonderful Old Testament statement of the central message of the bible namely the message of God’s saving love for this world, it says,

“May your unfailing love come to me, Lord your salvation according to your promise”.

In Old Testament terms the writer of Psalm 119 is speaking of the message of God’s love in the covenant or agreement God made with his people Israel found in passages of God’s word like Deuteronomy 7: 9 – 10,

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. 10 But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him”.

God set his love on a people who did not deserve his love as the two verses before Deuteronomy 7: 9 – 10 state,

In New Testament terms this love widens out to the whole world because of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who gave his life in love to save not just sinful Israel but the world as John 3: 16 says,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

Like Israel no one in the world deserves this love of God but God gives it even though we don’t deserve it and the New Testament calls this love, “Grace” or love that is not deserved as Paul speaks of this way in Ephesians 2: 4 – 7,

So all this is what the writer of Psalm 119 verse 1 calls God’s,

“Promise”

So the writer of Psalm 119 who would have known the promise of God’s covenant love wants God to bring it to him or I think make him fully understand as it is as he states that this love of God is the message of,

“Salvation”

Or how God saves us by making us right with himself and this then is God’s message we will now see that God wants us to proclaim even to Kings and rulers (vs. 46).

(42 – 43) The value of the message – It is truth

The writer of Psalm 119 believes that this message of God’s love is so great and powerful that he believes that it answers all the taunts or mockery of his enemies as he writes in verse 42,

“Then I can answer anyone who taunts me”

He reveals his belief and confidence in the message of the love of God for salvation for anyone with the words of the second half of verse 42 that says,

“For I trust in your word”.

He only knows this message of God’s love because he read about it from God’s word the bible.

But why is what for him was written on scrolls and for us is written in a book is the grounds for faith and trust?

The answer is in the first part of the next verse, verse 43,

“Never take your word of truth from my mouth”

You see he trusts in the reality of God’s love because it is in the word of God and that word is the truth and therefore because it is the truth God’s love is not some kind of fairytale but is real and therefore accessible for anyone.

Jesus spoke a lot about truth and I like these words he said about truth in John 8: 31 – 31,

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Then Jesus later says in John 14: 6,

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.

Note how Jesus claims to be the way to God which I believe is what biblical salvation is all about and so God’s love is real because he sent Jesus into the world which was a real event and therefore it is based on truth.

Atheists believe Christians believe in fairytales but Jesus is not a fairytale he is a real person who lived in what is sometimes called time and space and his death actually took place and he also rose from the dead and the resurrection proves that Jesus has won victory over death.

Pau believed and proclaimed that Jesus resurrection won for us victory over death and this is what he says in 1 Corinthians 15: 55 – 56,

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law”.

The writer of Psalm 119 has just said he wants God’s word which is the truth not taken from his mouth and I believe he does not want it taken from his mouth because apart from the scrolls in the Temple and Synagogues the only way he could carry the word of God around in bible times was in his head. Jewish boys even in Jesus day went to school at the local Synagogue to learn and memorize the bible and particularly the Psalms and so they would say out loud with their mouths God’s word.

So why doesn’t he want God’s word not taken from his mouth?

And the answer is twofold, first it is because God’s word is truth and secondly because the writer has,

“Put his hope in God’s laws” or as we understand in this Psalm what God’s laws stand for namely God’s word.

Paul speaks of holding on to the word of life or the word of God in Philippians 2: 16 and the many benefits that word of God will bring to his readers.

“As you hold firmly to the word of life. Nd then I will be able tp boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain”.

(44 – 45) The commitment to the message – obey it and live it out

The commitment to the word of God that expresses particularly the great love of God we have just seen in verses 42 and 43 then finds practical expression in two ways in our writers life namely in:

Obeying it (vs. 44
Living it out (vs. 45)

Let’s have a closer look out how the writer wants to practically show his commitment to God’s word and its central message of love.

i) Obeying it (vs. 44)

The first way he wants to show his commitment to the word of God is expressed this way in verse 44,

“I will always obey your laws for ever and ever”

Here the writer of Psalm 119 is saying he will act on what God’s word says in obedience which is the principal way God wants us to respond to his love as Jesus expresses in John 15: 10,

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Fathers commands and remain in his love”.

Even in the Old Testament we are not saved by obedience to God’s law as David says in Psalm 51: 14,

“Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Saviour and my tongue will sing of your righteousness”.

Paul says we are saved by faith in the grace of God alone in Ephesians 2: 8 – 9,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast”.

However James points out clearly that we show that we have faith by our obedience to God in James 2: 18,

“But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds”.

So we too should seek to show our faith and love for Jesus by obeying his commands.

ii) Living it out (vs. 45)

This obeying God’s word is shown in how we live and so the writer of Psalm 119 says this amazing thing about living out his obedience to God in verse 45,

“I will walk in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts”.

Note how even here in the Old Testament the living out of obedience which is often described in the image of “walking in” in this Psalm this walking is described as “freedom”.

Albert Barnes explains here what this idea of freedom would have meant to the original writer with these words,

“He would not be restrained by evil passions and corrupt desires. He would be delivered from those things which seemed to fetter his goings”.

Paul had much to say about Christian freedom in his letter to the Galatians and he starts chapter 5 with these words,

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery”.

The message we should be taking to the world is that the natural way of thinking we can get right with God by trying to do good or not sin is something we cannot do. Therefore God sent Jesus to die for our sins on the cross to set us free from this slavery to trying to save ourselves by doing good.

So through the death of Christ the penalty of our sins is paid for and all we have to do is turn to God and receive his gift of salvation sometimes called righteousness and then show our gratitude for receiving this free gift by seeking to live a life of obedience and service to God as Paul sums up in Romans 5: 17,

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one men, Jesus Christ”.

I referred earlier to Paul’s words in Ephesians 2: 8 – 9 how we are saved by faith in God’s grace alone well Paul goes on to say in verse 10 how this being saved by faith in God’s gift of grace alone leads to a life of obedience or in here in Ephesians 2: 10, a life of good works,

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.

So we should join the writer of Psalm 119 verse 45 to confess a commitment to following God’s word of love in a walk or a life of freedom and service.

4. (46 – 48) The need to proclaim the message – Speak, delight and praise God for it.

Finally the writer of Psalm 119 asks God to help him proclaim this great message of his loving salvation found in his word in the last three verses of this sixth stanza and each of the last thee verses speaks of three ways he wants God to help him do this:

(vs. 46) Boldly speak God’s message even to his rulers
(vs. 47) Delight in God’s word that contains this message
(vs. 48) Praise God as he learns his message from his word

Let’s have a closer look at each of these last three verses,

i) (vs. 46) Boldly speak of God’s message even to his rulers

The writer of Psalm 119 has spoken about rulers which could apparently be another accepted word for kings in verse 23 slandering him and in verse 161 he speaks of rulers persecuting him without cause so here he is speaking about his boldness to speak or proclaim God’s message to even his current enemies who seem to be his rulers, he writes,

“I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame”.

The putting to shame is like David often talked about in many of his Psalms when his enemies falsely accused him and put him to shame like Psalm 25: 2,

“I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me”.

Jesus spoke of loving our enemies and praying for them and Christians who live in countries where their leaders oppose the Gospel put Jesus words into action sometimes paying for that with their lives but more than often showing the Gospel message is a message of love in action with great effect.

I must confess this kind of boldness is lacking often in my life so I find personally the truth of this verse very challenging but at the same time very encouraging.

ii) (vs. 47) Delight in God’s word that contains this message

A number of times this writer of Psalm 119 speaks of delighting in God’s word and here in verse 47 he tells us a reason why he delights in God’s word and that reason is because he loves it,

“For I delight in your commands because I love them”.

If we love God’s word and particularly his message of love then we to will delight in God’s word and this should lead us to want to share it more boldly and Paul told the Roman church his delight and love of the Gospel and why then he is so committed to proclaiming it in Romans 1: 16,

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile”.

Then in Ephesians 6: 19 – 20 he asks his readers that he might always speak or proclaim the Gospel or the word of God,

“Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should”.

Again I find these words of Paul very challenging but if we truly delight in God’s word and particularly his Gospel we would naturally want to speak or share it.

iii) (vs. 48) Praise God as he learns his message from his word

The last verse does not mention the word praise but when it says,

“I reach out for your commands which I love”

Alan Harman suggests he is lifting up his hands in praise as he says,

“Lifting up of hands is in connection with praise”

Harman then gives a number of references from the book of Psalms that speak of the lifting of hands as an act of praise and here is one that clearly says just that, Psalm 63: 4,

“I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name, I will lift up my hands”.

So final way we proclaim the central message of God’s word, his saving grace, is bound up in how our lives as well as our lips live in praise of that wonderful message of the love of God found in his word.

The writer of Psalm 119 concludes this sixth stanza of his Psalm with his final commitment to meditate on God’s word which is to prayerfully study it, he writes,

“That I may meditate on your decrees”.

I like the prayer of Thomas Cranmer found in his original prayer book the Anglican church which says,

“Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen”.

The expression Cranmer came up with of “hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them” perfectly sums up for me what real Christian meditation of God’s word is all about. If we do that then what the writer of Psalm 1119 prayed for at the start of this sixth stanza will be answered,

“May your unfailing love come to me, Lord your salvation, according to your promise”.

My English alphabet poem / verse for this six stanza of Psalm 119 is,

Fillme now with your love O Lord

For I know your Son did come

Freely he died on the cross for me

Forever may I praise your Son.

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven we thank you for your great love for this word by sending your Son to die for our sins on the cross so we could be free from the guilt and penalty of our sins. We thank you for your love so clearly expressed in your word that we must both praise you for it and seek to share it to our lost world today. May your gift of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life be the message of love that goes out into all the world telling them all they need is the Love of God. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

STANZA 7. (49 – 56) GOD’S HOPE AND COMFORT IN HIS MANY PROMISES IN HIS WORD

Many years ago when I first started to preach sermons in my church I preached a sermon on the topic of “Hope” and my minister came up to me at the end of the service and said I don’t think you can use the word hope today as that word means something like “I hope something will happen” and the bibles concept of hope is as you said in your sermon is more to do with certainty and expectation.

I decided to re- name my sermon “Hope to Cope” and made sure that I compared the modern use of the word hope as opposed to the way it is used in scripture as we see in the first verse of the seventh stanza of Psalm 119,

“Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope”.

Or Paul’s use of the word hope in Romans 8: 24 – 25,

“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently”.

I Like the famous nineteenth century Baptist minister C.H. Spurgeon’s image of biblical hope. Spurgeon says our biblical hope in life is like the image of a small boat anchored by a long rope to a secure post. He said the boat might move around and even bob up and down in storms but it is always securely anchored to the anchorage pole which of course in spiritual terms is God and his word.

This image of Spurgeon reminds me of the verse Hebrews 6: 19 – 20,

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek”.

As we can see from this verse in Hebrews this biblical hope is certain not a wishful thinking thing and we will now see that this kind of hope and the comfort it brings is in the seventh stanza of Psalm 119 its central theme.

I have broken this seventh stanza of Psalm 119 into three parts:

The writers hope and comfort founded in the promises of God (49 – 50)
Why the writer needed hope and comfort (51 and 53)
How the writer appropriates God’s hope (52 and 54 – 56)

So let’s then have a close look at these three parts of stanza 7,

The writers hope and comfort founded in the promises of God (49 – 50)

The first two verses speak of hope although only verse 49 uses the actually word, hope because verse 50 uses the word “Comfort” which we will see has a similar meaning to the writers idea of hope.

The writer of Psalm 119 opens the seventh stanza this way,

“Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope”.

As we will see in more detail in the second part of this stanza the writer is facing difficult times and yet in the midst of these difficulties he has hope and in verse 50, comfort. This writer speaks of hope in God a lot as it comes up in this Psalm in verses 43, 81 and 147 and so he is testifying a number of times to the certainty and comfort he has in God that he says in verse 49 comes from,

“Your word”

In the New Testament the words hope and faith are interchangeable and this is how Hebrews 11: 1 defines faith and this is a good definition of the sort of hope the writer is speaking about in verse 49 of Psalm 119. So Hebrews 11: 1 states,

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”

So the writer of Psalm 119 asks God to help him remember his word and implies that through this word from God he has hope.

The next verse, verse 50 spells this out even more when it says,

“My comfort in my suffering is this; Your promise preserves my life”;

Paul calls God the God of all comfort and explains how the comfort of God works its way out in the Christian church in 2 Corinthians 1: 3 – 5,

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ”.

The writer of Psalm 119 speaks of where he gets God’s comfort from and he calls that source of God’s comfort,

“Your promises”

The bible both Old and New Testament is chock full of promises and it said that the bible contains 5,467 promises and the writers of “Bible Gateway” say this about the Promises of God,

“The promisesof God reveal his particular and eternal purposes to which he is unchangeably committed and upon which believers can totally depend”.

People might ask me why do I spend so much time reading and studying such an ancient book as the bible?

My answer is I believe that the Bible is like no other book as it contains the wonderful promises of God and how we might have the fruit of these promises in our day to day lives. The writer of Psalm 119 in verse 50 claims that even when he is suffering or going through a difficult time the promises of God help him or as the text says, they,

“Preserve my life”

This term “Preserve my life” is translated by the commentator H.C Leopold as “Gives Life” and he writes this about that term,

“Gives life does not refer to inner spiritual processes such as regeneration but to the revitalizing of the ebbing strength of body and soul”.

The full quote of Paul’s word on the bibles hope in Romans 8 is verses 22 – 25 is,

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently”.

So God’s word promises the Christian believer his Holy Spirit who even in difficult times gives us hope to cope.

Why the writer needed hope and comfort (51 and 53)

The writer of Psalm 119 speaks in two verses of his seventh stanza of why he needed God’s hope and comfort and those two verse’s come down to speaking about how the writer was facing great difficulty through persecution. The two verses speak of persecution in two ways:

(vs. 51) Being mocked for believing in God’s word
(vs. 53) The pain of being close to people who don’t believe in God’s word

Let’s have a look at each of these two ways the writer of Psalm 119 is facing difficulty through persecution:

I) (vs. 51) Being mocked for believing in God’s word

In verse 51 the writer of Psalm 119 yet again speaks of difficulties in his life caused by persecution. I say yet again because he has already spoken about this in verses 22 and 23 and will speak of it again in verses 61, 69, 78, 85, 95, 110, 134 and 157. Here in verse 51 he says,

“The arrogant mock me unmercifully, but I do not turn from your law”.

The writer is not talking about enemies outside of Israel here but arrogant men within his own so- called people of God community who according to verse 53 have forsaken the word of God and they persecute him because he dares to believe in God and his word. Allan Harman says,

“Adherence to God’s ways provides opposition”.

Currently my church has been studying in sermons and bible studies the Gospel of Mark and we have seen over and over again the hostile reaction Jesus suffered from the so- called religious leaders of his day and in Mark 11 they seek to trap Jesus with tricky incriminating questions which Jesus turns back on them with clever bible- based answers and then in Mark 12 after Jesus told them the parable of the evil tenants we read this in verse 12,

“Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away”.

Eventually the religious leaders of Jesus day seem to have had a victory in getting Jesus arrested at night, away from the crowds on trump up charges which led to his death by Roman crucifixion.

Before Jesus is arrested he warned his disciples and us that the same kind of persecution he faced we will also face in John 15: 18 – 21,

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master. ’If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me”.

So the writer of Psalm 119 who lived hundreds of years before Christ suffered mocking at the hands of people who should have had a commitment to God and his word yet they had no such commitment so they attacked with mocking words the writer of Psalm 119 but he says in the second half of verse 51 that in face of this mocking he will,

“Not turn from your law”

Why?

Because as we have seen already in God’s law or word he finds God’s hope, verse 49 and God’s comfort, verse 50.

Jesus promised his disciples and us his help through the Holy Spirit who he calls the “Spirit of truth”, John 15: 26,

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me”.

Also note the word “Advocate” could also be translated “Comforter” so Jesus speaks of the promised Holy Spirit giving his disciples and everyone who believes and follows him inspiration and help. In John 16: 12 – 15 he even predicts the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples to lead them into all truth (verse 12) to write the New Testament which contains so many promises for believers when they face difficulties like persecution.

ii) (vs. 53) The pain of being close to people who don’t believe in God’s word

Then in verse 53 the writer of Psalm 119 pin – points the root cause of people from his own nation mocking him and that reason is that they have,

“forsaken your law”.

Being surrounded by people who have forsaken God’s law or word causes the writer of Psalm 119 to say in the first part of verse 53,

“Indignation grips me because of the wicked”.

The wicked here are people who should have known better for God gave them his word yet they forsake it. We might think that people forsaking the word of God and mocking those who believe in it is a relative modern thing but here we have it hundreds of years before Jesus came. Even before that we have stories of prophets who lived hundreds of years before the time of the writer of Psalm 119 facing the same problem.

The prophet of God named Elijah who after beating the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel goes off to a cave and complains to God that he alone believes in God and his word but God reveals to Elijah in 1 Kings 19: 18 how he has 7,000 faithful believes in Israel.

When I hear of church leaders forsaking the word of God today it does upset me and like the writer of Psalm 119 because of it,

“Indignation grips me”.

I remember having this very feeling many years ago when I was a bible college student attending one Sunday a church that belongs to a denomination known for its commitment to liberalism and hearing a young minister in training who was around my age at the time speaking about how the passage of scripture that had been read to us before his sermon. He said this passage of the bible could not be classified as the word of God but rather it contained the word of God once we understood the myth’s it was set in. When I left the church and had to shake this young mans hand I had to pray for love for him for I was full of indignation for what he had said in his sermon.

I simply told him he should read and study the works of the famous minister who helped found his denomination and I’m sure he had a very different view of the bible than the one he was obviously learning of at the Theological college he was currently study at. He simple smiled at me and said he would.

So the problem of forsaking the word of God as the word of God is not a modern phenomenon but existed even before the coming of Christ in ancient Israel.

How the writer appropriates God’s hope (52 and 54 – 56)

In verse 52 and the final three verses the writer of Psalm the writer of Psalm 119 seeks to tell us how he actually seeks to appropriate God’s hope he finds in God’s word and I have broken these appropriations into three parts:

(52 & 55) He remembers God’s word
(vs. 54) He sings God’s word
(vs. 56) He obeys God’s word

Let’s then have a closer look at these three ways the writer of Psalm 119 seeks to appropriate the God’s hope which is found in God’s word.

(52 & 55) He remembers God’s word

In two verses in this seventh stanza of Psalm 119 the writer speaks of remembering God’s word as one of three ways he sought to appropriate God’s hope and comfort even in the face of great difficulty caused by persecution. He speaks in these two verses of simply remembering God and his word, he writes in verse 52,

“I remember, Lord your ancient laws, and I find comfort in them”.

One of my most popular Psalm talks on the internet is Psalm 70 which has the simple message of remembering God and his word and in it I speak in that Psalm talk of how we are so often dominated by memories of the past usually in a negative way but Psalm 70 and now this verse 52 of Psalm 119 encourage us to look back to the past but not to our sinful short comings of our past but long back in the past to God and his word called here in verse 52,

“Ancient laws”

People today seem to reject things of the past and write them off as out of date and even superstition but the past can and does teach us many great truths and we only have our present so – called modern knowledge because great work was done in the past that we today so often don’t realize we have built knowledge upon.

God’s laws or word is ancient because it goes back as far as creation itself and even for the writer of Psalm 119 who lived at least 2,500 years ago his written word of God particularly came into being up to 2,000 years before his time when Moses led his ancestors out of Egypt and God told his people even back then that they were to always remember his commandments which was his law or word he gave to them then through Moses at that time as we read in Deuteronomy 6: 4 – 7,

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up”.

God’s word might be ancient but it is timeless truth that our writer and countless people through the ages and even today find,

“Comfort in them”.

So when we face difficulties in our lives the best thing we can do is remember God and his word like Jesus words of comfort and help tell us in John 14: 26 – 27,

“But the Advocate (or Comforter), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”.

Then in verse 55 the writer of Psalm 119 speaks of remembering God and his word, he writes,

“In the night, Lord, I remember your name, that I may keep your law”.

Could the night be a poetic expression for a dark difficult time?

Or is he literally speaking of night time when he is alone in bed and thinking and praying over the problems and difficulties of his day?

In both instances whether we are in the midst of a dark or difficult time of life or even if we are simply thinking over the problems and difficulties of the day in bed at night the advice of the writer of Psalm 119 is very valuable he says he did this in his night,

“I remember your name”

The name of God is all that God is, all his love and power, all his faithfulness and many promises and all his grace towards us that we find clearly spoken of in his wonderful word. That is what Jesus is speaking about in John 14 that if we look to God in faith his Holy Spirit will remind us everything that Jesus has told us and when that happens his promise is his peace, John 14: 27,

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”.

Paul speaks of turning our anxieties into prayers and when we do that the peace Jesus promises will be given to us even in the most difficult of times, Philippians 4: 6 – 7,

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”.

(vs. 54) He sings God’s word

Then in verse 54 he speaks of how, for him, singing the word of God, which was particularly the Psalms as they are the music of the Old Testament believer, he writes in this in verse 54,

“Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge”.

This writer reminds me of David who spoke so much about using music and singing as a way of both praising and proclaiming the truths of the word of God as David writes and sings in Psalm 28: 7,

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him”.

Then David writes and sings this in Psalm 105: 1 – 2,

“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.

2 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts”.

Music can be greatly undervalued in the Christian church and even in the Christian life but I believe God has given us the gift of music to play a vital role in us appropriating his word in our lives and as a wonderful means for proclaiming that word to the world.

Paul did not undervalue the role of music in the church for in two letters, Colossians 3: 16 and Ephesians 5: 18 – 20 Paul speaks of how music is to play an important role in the church. This is Paul’s advice to the Ephesian church about the value and place of music,

“Donot get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.

Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

The expression,

“Wherever I lodge”,

Is translated by H.C. Leupold as,

“In the house of my pilgrimage”

This expression could be more to do with the idea of singing the word of God where ever we go in life and so that means that we should take music that is based on God’s word into all our lives. Then we will remember God and his word for music does help us remember God and his word and we will find God’s comfort as verse 52 indicates.

(vs. 56) He obeys God’s word

The writer of Psalm 119 ends his seventh stanza of his 22 stanza Psalm stating the third way he appropriates the hope and comfort of that God’s word gives him is by stating yet again his commitment to obey it, he writes in verse 56,

“This has been my practice: I obey your precepts”.

The writer of Psalm 119 has stated in this seventh stanza of this Psalm that God’s word provides the promises of God that give him hope and comfort even in the face of difficulty caused by persecution. He has indicated that he appropriates this hope and comfort by firstly remembering God and his word and by making it the basis of his songs for life and now he says this hope and comfort is his because he obeys this word which is his, “Practice”.Or way of life, a way of faith and faith put into practice by his obedience to God’s word.

We know from the New Testament and particularly Paul’s teaching in the book of Romans that yes God requires our obedience to his law but we simply just cannot obey owing to our sinful nature as Paul makes clear in Romans 3: 23,

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

Paul goes on to point out that God had to do something for us to make us right with him and so in the next three verses, 24 – 26 Paul states what God has done for us in his Son Jesus Christ,

“And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith.

He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus”.

So this is telling us that the most appropriate way to respond to God’s word is by faith but this faith as James taught must show itself in our lives that seek to now obey God as James says in James 2: 17,

“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead”.

I close with a quote from a short article by John Piper which is an answer to the question “How do we build our hope in God?

Piper writes,

“So the essence of what we look to in the Bible to build our hope is, what has Christ done for me in my sinful condition that enables me to know that I will not come in to judgment and condemnation and that all things are working for my good? And the answer is that Christ died for me, rose again for me, and therefore all the promises of God are yes in him”.

My alphabet verse for this seventh stanza is,

God please remind me of your word

That offers comfort and hope

Even when I face pain and stress in life

Your promises give me hope to cope.

I also have a closing prayer for this first part of Psalm 119,

PRAYER:

Father in heaven I thank you for your word given to us freely long ago and particularly through the coming of your Son who is your word become flesh. Help me to remember all your wonderful promises that help me live the life you have planned for me. May I seek to remember your word, live by it and proclaim it to others and may those who do not know your life changing word come to faith in it so that they also may know the real happiness and purpose that faith in your word gives us. In Jesus name I pray Amen.

PSALM 119 (PART 2: 57 – 120) TALK: THE SUPREMACY AND BENEFITS OF GOD’S

WORD

(The second part of the longest Psalm and chapter in the bible like the first part sets down in some detail how God’s word shows us how we should live our lives. God’s word shows us the way God wants us to walk in this life and we should therefore follow its instructions and praise God for his word to us).

INTRODUCTION

This then is the second part or instalment of my Psalm talk on Psalm 119 the longest Psalm and chapter of scripture in the bible. Its length is a testimony to the love and devotion of this ancient man of God and to what he saw as the supremacy and benefits of the word of God.

Written at least 500 years or so before the coming of Christ this Psalm and its theme of the supremacy and benefits of God’s word is referring to what we know today as the Old Testament but we have so much more revelations from God in and through the coming of God’s Son Jesus Christ who John calls in John 1: 14, “The word (of God) become flesh”.

So far, I have found each one of the first seven stanzas contained different but very practical helpful advice on living the life of a true believer. This continues in my second part of Psalm 119 and I will seek to open up eight more stanzas for you under the general theme of The Supremacy and benefits of God’s word.

My stanza headings for these eight next stanzas are:

Stanza. 8 (57 – 64) GOD’S WORD INSPIRES COMMITMENT AND FELLOWSHIP

Stanza 9 (65 – 72) GOD AND HIS WORD IS GOOD EVEN IN TIMES OF AFFLICTION

Stanza 10 (73 – 80) GOD’S WORD TRUSTED PRODUCESA POWERFUL TESTIMONY

Stanza 11 (81 – 88) GOD AND HIS WORD IS WITH US EVEN IN DARKEST TIMES

OFF PERSECUTION

Stanza 12 (89 – 96) GOD’S WORD IS ETERNAL AND STABLE AND IT SUPPORTS US IN

OUR LIVES

Stanza 13 (97 -104) GOD’S WORD GIVES US WISDOM FOR LIFE

Stanza 14 (105 – 112) GOD’S WORD GIVES US LIGHT IN THE FACE OF THIS WORLDS

DARKNESS

Stanza 15 (113 – 120) GOD’S WORD IS TO BE TRUSTED AND OBEYED TO BE SAVED

Stanza. 8. (57 – 64) GOD’S WORD INSPIRES COMMITMENT AND FELLOWSHIP

I still consider some of the most blessed and rewarding years of my life were the three years I spent in Bible College over 40 years ago. There I spent three intense years in the sweet fellowship of over 70 other students and lecturers learning every day more and more about God and his word. We did this through lectures, private study, fellowship discussions and yes even through exams and we were all inspired to a greater commitment to God and his word and we were led to be able to have wonderful fellowship in the Lord again through our learning and sharing of the word of God, the bible.

The eighth stanza of Psalm 119 verse 57 – 64 has what I experienced in Bible College as its theme is how the word of God inspires in us greater commitment to God and fellowship the fellowship we have with others who trust in God and his word as well.

A key verse in this part is verse 63 which says,

“I am a friend to all who fear you, to all who follow your precepts”.

You don’t have to be in Bible College to experience what the Psalmist is talking about here as whenever we gather together formally or informally with other Christians and hear and share together the word of God we do get inspired by God’s word to greater commitment of God and experience the sweet fellowship of sharing God and his word together.

I have broken this eighth stanza into four parts:

(5 7 – 60) A RENEWED PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO GOD AND HIS WORD

(61 – 62) A COMMITMENT TO GOD AND HIS WORD EVEN IN THE FACE OF

OPPOSITION

3. (vs. 63) A COMMITMENT TO FELLOWSHIP WITH OTHER FELLOW GOD’S

WORD BELIEVING MEN AND WOMEN

4. (vs. 64). A FINAL WORD OF COMMITMENT TO GOD AND HIS WORD

(5 7 – 60) A RENEWED PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO GOD AND HIS WORD

I mentioned in my introduction that I enjoyed a wonderful experience of learning from God’s word and enjoying wonderful sweet fellowship in Bible College over 40 years ago and how those three years of intensive study of the word of God deepened my commitment to God and his word. Sadly that commitment to God and his word which I still have did not continue in some of my fellow former Bible College students.

Many students in my years at college did go on to love and serve the Lord like I have but a few have seemingly lost their love and commitment to God and his word and from what I can gather this for some of these former student friends is a result of the anti – God world we live in having a negative impact on their lives. Also the temptations of materialism and even the problems caused of going to churches that God’s word was not really believed in and taught also had a negative impact on some of my former Bible College students friends.

They and us all need to have a continual renewal of our commitment to the word of God like the writer of Psalm 119 speaks of here in the eighth stanza of Psalm 119 verses 57 – 60.

I have given each one of these first four verses as heading that encapsulates what I think each verse is telling us:

(vs. 57) Committed to God’s word because God is his everything
(vs. 58) Committed to God’s word because God has been sought and found
(vs. 59) Committed to God because I have considered my ways

iv) (vs. 60) Committed to actively obey God and his word.

Let’s then have a closer look at each of these first four verses under the theme of commitment:

(vs. 57) Committed because God is his everything

This eighth stanza starts with verse 57 that says,

“You are my portion, Lord; I have promised to obey your words”.

Alan Harmon has an interesting theory on what the term, “You are my portion” might have meant to the original writer of Psalm 119 and he writes,

“These words could imply that the Psalmist himself was a Levite”.

Harman goes on to explain the significance of this,

“No territory was given to Levies but the Lord was their portion” (Numbers 18: 20 and Deut. 10: 9)

We believe that David wrote Psalm 16 when he was on the run from King Saul and had to flee Israel and became for a while in exile in the land of Israel’s enemy the Philistines and so he then had lost his inherited land and he writes in verses 5 – 6 of Psalm 16,

“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup, you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance”.

So for David and our writer of writer of Psalm 119 the Lord is their portion or in Old Testament material terms, their everything. This is a sure word of commitment to God and his word as Jesus said in Matthew 24: 35,

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”

Peter speaks of the transient nature of our lives and I believe the things in our lives as compared to God and his word in 1 Peter 1: 23 – 25,

“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you”.

So some of my former Bible College fellow students might have lost their commitment to God and his word because the lure of material things overcome them as Jesus says in the parable of the soils about the seed or word of God that falls amongst thorns in Matthew 13: 22,

“The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful”.

All of us need to guard against becoming like soil that contains weeds or things that can and will deceive us and choke the word of God in our lives and we must be renewed in our commitment to God and his word by realizing like the writer of Psalm 119 did in verse 57 that,

“You are my portion (my everything) Lord”

And by doing what he says by showing in our lives that we,

“Obey your (God’s) word”.

(vs. 58) Committed to God’s word because God has been sought and found

The writer of Psalm 119 continues in verse 58 to speak of his renewed commitment to God and his word by describing how, I think he came to this renewed commitment to God and his word. He firstly says,

“I have sought your face with all my heart”.

Jesus gives us a great promise about the results of anyone who seeks him in Matthew 7: 7 – 8,

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened”.

I have read of many famous Christians like John Newton and even a young John Stott proving this verse to be true as they sought to know God and asked God to reveal himself to them and they came to understand the true message of the Gospel.

The writer of Psalm 119 speaks of seeking God’s face and this term means according to an article called “Seeking the face of God’ on the internet site called “Shofasound”,

“To seek the face of God is to seek His presence”.

To seek God’s presence is to seek who he really is or all that he is and a major attribute of who he is or what he is all about is mentioned in the second part of verse 58 when it says,

“Be gracious to me according to your promise”.

The God of the bible is a gracious or loving God and the word gracious means the same thing as the New Testament word, “Grace”, love that is undeserved. So the writer of Psalm 119 has a renewed commitment to God because he had sought God as he is and found yet again he is a gracious or loving God according to his promises in his word the bible.

The graciousness of God that the writer speaks of as the promise of God for him is what is found in God’s covenant love to his people Israel made clear by God himself in references like Deuteronomy 7: 7 – 9,

“The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments”.

This covenantal love widens out to the whole world through the coming of Jesus and his death for our sins on the cross as John 3: 16 declares,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

And Paul makes it clear that this love of God is ours by faith in the Grace or undeserved love of God in Ephesians 2: 8 – 9,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast”.

So we after seeking God afresh and seeing his grace should be able to re – commit our lives afresh to God and his word like the writer of Psalm 119 did in verse 58.

(vs. 59) Committed to God because I have considered my ways

If a person has come to a realization that they have let something pull them away from commitment to God and his ways then they need to do what the writer of Psalm 119 says he has done in verse 59,

“I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes”.

John tells us in 1 John 1: 9 what we should do if we find we have been pulled away from God and his word by some kind of sin in our lives, he writes

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”.

Even the most committed Christian is still a sinner forgiven by God if he or she does what the writer of Psalm 119 says in 59,

I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes”.

So commitment to God and his word is an ongoing daily process that the writer of Psalm 119 seems to have practiced.

iv) (vs. 60) Committed to actively obey God and his word.

The writer of Psalm 119 concludes his first part of his commitment to God and his word with a resolve and that resolve in verse 60 goes like this,

“I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands”.

This resolve to “hasten” a pleading with God for immediate help like David uses the word in Psalm 40: 13,

“Be pleased to save me, Lord, come quickly (or hasten), Lord to help me”.

Or is it a term used to show the writers readiness to act as we see in Psalm 55: 8,

“I would hurry (hasten) to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm”.

It would seem to me to be the second idea of a readiness to act as he adds,

“And not delay”

So this shows his commitment to act and act quickly or decisively to obey God’s word. Paul expresses real and biblical commitment in Philippians 3: 13 – 14,

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”.

(61 – 62) A COMMITMENT TO GOD AND HIS WORD EVEN IN THE FACE OF

OPPOSITION

We realize after reading the first part of verse 61 that this commitment of the writer to God and his word was in the face of great difficulty caused by the persecution of his enemies as the verse reads,

“Though the wicked bind me with ropes”.

All commentators agree this is not literal but a metaphorical expression as Allan Harman says this expression includes,

“Any form of scheming that restricts or impedes”.

The writer of Psalm 119 has just made very clear statement of commitment to God and his word and he now says he is making this in the face of great opposition to God and his word yet he says in the second half of verse 61,

“I will not forget your law”.

David faced many scheming enemies who sought to restrict or impede him serving God and he offers words of advice and comfort in times of difficulty when he wrote in Psalm 37: 5 – 6,

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun”.

Then in verse 62 the writer of Psalm 119 uses I think another metaphor for difficulties he faced when he writes,

“At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws”.

Midnight could be a metaphor for darkness or difficulty and even if it isn’t he is praising God at the so- called ungodly hour of midnight and so his faith is one way or another strong enough to face with God’s word and its many promises in mind any form of darkness in his life with commitment and praise.

Paul tells us to praise or thank God in all circumstances in 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 – 18,

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.

To thank God in all circumstances including dark and difficult times really reveals our faith in God and our commitment to him and his word.

3. (vs. 63) A COMMITMENT TO FELLOWSHIP WITH OTHER FELLOW GOD’S

WORD BELIEVING MEN AND WOMEN

After the writer of Psalm 119 spoke of those who oppose him because of his commitment to God and his word he speaks of the fellowship of those who like him who fear or revere God and his word he writes in verse 63,

“I am a friend to all who fear you, to all who follow your precepts”.

I mentioned in my introduction that my three years in Bible College over 40 years ago was a highlight for me of wonderful fellowship with over 70 other committed Christians and lecturers all there to study the word of God and share the many gifts we had amongst us in ministry and worship.

However all through my Christian life I have belonged to vital and active churches who were and are committed to God and his word and I can testify that being with a group of friends who share the same commitment to God and his word as I do is a great encouragement and can and does help promote in me a greater commitment to God and his word.

The New Testament has much to say about the church which is not the building but the people who meet in it. The web site “Gotquestion?org” explains really well what the New Testament teaches about what the church is,

“The word church is a translation of the Greek word ekklesia, meaning “a called–out assembly.” The word describes a group of people who have been called out of the world and set apart for the Lord, and it is always used, in its singular form, to describe a universal group of people who know Christ.

The word ekklesia, when pluralized, is used to describe groups of believers who meet together. Interestingly enough, the word church is never used in the Bible to describe a building or organization”.

My experience has generally been positive for all the years I have belonged to churches and have visited and the great unique friendship or fellowship is even more evident the times I have visited in places overseas and I can testify to experiencing oneness in Christ that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 4: 3 – 7,

“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it”.

True Christian fellowship is a wonderful encouragement to continue in our committed to God and his word as the writer of Psalm 119 indicates in verse 63.

4. (vs. 64). A FINAL WORD OF COMMITMENT TO GOD AND HIS WORD

The writer of Psalm 119 now bring this eighth stanza to an end with a final declaration about his God that he has recommitted his life to in previous verses in this stanza. He is committed to a God and his word who is great and loving, two characteristics he obviously believe encapsulates this God he serves and worships.

He writes,

“The earth is filled with your love, Lord teach me your decrees”.

David wrote at the start of Psalm 19 verse 1,

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands”.

In another creation praising Psalm David writes, Psalm 8: 1,

“Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens”.

So now that glory and majesty that God’s creation is declaring is according to our writer of Psalm 119 God’s love. After all God made this world so perfectly and gave it to mankind as Genesis 1: 28 says,

“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Then once God had finished his great work of creation verse 31 of Genesis chapter 1 says,

“God saw all that he made, and it was very good”.

Genesis account of God’s creation features God making everything by and through his powerful word made clear by the word’s,

“And God said”

That term appears six times through the first chapter of the bible, God’s word which this writer of Psalm 119 is so committed to and wants God to teach him more of as he closes stanza 8 of Psalm 119 with the request,

“Teach me your decrees”

Of course this writer has alluded to a much clearer demonstration of God’s love even in this stanza in verse 58 where he prayed,

“Be gracious to me according to your promise”

Obvious reference to the covenantal love of God he and his people Israel knew or at least should have known for the writer of Psalm 119 spoke much about how people in his own nation of Israel especially its rulers had turned away from God and his word and persecuted him for continuing to believe and uphold in God and his word.

We as Christians have a greater and more perfect demonstration of God’s love found in and through the coming of The Lord Jesus Christ that John speaks of in the famous John 3: 16,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

Later in the apostle John’s life he spoke further about this great love of God in 1 John 4: 8 – 10,

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”.

So we have great inspiration for a renewed commitment to God’s and his word, the great love God has for the world and us which is shown through the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for our sins on the cross.

Therefore may we join the writer of this great Psalm who started this stanza eight with the words,

“You are my portion; Lord I have promised to obey your words”.

My English alphabet verse for this eighth stanza of this amazing Psalm is:

Help me Lord to be committed to you

And not to things of this life

You and your people are my real friends

Your love helps me cope with my strife.

My prayer for this stanza is:

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven help us to always realize that you are our everything or portion in life as the material things of this word will pass away only you and your word will remain and your word tells us that all who believe in you and your dear Son will never pass away. Help us to continually join with others in wonderful fellowship of your word to be encourage and to encourage others to follow you in both the good and difficult times of our lives. In the powerful name of Jesus we pray this, amen.

Stanza 9 (65 – 72) GOD AND HIS WORD IS GOOD EVEN IN TIMES OF AFFLICTION

Many years ago I read somewhere of a true story of the famous first Anglican Bishop of Liverpool England who died at the ripe old age of 84 one year after he retired from his role as that first Bishop of Liverpool. J.C Ryle wrote many wonderful books and his famous book “Holiness” is a book I still consider one of the top ten books I have ever read.

The story goes that after the death of his third and last wife, Ryle lost two others to illness as well, he attended church in the Liverpool cathedral and was down to preach on that Sunday the day after his wife had tragically passed away from the effects of a heavy cold during a special Exhibition in Liverpool that turned out to be on a very wet and cold day. Instead of preaching a sermon from the cathedral pulpit Ryle went to the bible reading desk and opened the large church bible and lifted up an equally large tapestry book mark the wrong way around.

Ryle spoke briefly of the passing of his third wife with many tears as he held up the bookmark and said at the moment this is like my faith in God but then he turned the bookmark around and the congregation could read the words “God is Love”.

Ryle was illustrating a very real point sometimes when we suffer some kind of affliction in life we feel like Ryle and the people in the cathedral that day, unable to make sense of what God is doing but our faith should be like the faith J.C Ryle that even in our darkest hour God is still good as he is a loving God who promises to be with us at all times, both good and bad as James tells us in James 4: 7 – 11,

“Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up”.

Paul says this about the love of God and difficult times in Romans 8: 35 – 39,

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

In stanza 9 our writer of Psalm 119 speaks of God being good even though he was going through a very dark and difficult time owing to some kind of persecution by his enemies and he even says in verse 71 that it was for his good that God allowed him to suffer at the hands of his enemies,

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees”.

In my reading and study of this ninth stanza one other verse keeps coming into my head and that is Romans 8: 28 which says,

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purposes”.

The structure of stanza 9 with the theme of God and his word is good even in times of affliction is”

(65 – 66) TEACH ME YOUR GOODNESS ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD

2. (67 – 68) TEACH ME YOUR GOODNESS DESPITE MY FAILINGS

3. (69 – 71) TEACH ME YOUR GOODNESS EVEN IN TIMES OF AFFLICTION

4. (vs. 72) TEACH ME TO APPRECIATE THE GOODNESS OR VALUE OF YOUR WORD

Let’s then look a little closer at these four little sections of this ninth stanza:

(65 – 66) TEACH ME YOUR GOODNESS ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD

The writer of Psalm 119 starts his ninth stanza with two requests:

(vs. 65) Do good to your servant
(vs. 66) Teach me knowledge and good judgement.

These prayer requests we will see in later verses are in the context of difficulty owing to the persecution of his enemies (verse’s 69 and 70).

So as this writer is experiencing great difficulties his prayer is not just that God be good to him in helping him in his difficult time but that God would teach him new or greater knowledge and judgement as well in this dark time of persecution.

Let’s have a close look at these two prayer requests:

(vs. 65) Do good to your servant

His first prayer request goes like this in verse 65,

“Do good to your servant according to your word”.

The Hebrew adjective for “Good” comes up four times in this stanza and Allan Harman explains that the opening use of this Hebrew adjective or “good” is an,

“Appeal for God to act in fulfilment of his word and deal graciously with his servant”.

Solomon at the opening of the Temple speaks of the promises of God being promises God gave through his servant Moses in 1 Kings 8: 56,

“Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses”.

So the good this writer of Psalm 119 wants God to give him are the good promises God gave Israel through Moses we call this the covenantal promises of God summed up in Deuteronomy 28: 1 – 3,

The next ten verses spell out in more detail some of the blessings or good things God promises to give to his people if they obey him and his word.

We are not under this Old Covenant but a new and far greater one that the writer to the Hebrews speaks of in Hebrews 8: 6,

“But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises”.

Note how we who believe in Jesus and what he did for us on the cross have a covenant that has better promises than what our writer in Psalm 119 verse 65 asks God to appropriate for him.

So what are some of the promises we have in Christ under this new covenant?

I found on the net a comprehensive answer to this question by an article by a man named Paul Ellis called “The top 12 blessings in the New Covenant and here in a brief rundown of Paul’s 12 blessings,

1. God forgives all our sins (Matt 26:28, Acts 13:38).

2. God remembers our sins no more (Heb. 8:12, 10:17; Jer. 31:34).

3. God promises never to be angry with us again (Is. 54:7-10).

4. God qualifies us (Col 1:12).

5. Jesus takes hold of us and never lets us go (Philp. 3:12, Jude 24).

6. God credits us with the perfect righteousness of Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21).

7. God gives us the Holy Spirit to teach us (Jn.14:26), empower us (Acts 1:8) and reminds us of our righteousness (Jn. 16:10).

8. God is for us (Romans 8:31)

9. God is with us (Ez. 37:27) Because of Jesus the door to the throne room is always open (Heb.

4:16).

10. God empowers us to overcome the enemy (1 Jn. 5:4).

11. God offers us His rest (Heb. 4:10-11).

12. God gives us eternal life (Romans 6:23).

So when we pray, “Do good to your servant according to your word” we have so much blessings in God for now and in our future in heaven.

(vs. 66) Teach me knowledge and good judgement.

Then in verse 66 our writer of Psalm 119 prays again for God to teach him which he already requested in verse 64 and also in verse 12. Now he asks for the same thing in verse 66 using the twin concepts of knowledge and good judgment, he writes,

“Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands”.

Knowledge is similar to the other two requests but here he adds “good judgment” which Alan Harman says means,

“Discernment or behavior”

Knowledge of God and his word is very valuable but knowledge on its own is of little value as it does not necessarily achieve anything but knowledge understood and put into practice is wisdom and the wisdom only God can give is very valuable and so we read in Proverbs 3: 7,

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil”.

When I have found myself in very difficult situations in my life particularly caused by how others are acting towards me I have realized what I need is wisdom and wisdom only God can give so I have prayed for that claiming the promise James gives us in James 1: 5,

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you”.

Every time I have prayed for this wisdom God has graciously answered me and given me an insight or thought that has answered my need so perfectly.

2. (67 – 68) TEACH ME YOUR GOODNESS DESPITE MY FAILINGS

The writer of psalm 119 then in verse 67 seems to indicate that the affliction he was experiencing from his enemies came about by his own going astray from following God and his word, he writes,

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word”.

This concept of affliction caused by the writer going astray fits perfectly to David and the affliction his enemies made him suffer as a result of his sins of adultery and murder. As David speaks of in Psalm 35: 15,

“But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee; assailants gathered against me without my knowledge. They slandered me without ceasing”.

David might have been forgiven by God but his enemies where not like God but rather they saw David’s shortcomings as an opportunity to bring him down and exalt themselves over him like David speaks of in Psalm 38: 16,

“For I said, ‘Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip”.

So whether our writer of Psalm 119 is David or the writer of Psalm 119 is drawing on some kind of royal diary note of David we cannot tell but the fact is the writer indicates his current affliction caused by his enemies (vs. 69) was caused by his former sin or straying form obeying God and his word.

Then in verse 68 after indicating in the second half of verse 67 he now obeyed God and his word he states how God is good so he asks again that God might teach him his word and obviously the writer of Psalm 119 will obey it,

“You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your ways”.

We need to learn from David and this writers example that turning away from God and his word has lots of consequences for our lives not less it opens up a door for Satan to enter with his forces to afflict us with perception or just plain difficulties.

James told us in a previous quote to,

“Resist the devil and he will flee from you” James 4: 7

So the writer of Psalm 119 did sin or disobey God and his word for a time but he obviously turned back to God and his word and he now sought to obey God and his word in verse 67 and he then asked again for to teach him his decrees or word.

I have done exactly this a couple times in my life, turned away from God or sinned badly and I still today from time to time hear the devils taunt in my mind but I turn to God’s word when this happens and as James says “Resist the devil” and over and over again he does flee from me.

3. (69 – 71) TEACH ME YOUR GOODNESS EVEN IN TIMES OF AFFLICTION

Then we come to what I see as the heart of this ninth stanzas teaching and here we read of the writer of this Psalm telling us of his affliction and how even as he suffered this dark and painful affliction caused by his persecutors he was still trusting in God and his word and even delighting in it and wanting to learn more about it.

I have broken this part of the ninth stanza into three parts:

(vs. 69) Affliction but faith in God and his word
(vs. 70) Affliction but delighting in God and his word
(vs. 71) Affliction but the affliction is appreciated

So let’s look at these three parts of this third section of the ninth stanza of Psalm 119,

(vs. 69) Affliction but faith in God and his word

I mentioned at the start of my talk on this ninth stanza the story of J.C Ryle and how he with tears held up the opposite side of a tapestry bookmark that expressed how he felt about God and his word after he had just learnt of his third wife death. Humanly speaking we just cannot see how God is good to us when we face terrible turn of events in our lives like J. C Ryle experienced but like him we need to look beyond the tattered mess of our lives to see in God’s word that God is a good and loving God and that if only we would hang on to him and put our trust in God we will receive from him his help and assistance and even ultimately full understanding. This understanding often will not come to us unto we are in heaven but by faith we have to believe that God is working his purposes out for our good.

The writer of Psalm 119 had this kind of faith as he writes in verse 69,

“Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep your precepts with all my heart”

In the midst of J, C. Riles pain and grief he held on to God and his word and so did the writer of Psalm 119 for he was slandered by arrogant men with false accusations and yet he stayed focused on God and his word.

David wrote Psalm 27 with the same kind of commitment to God and his word as he faced great difficulty caused by opposition from his many enemies and he says this in verses 1 – 3,

“The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life

of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked advance against me to devourme, it is my

enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. 3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not

fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident”.

Note how David saw that God alone was his light in his dark times caused by those who opposed him and who sought to bring him down.

Paul spent much time locked up by his opponents Jewish leaders and Roman leaders yet Paul in his seemingly dark times trusted in God and God always helped Paul and Paul wrote encouraging words to the churches about how God used him to establish his church like Philippians 1: 12 – 14,

“Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear”.

(vs. 70) Affliction but delighting in God and his word

In verse 70 the writer seems to show the great contrast of the attitude of his opponents and his attitude to God and his word in the face of his opponents persecution, he writes,

“Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in your law”.

His opponents do not have any real joy in their lives and their opposition to God and his word leads them to have callous and unfeeling hearts and Leopold says that the actual Hebrew words here describe,

“Men who are devoid of spiritual capacity”.

However in the face of this callous and unfeeling attacks of his enemies our writer of Psalm 119 says he takes,

“Delight in your laws” or in God’s word”

Peter has these words of advice for his readers who were suffering persecution from people who were callous and unfeeling and in 1 Peter 3: 8 – 17,

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. 11

They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened. 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil”.

(vs. 71) Affliction but the affliction is appreciated

Finally in this third part of the ninth stanza that deals with the goodness of God in the face of affliction our writer actually states in verse 71 that the affliction he was suffering was actually good for him, he writes,

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees”.

I have experienced times of persecution from people who do not like my commitment to God and his word but looking back at those difficult times I can say as well that I learnt so much about God and his word through those difficult times and my faith did grow as I proved God in my life as I trusted in him as Peter also says about the value of difficult times in 1 Peter 1: 6 – 7,

May we join the writer of Psalm 119 in appreciating difficult times through persecution to see that through them we,

“Might learn your decrees”. (vs. 71)

4. (vs. 72) TEACH ME TO APPRECIATE THE GOODNESS OR VALUE OF YOUR WORD

This ninth stanza has struck the note of the goodness and value of God and his word even in the face of terrible difficulty in life through persecution so it is only fitting he should finish this ninth stanza with a statement of the value of God’s word, he writes,

“The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold”.

The concept of the word of God being to our writer very valuable than any earthly riches is something he has already stated in verse 14 and will state again in verses 127 and 162 of this Psalm.

Sadly people today see no value in God’s word but let me put it this way what use is it to have all the riches in the world when we are facing death?

Jesus said in Matthew 6: 19 – 21,

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

God and his word are eternal and he and his word is then the only thing of any real eternal value so then as the writer of Psalm 119 says they are,

“More precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold”.

Even in this life the hope and comfort God and his word gives money cannot buy as they come only from God himself as a gift that we can know and enjoy even in times of affliction. I close this ninth stanza with the words of Paul in Philippians 4: 12 – 13, written remember when he was locked up in a Roman prison,

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength”.

My English Alphabet verse for this ninth stanza is:

Inspire me now to know your word

O good Lord who is with us now

For even when trouble comes my way

Your word is my comfort each hour.

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven thank you for your wonderful amazing love that is even true in difficult times and because of your love for us nothing can separate us from you and your Son Jesus Christ. Help us to hang on to you and your love when we face difficulties and problems in our lives realizing that you work all things for Good for those who love you and who are called according to your purposes. In Jesus name we pray this, Amen.

STANZA 10 (73 – 80) GOD’S WORD TRUSTED PRODUCESA POWERFUL TESTIMONY

When I was in my late teens I returned to following the Lord after backsliding for four years after I left school and went to work and got involved in non – Christians who quickly led me astray in a sinful life. In the first year I was going to church again and seeking to sort out the mess my life was in I attended a church coffee shop that were popular in the early 1970’s and a group of four girls were singing Gospel songs.

One of the four girls sang a solo song and this girl was a very attractive girl herself in her late teens but before she sang her song she shared with the people in the coffee shop that she had just learnt from her doctors that she had a very rare form of cancer that meant she had less than a year to live. She testified to her faith in the word of God and how she believed that the Lord Jesus through his death and resurrection had won for her and all who truly believe in him the gift of eternal life and because of that she knew where she was going when she died and therefore did not fear death.

Once this young girl had finished her song introduction and had sung her song there was not a dry eye in the coffee shop. I was deeply moved by this girls testimony and it certainly helped strengthen my newly re-committed faith in God and his word.

The writer of Psalm 119 in his tenth stanza speaks of the value of a powerful testimony that a person who trusts in God and his word has particularly for other fellow believers and I believe for non – believers as well. The key verse of this tenth stanza is verse 74,

“May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word”.

This testimony of our writers commitment to God and his word is powerful because like the young girl in the coffee shop all those years ago it was in the context of difficulty and strife which adds to its power and value.

I have broken this tenth stanza into three parts all relating to the theme of how trusting in God and his word is a powerful testimony to other people particularly when that trusting in God and his word is done at a time of great difficulty and strife in the life of the person trusting in God and his word:

(73 – 75) THE POWERFUL TESTIMONY OF A PERSON WHO TRUSTS IN GOD AND HIS

WORD

2. (76 – 77) THE COMFORT AND SUPPORT GOD GIVES TO THOSE WHO TRUST IN

HIM AND HIS WORD

3. (78 – 80) THE SHAME OF THOSE WHO OPPOSE GOD AND HIS WORD

(73 – 75) THE POWERFUL TESTIMONY OF A PERSON WHO TRUSTS IN GOD AND HIS

WORD

The writer of Psalm 119 knew God’s word so well that he knows that he is a created being who without the great and powerful God teaching him his word he is powerless to know and understand it. That is why I believe he asks God for understanding his word in the context of stating that the God of the bible is his creator God, he writes in verse 78,

“Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands”.

We have seen his reliance on God teaching him his word already in verses 18, 27, 33, 66 and he will ask for it again in verses, 135 and 169.

So his logic is that if God made him and of course everything else then he has the ability and the power to give him understanding of his word as Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 2: 6 – 10, a passage in which Paul quotes from Isaiah 64: 4 which as Paul argues speaks of how God must teach us by his Holy Spirit what his word is really about,

“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.9 However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has

conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him— 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God”.

Then in verse 74, once the writer of Psalm 119 had asked for the understanding of God’s word that God alone can give he states the effect the one who is committed to God and his word has on others, he writes,

“May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word”.

The testimony of a person like the writer of Psalm 119 putting his hope in God and his word is described here as bringing joy that causes people who see this testimony of a person like our writer of Psalm 119 who hopes in God and his word.

This is even a more powerful testimony because this trusting in God and his word is done as he suffers affliction as verse 75 say,

“I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”

The writer of Psalm 119 like that young girl I heard speak and sing years ago in the church run coffee shop actually strongly trusted in God as they suffered great affliction. For the writer of Psalm 119 this affliction was painful persecution from his enemies and in the case of the girl in the coffee shop it was her immanent death through cancer.

I know that on that night all those years ago I was greatly encouraged and challenged by the faith of the beautiful young girl in the coffee shop and her testimony was so powerful that it still has an effect on me some 40 or so years later.

What that girl all those years ago was doing was what Jesus commands us to do in Matthew 5: 16,

“let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”.

The writer also states in verse 75 that even the affliction he is suffering comes from God’s faithfulness and his thinking here is explained by what he spoke of in the previous stanza and what he said in verse 71,

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees”.

I spoke of how I have seen the value of difficult times in the past and how during those difficult times I was caused to look to and trust in God more than in easier times and so I often grew spiritually far more in difficult times that easier times. I also referred to what Peter said about the value of suffering for the Christian life in 1 Peter 1: 6 and 7. Paul also spoke about the value of suffering for the Christian in Romans 5: 3 – 5,

“We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us”.

2. (76 – 77) THE COMFORT AND SUPPORT GOD GIVES TO THOSE WHO TRUST IN

HIM AND HIS WORD

God in his mercy and love might allow us to suffer some kind of affliction from time to time in our lives but this does not mean he will desert us or even not help us when in difficult times as the writer goes on to speak of a number of ways how God helps us when we as believers suffer some kind of affliction.

In verse 76 he speaks of God’s promise of his love,

“May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant”.

In the case of our writer the unfailing love of God was made clear to him through God’s covenant promise of love that he made to his people Israel which he has obviously been referring to in other stanzas of this long Psalm and which is expressed so clearly in passage of the Old Testament like Deuteronomy 7: 7 – 9,

“The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments”.

The unfailing love of God also gave great comfort to the young girt I heard speak and sing years ago who was suffering from terminal cancer but she knew God’s love which she also shared with us in word and song expressed so well in the famous verse John 3: 16,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

Both the Old Testament covenant love and the New Testaments New Covenant universal love bring comfort to all true believers in the God of the bible but the comfort and support for all true believers in God and his word does not stop there for our writer of Psalm 119 says this in verse 77,

“Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight”.

In both the Old Testament and New Testament the God of the bible deals with those who turn to him in faith in him and his word with compassion or grace as David speaks of in Psalm 86: 15,

“But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness”.

And in the New Testament Paul says this about this God of mercy and love and why he comforts us in 2 Corinthians 2: 3 – 4,

So like the writer of Psalm 119 when we face some kind of affliction we should ask God to let his compassion and grace come into us to comfort us in the midst of our affliction.

The young girl in the coffee shop all those years ago was comforted by her faith in the grace or love of God and her witness became a word of comfort and love for me and everyone else who was present that night when she so beautifully and powerfully spoke and sang of God and his love.

Again the writer of Psalm 119 expresses like he has done many time before that God’s word is a delight to him. So it is to us who know it, believe it and proclaim it with our words and lives.

(78 – 80) THE SHAME OF THOSE WHO OPPOSE GOD AND HIS WORD

In the final three verses of this tenth stanza our writer speaks of the fate of his evil enemies if they persist to oppose God and his word who seek to bring him down because of his powerful witness of God and his word.

Then in the next verse 79 he makes the contrast of how the true believers of God and his word support our writer who in the final verse of this tenth section states that God will not put true believers to shame because of their wholehearted commitment to God and his word.

Let’s have a look at these last three verses a little closer. I will break these three verses up into three main ideas:

The fate of those who oppose those who trust in God and his word (vs.78)
The support believers should give to those who trust in God and his word (vs.79)
The final word of commitment to trusting in God and his word (vs. 80)

The fate of those who oppose those who trust in God and his word (vs.78)

First of all we have verse 78 which is a form or precatory prayer or prayer for God’s judgment to come on his enemies, a type of prayer we find a lot in the book of Psalms. Verse 78 says,

“May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause; but I will meditate on your precepts”.

I have mentioned each time one of these precatory prayers has come up before that Jesus wants us to not pray for God’s judgment to come on our enemies but rather that God’s love might come upon them as Jesus says in Matthew 5: 44,

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.

I have read of many Christians in our world today who have done just that as they have been so cruelly persecuted and God has used their powerful witness of his love to lead some of their enemies who persecuted them to become believes.

However for those who do not respond to the witness and message of God’s message of love we call the Gospel God’s shame or God’s judgment will come eventually on them as John writes in John 3: 17 – 18,

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.

Our writer chooses not to oppose God and his word like his enemies but even as he is being persecuted for his powerful witness of God and his word he resolves to,

“Meditate on your precepts”.

The support believers should give to those who trust in God and his word (vs.79)

Then in verse 79 we have a very different prayer that reads like this,

“May those who fear you turn to me, those who understand your statutes”

The writer like the Apostle Paul was so sure he was walking in the truth of God and his word that he was not afraid for others to imitate or follow his example as Paul tells the Corinthians to do in 1 Corinthians 11: 1,

“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ”.

I have asked myself the question,

Could I be so sure of my faith and my witness of it that I would be willing to say to a non- believer or a younger Christian follow my example as I follow Christ?

However here our writer in Psalm 119 indicates in 79 he desires the support and fellowship of his fellow believers as he faces persecution from those who oppose God and his word in the words of,

“May those who fear you turn to me”

And he makes it clear what a fellow believer really is in the words,

“Those who understand your statutes”

As fellow believers of those we know who are being persecuted we should offer them our prayerful support.

The final word of commitment to trusting in God and his word (vs. 80)

Finally in verse 80 the writer of Psalm 119 closes this tenth stanza with these words,

“May I wholeheartedly follow your decrees, that I may not be put to shame”.

Maybe because he previously prayed that his powerful witness of God and his word would be imitated by those who fear or revere God he is naturally led as a consequence to ask God to help him wholeheartedly follow or be committed to and put into practice God’s word in his daily life.

Our writer knows that if a person does turn to God and his word they will not be put to shame or be judged by God so he is asking that others, maybe even some of his persecutors be turned around to be committed to God and his word.

I like the words of Paul to the Philippians that they might have a powerful testimony in this dark world as they hold out or present the word of life or the word of God to what Paul calls this warped and crooked generation in Philippians 2: 14 – 16,

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. “Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain”.

The faith of the writer of Psalm 119 is similar to that girt I heard speak and sing in the church coffee shop all those years ago. They both believed that even in the face of great difficulty trusting in God and his word would not lead to shame and disappointment.

I like how the modern translation of the bible called MSG puts this final verse of stanza 10,

“And let me live whole and holy, soul and body,so I can always walk with my head held high”.

My English alphabet verse for this tenth stanza is:

Just as you created me O Lord

Help me to understand your word

May my witness of you and your word

Be now seen and forever heard.

I close this tenth stanza with a word of prayer:

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven help us all to have a real and powerful testimony of your love and your word. Help us when we face opposition from those who refuse to believe in you. Help us to show them your love for them through the gift of forgiveness made possible by the death and resurrection of your only Son Jesus Christ. May we live a life that is whole and holy, soul and body,so we can always walk with our heads held high and may we always support our fellow believers as they seek to do the same. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

Stanza 11 (81 – 88) GOD AND HIS WORD IS WITH US EVEN IN DARK TIMES OF

PERSECUTION

Many years ago I was inspired by God to write a new song I called’ “Never Alone” after reading about a Chinese Christian man being locked up for seven years in the 1970’s during the terrible persecution of Christians at the time of the infamous cultural revolution in China.

This man in his dark cell for seven years decided to remind himself of God and his word by scratching with a small rock every verse of the bible he could remember on the walls of his cell. By the time things had settled down for Christians again in China and this Christian man was released from his prison cell the walls of his cell was completely covered with verses he had scratched on the walls of his cell.

The book I was reading this in then said that the man claimed after his release that even though he was in solitary confinement for seven years he felt he was never alone because the Lord was always with him and this statement inspired the chorus of my song that says,

Never alone, Never alone

For the Lord is beside me wherever I roam.

Never alone, never alone

With his Spirit inside me his made me his own.

Stanza 11, the middle stanza of this 22 stanza Psalm has as its central theme the idea that God and his word is with us even in the darkest times of persecution or difficulty and because of that we can both trust in God to help us and eventually save us from the sinful enemies we might face in this life.

I will share some of the verses of my Never Alone song which are inspired by some of the verses I would have attempted to scratch on the walls of a cell if I was locked up for my faith in solitary confinement.

I have broken this stanza 11 into three parts:

(81 – 83) SUFFERING BUT STILL CLINGING TO GOD AND HIS WORD

2. (84 – 85) SUFFERING BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE OPPOSE YOUR WORD

3. (86 – 88) SUFFERING BUT GOD AND HIS WORD IS WITH ME

Let’s have a closer look at each of these three sections of this eleventh stanza:

(81 – 83) SUFFERING BUT STILL CLINGING TO GOD AND HIS WORD

All through the first ten stanzas of this Psalm the original writer of this Psalm speaks of affliction he is facing through persecution from enemies who do not believe in God and his word. It seems that even in our own day and age it is not enough for people to not believe in God and leave believers alone to live and believe as they wish for both individual atheists and Government atheistic regimes like Communist China want to hurt and destroy those who dare believe in a God they reject and claim doesn’t even exist.

My question to such people is, what are you afraid of if God doesn’t exist?

Now in stanza 11 the writer features the opposition and the persecution they have brought on him in a kind of prayer asking for God’s help and comfort. He kicks off this prayer for God’s help and comfort in the face of persecution with three verses that describe his desperate situation but with words of faith and confidence in God and his word.

The three descriptions of how he feels are:

i) (vs. 81) My soul faints

ii) (vs. 82) My eyes fail

iii) (vs. 83) I feel left out to die

Let’s have a closer look at each of these three descriptions of how our writer feels as he is being cruelly persecuted.

i) (vs. 81) My soul faints

The writer of Psalm 119 writes in verse 81,

“My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word”.

We have no idea just what these enemies of our writer did physically to him but he does tell us that with words they slandered him and brought him low in spirit as he declared in verse 69,

“Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies”.

and verse 78 that says,

“May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause”.

There are hints of him being locked up in some way for his stand to trust in God and his word like verse 61,

“Though the wicked bind m with ropes, I will not forget your law”

Which could be a metaphorical statement or could be a poetic way of saying he was locked up by his enemies. However whatever the persecutors were physically doing to our writer it caused him to be close to death as he says in verse 87,

“They almost wiped me from the earth”

So our writer felt faint in his soul but even as he felt that low owing to his persecutions he was still trusting in God and his word for he writes in the second half of verse 81,

“But I have put my hope in your word”

The apostle Paul had to face all kinds of affliction including being locked up in prison on a number of occasions yet he always kept trusting in God and his word and at the end of his life locked up in prison awaiting, we believe his execution he tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4: 6 – 8 how he has remained faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and his Gospel in the great race of life we are all in, he writes,

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing”

ii) (vs. 82) My eyes fail

Our writer of Psalm 119 continues to describe the desperate situation he is in because of his persecution for his faith in God and how it is effecting him in verse 82,

“My eyes fail, looking for your promise; I say, “When will you comfort me”.

The term he uses, “my eyes fail” could be a literal problem he now faced owing to the mainly tears he might have cried caused by the great pain and anguish he was in but it also could be a

metaphoric description of how he felt close to death as he seems to say he is in verse 87.

Whatever it is it indicates the fact that he is in a terrible dark and painful situation owing to his current persecution and this is made even clearer by his prayer request in this verse that says,

“When will you comfort me”.

I once heard a talk by a famous Australian TV presenter Leigh Hatcher who is a very strong Christian who suffered for over two years the painful condition of chronic fatigue syndrome and how the pain of this condition was not just the physical pain but the emotional and spiritual pain caused by some so called Christian friends who tormented him with so called advice like, “get yourself together and get out of bed and get back to work” or “why aren’t you praying about this because if you did pray with real faith God would heal you”. Fortunately Leigh did get real support and comfort from other Christian friends who simply sat with him, prayed with him and encouraged him with practical support and words of comfort.

Leigh came through his ordeal and learnt so much from it he wrote an amazing book “I’m Not Crazy, I’m Just A Little Unwell: My Journey Through Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”.

I’m sure Leigh wept many tears during those two long years of suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome” but God did help Leigh through that dark time in his life as he hung on to God and his word through it.

iii) (vs. 83) I feel left out to die

The third description the writer gives of how he felt during his time of persecution from those who opposed God and his word is a little more difficult for us in the twenty first century to understand because the writer uses an old daily item of Bible times to describe it, namely a wineskin, he writes in verse 83,

“Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your decrees”.

H.C. Leupold explains what a wineskin was in ancient times with these words,

“A wineskin was obviously the Old Testament equivalent of a bottle”.

He goes on to explain that,

“Unused wineskins would be hung near the rafters of a room for storage”.

If this storage room had smoke in it then the smoke would make the dry wineskin to shrivel up and so this Old Testament image is like the old expression “hung out to dry”, which Wiktionary defines its meaning as,

“To abandon someone who is in need or some kind of danger”.

This is the painful feeling the writer of Psalm 119 felt when he was attacked in some way by his persecutors but he might have felt abandoned but he says,

“I do not forget your decrees”

I believe he does not forget God’s decrees or word for he knows that God’s word makes it clear that God will never leave or forsake his faithful followers as he would have known from Deuteronomy 31: 6,

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Also if he knew the writings of David or David himself in some way contributed to what we find in Psalm 119 we have statements of God not forsaking his faithful servants like Psalm 37: 28,

“For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones”.

Jesus tells us that he is always with his faithful followers and will therefore never forsake them as he says in Matthew 28: 19 – 20,

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

I spoke in my introduction to this eleventh stanza my song “Never Alone” inspired by the Chinese Christian man who was locked up in solitary confinement for seven years and who scratched on the wall of his cells verses from the bible he could remember. Here is my first verse of my song based on what Jesus said in Matthew 28: 19, 20,

“Low I am with you to the end of the age

That is his promise in the bibles page.

Jesus is with me through joy and distress

And he is the one who’s desire is to bless”.

2. (84 – 85) SUFFERING BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE OPPOSE YOUR WORD

Some might ask if God loves you so much why does he allow you to suffer like the writer of Psalm 119 did?

The problem of suffering is a tricky concept to come to terms with but the answer has a number of levels to its answer. In my Psalm 6 Talk I go into some detail in my answer to this question but briefly God allows suffering in this world for four reasons and for each reason I will give just one bible verse to show one small example of how these four reasons come from the bible:

Suffering comes as a test of our faith – 1 Peter 1: 6 – 7

Suffering comes to bring glory to God – John 9: 2

3. Suffering comes from living in a fallen sinful world – Genesis 3: 19

4. Suffering comes as a form of discipline from God – Hebrews 12: 4 – 8.

To give you an answer of why you might be suffering is impossible as anyone or a combination of the above four reasons is a possible answer but I believe our focus should not be on why we might be suffering at the moment but how are we firstly going to deal with it and secondly what can we learn from going through it.

Our writer suffered because he was livening in a fallen world which causes people who are in rebellion to God and his rule to oppose God and anyone who dares to side with God and his word or in Old Testament terms God’s law.

This is why in verses 84 and 85 our writer of Psalm 119 has to deal with people who oppose God and his word opposing him.

These two verses speak of two things those who oppose God can and often do to people who trust in God and his word and they are:

(vs. 84) Those who oppose God and his word persecute those who trust in God and

his word.

2. (vs. 85) Those who oppose God and his word seek to trap and sometimes seek to kill

those who trust in God and his word.

Let’s have a quick look at each of these two reactions of those who oppose God and his word to those who trust in God and his word:

(vs. 84) Those who oppose God and his word persecute those who trust in God and

his word.

The writer calls out to God in prayer as he is suffering great persecution from those who oppose God and his word and in verse 84 he prays,

“How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors”.

Verse 84 is one of only two verses in the 176 verse Psalm that does not mention directly or indirectly God’s word and verse 121 is the other one. It does of course mention the often-used call for help,

“How long”

This term features in Psalm 13 and H.C. Leupold commenting on this well used expression in the book of Psalms explains it this way in his commentary on its use in Psalm 13, he writes,

” How long, indicates the extremity of this poor man’s misery. His strength is well – nigh spent. His patience can hold out no longer. Why has God not intervened this long while?”

So the writer, if not David is using this same term to ask why God has not punished his persecutors for it he did punish them as they deserve then his persecution would stop.

This means that firstly those who oppose God and his word will sometimes persecute those who trust in God and his word and Jesus warned his disciples and us that this is exactly what will happen to them and us in John 15: 20 – 21,

“Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master. ’If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me”.

Jesus not only warned his disciples of the trouble and difficulty ahead for them and for us if we follow in their footsteps but he also spoke to his disciples and us of the help he will give us through the Holy Spirit called in the later chapters of Johns Gospel by Jesus in some translations as the comforter and in others the advocate.

In John 14: 23 – 27 Jesus says this about what the Holy Spirit the comforter will and does do for us,

“Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”.

2. (vs. 85) Those who oppose God and his word seek to trap and sometimes seek to kill

those who trust in God and his word.

The writer of Psalm 119 then speaks of what his persecutors were seeking to do to him in verse 85,

“The arrogant dig pits to trap me, contrary to your law”.

John Gill explains the meaning of the concept of the writers enemies digging pits with these words,

“The proud have dug pits for me, Laid snares and temptations in his way, to draw him into sin, and so into mischief; they sought indeed to take away his life, and formed schemes for it. The allusion is to the digging of pits for the taking of wild beasts”.

This treatment of those who trust in God and his word is in such contradiction to God’s law or word that the writer of Psalm 119 tells us so. He like many people today who are innocent victims of those who oppose God and his word.

The Chinese man who I spoke of in my introduction was thrown in solitary confinement for seven years by cruel God haters who were part of a cruel atheistic Government who claimed they were champions of the poor and lowly but instead they turned out to be brutish God hating tyrants.

My second verse of my song inspired by the story of this Chinese Christian man features the famous Psalm 23 verse 4 verse that says,

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me”.

This verse would definitely be one I would have scratched on my prison wall for even though it has been used at funerals to refer to dying in the sense of going through the Valley of death it has more to do with going through dark and difficult times for other translations like old King James version say it is;

“The valley of the shadow of death”.

This image also fits death as well but it does have a wider meaning than just relating to death. In both cases the promise of this verse is that God through Jesus is with us even in the darkest times of our lives, guiding and comforting us through it all and eventually leading us to eternal life in heaven.

So my second verse of my song “Neve Alone” reads like this:

“Though I may walk through the valley of death

I have no fear for his overcome death.

Jesus did die on the cross for my sin,

He’ll raise me to heaven to feast there with him.”

3. (86 – 88) SUFFERING BUT GOD AND HIS WORD IS WITH ME

In each of the final three verses the writer of Psalm 119 contrasts the cruel and godless attitudes and actions of his persecutors with his trust in God and his word that he believes will

Help him (vs. 86)
Save him from death (verses 87 and 88).

Let’s look a little closer at how the writer actually contrasts his trust in God and his word compared to the Godless actions of his persecutors to him.

Help him (vs. 86)

In verse 86 the writer of Psalm 119 writes,

“All your commands are trustworthy; Help me, for I am being persecuted without cause”.

The people who opposed our writer of Psalm 119 obviously did not trust in God and his word for our writer of Psalm 119 calls God’s commands or word trustworthy but it seems logical to believe that those who were persecuting him did not trust in God’s word because they persecuted the writer of Psalm 119 without cause.

This verse is also call for justice and we know from the New Testament that a great day of justice is coming when Jesus will return in all his glory to judge those who have not turned to him called “the goats” in Mathew 25: 31 – 33, and those who have turned to God and his word through Jesus called “the sheep” who will escape the judgement because Jesus paid for their sins on the cross.

“31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left”.

Save him from death (verses 87 and 88).

Then the writer of Psalm 119 says this in verse 87,

“They almost wiped me from the earth”,

Again as I said earlier this verse seems to be saying in some way or another his persecutors almost killed him, how we do not know but even in the face of death our writer says,

“But I have not forsaken your precepts”.

I have read of how so many brave Christians even today have not forsaken God and his word as they faced their deaths to the cruel Godless hands of people who oppose God and his word in many countries in our world today.

Finally in the last verse, verse 88 he writes,

“”

“In your unfailing love preserve my life, that I may obey the statutes of your mouth”.

Our writer of Psalm 119 appeals again to the covenantal love of God which he has called upon many times already a love his nation Israel did not deserve but God gave it to them because he is a gracious or merciful God. The same God loves us and has saved us through his Son and his death on the cross for us.

I would like to now refer Peter’s words in 1 Peter 2: 9 – 11, which speaks about how we have all the wonderful promises of the Old Covenant and more in Christ and then present to you the last verse I used in my “Never Alone” song,

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul”.

“I am a pilgrim in a foreign land

But the Lord gently guides me by his loving hand.

Wherever I wander yes wherever I roam

The Lord is beside me and “I’m never alone.”

So like the Chinese pastor locked up in solitary confinement for seven years during the cultural revolution in the 1970’s in China the writer of Psalm 119 trusted in God and his word and sought to,

“Obey the statutes of your mouth” or obey the very word of God that gives us comfort even in the darkest of times in our lives.

My full song words for my song “Never Alone” inspired by the Chinese Christian who was in solitary confinement for seven years and who wrote verses of the bible all over the walls of his cell and he said on release he was never alone is below. (Note a extra verse is added inspired by Hebrews 13: 5 – 8.

NEVER ALONE

Chorus:

Never alone, Never alone

For the Lord is beside me wherever I roam.

Never alone, never alone

With his spirit inside me he’s made me his own

Lo I am with you to the ends of the age

That is his promise on the bibles page.

Jesus is with me through joy and distress

And he is the one who’s desire is to bless.

Chorus:

Though I may walk through the valley of death

I have no fear for his overcome death.

Jesus did die on the cross for my sin.

He’ll raise me to heaven to feast there with him.

Chorus:

I am a pilgrim in a foreign land

But the Lord gently guides me by his loving hand.

Where ever I wander yes where ever I roam

The Lord is beside me because I am never alone.

Chorus:

God gives me all I need in this life

For he promises to will help me in all of my strife.

He’s always with me so I should not be afraid

When we trust in The Lord Jesus his love will not fade.

Chorus:

Never alone, Never alone

For the Lord is beside me wherever I roam.

Never alone, never alone

With his spirit inside me he’s made me his own.

By: Jim Wenman

My English Alphabet verse for this tenth stanza of Psalm 119 is;

Keep me safe as I trust your word

O Lord my God who comforts me.

Even when I face great pain and strife

May you and your word set me free.

PRAYER:

Thank you Father up above for your great love that was given and shown to us through the death and resurrection of your only Son Jesus Christ. Thank you for his promise to us that no matter what we might face in this life we are never alone. Even if we face death or some other terrible dark time you are with us to guide us through to green pastures. Therefore even though we are pilgrims and foreigners in this sinful fallen world you are there to comfort us and guide us to the promised land of heaven with you forever. In Jesus Name we pray this, Amen.

Stanza 12 (89 – 96) GOD’S WORD IS ETERNAL AND STABLE AND IT SUPPORTS US IN

OUR LIVES

Camel Rockat Bermagui is among the oldest rocks in NSW coast of Australia. It was created by undersea avalanches which rumbled down continental slopes of ancient Australia and created a spectacular rock formation that from a distance looks like a camel. On a holiday after I had finished Bible College I visited this amazingly rugged but beautiful beach and rock formation and sitting on a large rocky outcrop I opened up a copy of my New Living Translation of the book of Psalms and read the first two verses of Psalm 90 that read this way in that translation,

“Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! 2 Before the mountains were born,

before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God”.

I had the tune of an old folk song in my head that day which I long lost the name of the original song but I began to write that verse into the meter of that tune and came up with,

“O Lord you’ve always been our home

Before the hills were ever known.

You’ve always been before the world began

Your eternally God who knows no end”.

Then as I sat on that huge rock with the surf pounding away at it I thought of other verses in the Psalms like Psalm 18: 2 that speak of God as our Rock, the one immoveable one who no matter what happens to us is always is there helping us and then I wrote what became the first verse of my new song I called, “The Rock Song” and that first verse simply says,

“We’re like the sea like the froth and foam.

We’re like the sea we forever roam

But you O Lord are a constant rock

You never change no you never stop”.

Now I had the first two verses of my song and later in this talk on the twelfth stanza of Psalm 119 I will share with you the other two verses to this song.

This twelfth stanza has, for me the theme of my “Rock Song” namely the supreme timeless stability of God and his word and how God and his word’s eternal stability gives me support in my daily life no matter what I am going through.

I see that this twelfth stanza has three distinct parts:

(vs’s 89 – 91) GOD AND HIS WORD IS STABLE FOR THEY ARE ETERNAL

2. (vs’s 92 – 93) HOW THE STABILITY OF GOD AND HIS WORD HELPED THE WRITER

3. (vs’s 94 – 96) THE WRITERS DETERMINATION TO TRUST IN THE STABILITY OF

GOD AND HIS WORD

Let’s have a closer look at each of these three distinct parts:

(vs’s 89 – 91) GOD AND HIS WORD IS STABLE FOR THEY ARE ETERNAL

The writer kicks of this twelfth stanza with a clear and simple statement about the eternal nature of God’s word in verse 89,

“Your word, Lord is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens”

Jesus made a similar claim of his words having an eternal nature in Mark 13: 31,

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”

The word of God both Old and New Testament is a miracle in itself as over thousands of years before the invention of the printing press and computers a very careful and often painful process was made to write out, by hand what we know as the bible. Critics of the bible have tried to dispute the accuracy of the bible but archeological findings like the Dead Sea Scrolls for the Old testament and countless New Testament ancient scripts prove that much care for accuracy of copying techniques was vigorously practiced over many centuries to give us an accurate account of God’s word as it was given to men and particularly through the Lord Christ in ancient times.

It was also God’s word that created everything as we see the words in the first chapter of Genesis using the term, “And God Said, which” is used to describe how God created everything, he simply spoke and things happened, this is what I believe verse 90 is speaking about when it says,

“Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth and it endures”.

Even modern science does not believe everything came out of nothing but something was always there, “matter’ and out of matter through the big bang came everything. However the bible says that it is not matter that is eternal as matter has no power to create the complex and amazing design of the universe but as verse 90 says God,

“Established the earth and it endures”.

So the writer of Psalm 119 says in verse 91,

“Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you”.

In my “Rock Song” for my third verse I picked up what I read in Psalm 90 verse 4 in my New Living Translation of the book of Psalm which says,

“For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours. 5 You sweep people away like dreams that disappear. They are like grass that springs up in the morning”.

As I read these words as I sat on the large rock on the seas edge at Camel Rock beach all those years ago I thought of the fleeting nature of our lives.

I thought of how our lives compared to the creation and more importantly the eternal God who made it were like the verse says just like grass here today and gone tomorrow.

My third verse then for my Rock Song says,

A thousand years is like a day to you

Like yesterday returned anew.

Like a weed that sprouts in the morning sun

We burst and bloom and by night we’re gone.

The term,

“All things serve you”

Albert Barnes explains means,

“All worlds obey thy commands; all are under thy control. They show that they are thy servants by the conformity of their movements to the laws which thou hast impressed on them”.

Science could not study the universe unless it is governed by what is called natural laws that govern it and those natural laws came about because the one eternal God made them and keeps them going.

Paul describes Jesus this way in Colossians 1: 15 – 17,

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together”.

So our writer of Psalm 119 in the midst of his ever changing and turbulent life with all its difficulties and uncertainties particularly because of his persecutors and in all that he hangs on to one great sure and stable thing, God and his word which in verse 89 says,

“Stands firm in the heaven”

And in verse 90 he says,

“Endures”

So as I sat on the great rock on the turbulent sea shore at Camel Rock beach Bermagui all those years ago I realized what my first verse of the Rock Song which says,

“We’re like the sea like the froth and foam.

We’re like the sea we forever roam

But you O Lord are a constant rock

You never change no you never stop”.

2. (vs’s 92 – 93) HOW THE STABILITY OF GOD AND HIS WORD HELPED THE WRITER

We come then to two verses in this twelve stanza where the writer makes it clear that God word saved his life. How God’s word saved his life is not made clear but the writer of Psalm 119 is very definite God’s word saved his life and he uses two phrases to express this:

(vs. 92) Perished in my affliction
(vs. 93) Preserved my life

Let’s then have a closer look at these two verses and particularly these two phrases that describe how God’s word saved our writers life.

I) (vs. 92) Perished in my affliction

In verse 92 the writer of Psalm 119 says,

“If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction”.

Albert Barnes offered me the best possible explanation of how God’s word saved our writer from perishing in his affliction when he writes,

“I should then have perished in mine affliction – I should have sunk under my burden. I should not have been able to hold up under the weight of sorrow and trial”.

So many people today suffer from depression brought on in a lot of cases by the trials and tribulations of life. People get so desperate for help in their lives that they see no possible help available so they take their lives and suicide rates are on the rise as a result.

However God and his word offers those who take delight in it as our writer of Psalm 119 did offers great hope and comfort especially during dark times of difficulty as Jesus holds out help to us in difficult times in passages like Matthew 11: 28 – 30.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Being a Christian does not assure us we will not go through dark and difficult times but it does offer us hope and comfort when we for one reason or another face difficult dark times in our lives Jesus then offers us in those dark difficult times someone wonderful and powerful to turn to for help and comfort. The sort of comfort and help our writer of Psalm 119 obviously found in God and his word.

ii) (vs. 93) Preserved my life

Then, so that we got the message our writer says much the same thing in verse 93,

“I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have persevered my life”.

Many commentators have pointed out that the Hebrew word or term for “preserved my life” is actually “quickened me” or “Given me life” and again Albert Barnes sheds the most light on this verse for me with these words,

“By that truth he had been made really to live. He had been brought from spiritual death to spiritual life. He saw before him now, as the result of that, an endless career of blessedness. How could he ever forget what had worked such a change in his character and condition; which had inspired such hopes; which had opened before him such an immortal career of glory!”

Barnes then quotes James 1: 18 as a cross reference which says,

“He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created”.

So God promises in his word to help us in our afflictions and through his word he offers us new life for us in Christ. So as I sat on the large rock on Camel beach Bermagui I realized that God is like that rock which kept me safe from the raging tide and through Christ, our rock he has given me new life that is eternal. It is eternal as one day he will take all of us who believe in him to the safe shores of heaven itself.

This is the kind of thought I had in mind when I wrote the fourth verse of my song,

“When I realize what I have done

When I think of Christ the eternal one.

I am so ashamed that I bow my head

Then he gives me life when I should be dead.

3. (vs’s 94 – 96) THE WRITERS DETERMINATION TO TRUST IN THE STABILITY OF

GOD AND HIS WORD

The writer of Psalm 119 has just indicated his life was preserved and given life through God and his word but he now asks God to save him yet again, he writes in verse 94,

“Save me, for I am yours”

He indicates in the next verse that he still needs to be saved from his enemies who oppose him because of his stand for God and his word, he writes in verse 95,

“The wicked are waiting to destroy me”.

Yet in both of these two verses that indicate he desperately needs held he reveals a determination to trust in what I believe is the stability or certainty of God’s word, he expresses this in verse 94 this way,

“I have sought out your precepts”

And in verse 95 he expresses this determination to trust in the stability of God and his word with these words,

“But I will ponder your statutes”.

Jesus offers to save us if we would only but truly seek him as he says in Matthew 7: 7 – 8,

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened”.

This kind of determined seeking after God through Jesus is what non – believers need to do but not only non – believers need to do this but also those of us who trust in the Lord Jesus we also need to continually ask, seek and knock. We do this through prayer and trust in the Lord Jesus if we want to find and have the continued stability of knowing God and his word in our daily lives.

The last verse of this twelfth stanza brings all this to a fitting end when it says,

“To all perfection I see a limit, but your commands are boundless”.

I like the modern paraphrase version of this verse called the MSG translation that says,

“I see the limits to everything human, but the horizons can’t contain your commands”.

I would have said “but the horizons can’t contain your word” as “Commands” in this Psalm is yet another word or term for God’s word.

God and his word is the rock that we should build our lives upon for all other things in this life will pass away but God and his word will not. Jesus declares this also with a vivid parable of the building of as house and its foundations and the house in this parable is our lives and Jesus says in Matthew 7: 24 – 25,

However if we do not build our lives on God and his word then Jesus says in Matthew 7: 26 – 27,

“But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

So stability in this life and the next is built on Jesus and his word and trusting in it and obeying it gives us God’s eternal stability.

So when I sat that day on the large secure rock on the turbulent shore line of Camel rock beach at Bermagui I read that great Psalm 90 that spoke to me of the stability of God who David often called the rock.

That in turn made we realize afresh how our lives are like that raging tide ebbing and sometimes surging in the storms of life but God and his word is our rock in life therefore we through him can know stability and peace in our lives as my first verse of my song I called “The Rock Song says,

“We’re like the sea like the froth and foam.

We’re like the sea we forever roam

But you O Lord are a constant rock

You never change no you never stop”.

The four verses of my “Rock Song” that I wrote when I sat on the large rock on the shores of Camel rock beach at Bermagui and reading Psalm 90 in a modern translation are;

THE ROCK SONG

We’re like the sea, like the froth and foam.

We’re like the sea, we forever roam.

But you O Lord are a constant rock

You never change no you never stop.

Oh Lord you’ve always been our home

Before the hills were ever known.

You’ve always been before the world began

Your eternally God who knows no end.

A thousand years is like a day to you

Like yesterday returned anew.

Like a weed that sprouts in the morning sun

We burst and bloom and by night we’re gone.

When I realize what I have done.

When I think of Christ the eternal one.

I am so ashamed that I bow my head.

Then he gives me life when I should be dead.

By: Jim Wenman

I close with my alphabet poem verse for this twelfth stanza that says much the same thing,

Live your life grounded on God’s word

God and his word lasts forever

Jesus is my rock his word is true

That troubles in life can never sever.

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven we thank you for your eternal everlasting word that we can trust in the help and stability in our daily lives. We thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who is your word become flesh and in and through him we have the gift of forgiveness and eternal life. May we also find in him in every time of our a lives the stability, help and comfort that only he can give us. In Jesus Name we pray this, Amen

Stanza 13 (97 -104) GOD’S WORD GIVES US WISDOM FOR LIFE

I woke up this morning to the surprising and shocking news that the Australian cricket team were caught cheating in the third test in South Africa. The vice- captain conspired with another player to deliberately tamper with the cricket ball and the Captain of the team of aware of this and did nothing. A small piece of some kind of course tape was used to rough up the ball on one side but with all the TV cameras used in modern TV coverage these days this ball tampering was captured. The vice- captain and the player caught doing this had to admit they had foolishly done the wrong thing and broken clear and simple cricket laws to gain an unfair advantage over their opposing team. All three Australian cricket players were penalized with a one- year ban from all forms of cricket.

This is a tragic example of great sporting knowledge used in a foolish or unwise way and to me illustrates the difference between simple knowledge and wisdom. I once read somewhere that wisdom is knowledge rightly and inspirationally applied. I can know a great amount of knowledge but if I wrongly apply this knowledge in life I am a fool.

The book of proverbs says in Proverbs 1: 7,

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction”.

God’s word alone contains the knowledge God wants us to live our lives by so it rightly understood, applied to our lives and obeyed gives us real wisdom from God. Psalm 119 verse’s 97 and 98 says,

“Oh, how I love your law! I mediate on it all day long. Your commands are always with me and make me wiser then my enemies”.

In this thirteenth stanza of Psalm 119 we will see four aspects of how God’s word gives us wisdom for life:

(vs. 97) THE LOVE OF GOD’S WORD BRINGS WISDOM

2. (98 – 100) THE BENEFITS OF GOD’S WORD IS THAT IT MAKES US WISE

3. (101 – 102) THE RESULT OF OBEYING GOD’S WORD IS WISE LIVING

4. (103 – 104) THE VALUE OF GOD’S WORD IS INVALUABLE

Let’s then have a closer look at these four aspects of how God’s word gives us wisdom for life.

(vs. 97) THE LOVE OF GOD’S WORD BRINGS WISDOM

The writer of Psalm 119 states clearly what he thinks of God’s word and what he does with it in his life on a day to day basis, he writes in verse 97,

“Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long”.

This love for God’s word is something this writer speaks of often in this Psalm and Allan Harman puts forward the idea that the love for God’s word is in fact,

“The content of the Psalm summed up”.

Harman sights verses 47 and 48,

“For I delight in your commands because I love them. I reach out for your commands which I love, that I may meditate on your decrees”.

He also sights verse 27, which picks up the love of God’s word and its value which is a concept this stanza speaks of in its closing verses,

”Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold”.

To read and meditate on something all day means you must love or cherish that person or thing you are constantly prayerfully thinking about. Jesus showed great love for the word of God and this follows from the fact that he was the word become flesh (John 1: 14) and he used the word of God to fight the devil when tempted by him and he even quoted from it as he died on the cross.

Thanks particularly to scripture in song, popular in the 1970’s many bible verses run often through my head and one I often meditated on is the scripture in song based on Song of Songs 2: 4,

“He brought me into his banqueting hall and his banner over me is love”.

Of course I know now that this verse is a reference to the Old Testament Jewish wedding ceremony where the bride and groom meet in a great banquet under a banner but the verse still gives me the ides that as a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ he covers me and is over me in love and I find the message and the words of that great love in his word the bible.

So the word of God we will see in the next verse makes us wise and, in that verse, and the next two verses wiser than others who don not love and meditate on God’s word.

Paul tells Timothy the value and purpose of God’s word in 2 Timothy 3: 16 – 17, that says,

“All Scripture is God – breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”.

But what does the writer mean by the idea of meditating on the word of God all day long?

I don’t think it means that the words of the bible are always in our minds all day long but rather that the word of God is our inspiration for our daily lives and is something we use in our daily lives to direct us prayerfully as we live our lives.

I like the movement some years ago called, “What would Jesus do in this situation” which some Christians wore a wrist band that reminded them to practice the concept of acting in their daily lives in a way they believed Jesus through his word instructed them to do.

A good question to ask in our day to day lives is, “What would Jesus want me to do” when a problem or decision has to be made in our lives during a normal day. For many years I attempted to put this into practice and one effect it had on me was to force me to make a more in depth study of the Gospels to know what Jesus in his word actually might want me to do.

Now I keep more general instructions of Jesus in mind in my daily life, like Matthew 6: 33,

“But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you”.

Another great two verses of God’s word I often bring to my remembrance in my day to day life is Proverbs 3: 5 – 6,

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”.

These two verses have helped me to find God’s way for me in my life and are central to my understanding of how I believe guides us in our lives today.

2. (98 – 100) THE BENEFITS OF GOD’S WORD IS THAT IT MAKES US WISE

So the writer of Psalm 119 opened this thirteenth stanza with a declaration of his love for God’s word and how true love for God’s word means we will meditate on in our daily lives and this leads to what verse 98 simply calls, “wisdom”.

This wisdom is greater than the so- called wisdom of three different groups of people in three verses and those three groups of people are:

Our enemies who do not love God and his word (vs. 98)
Our teachers who do not love God and his word (vs. 99)
Our elders who do not love God and his word (vs. 100)

Let’s have a closer look at each of these three groups of people we are wiser than if we love God and his word:

Our enemies who do not love God and his word (vs. 98)

The writer speaks of the first group of people he believes he is wiser than in verse 98, this way,

“Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies”.

The idea of God’s word being with him always in his day to day life continues in verse 98 and then because God and his word is always with him he makes the bold claim he is therefore wiser than his enemies”.

His enemies we have learnt in a number of previous verses in this Psalm do not love God and his word and in fact because they don’t and he does they seek to persecute him as he says in verse 53,

“Indignation grips me because of the wicked, who have forsaken your law”.

Or verses 84 and 85,

“How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors? The arrogant dig pits to trap me. Contrary to your law”.

So these enemies of our writer are not believers in the word of God and are giving our writer a very hard time because he dares to trust in the word of God which they deny the truth and value of.

I have felt the pressure of this same thing myself but the encouraging word of this verse is that because we know God and his word we are wiser than those who deny God and his word.

Paul makes a clear distinction between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God when he writes in 1 Corinthians 3: 18 – 20,

“Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become ‘fools’ so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world us foolishness in God’s sight”.

The problem with people who do not acknowledge God and his word is that they generally close their minds off to anything to do with God and his word which our writer of Psalm 119 calls arrogance in a number of places. The book of Proverbs makes it clear in a number of places that we simply cannot ever be truly wise if we refuse to let God and his word rebuke and advise us as we read in Proverbs 19: 20,

“Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise”.

The book of proverbs even goes as far as saying that those who will not listen to the advice and discipline of God and his word will become stupid or un- wise as we read in Proverbs 12: 1,

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid”.

So those of us who read and come to terms with what God is saying in our lives are wiser than those who refuse to acknowledge God and his word. This is also seen in the fact that those who refuse to acknowledge God and his word often become agitated and even aggressive towards those who continue to dare to believe in God and his word thus becoming their enemies.

Our teachers who do not love God and his word (vs. 99)

The second group of people the writer believes we are wiser than are our teachers as he writes in verse 99,

“I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statues”.

This verse is not saying that we are wiser than those who teach us if those who teach us are themselves believers in God and his word but if our teachers don’t believe in God and his word like our writer who says he, meditates on God’s word, then we are wiser than our teachers.

In our universities today most so called wise and knowledgeable teachers or lecturers refuse to acknowledge God and the value of his word and so they often come up with foolish or un- wise ideas that are country to the word of God. I did a five-year part-time university degree course in adult education in the early 1990’s and sometimes found it difficult to operate as a believer in this secular anti – God environment however I always kept Jesus words of advice in mind in those days when he said in Matthew 10: 16,

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves”.

Peter gives us similar advice in 1 Peter 3: 13 – 16,

“Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good. But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened. But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander”.

As I prepared university assignments and even experienced discussions in and out of lectures with my teachers and fellow students I often prayed for wisdom as James encourages us to do in James 1: 5,

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

I can testify to the fact that what God promises through James is true as God often gave me wisdom throughout my five years of university part time study and I both passed all my courses and at the same time was able to witness to the truth and reality of God and his word.

Our elders who do not love God and his word (vs. 100)

The third and final group the writer of Psalm 119 says he is wiser than is his elders as he writes in verse 100,

“I have more understanding than the elders, for I meditate on your statutes”.

This again is not saying that younger people are more knowledgeable or wiser than older people as the bible teachers that Godly older people are wiser than younger people in the faith as Job 12: 12,

“Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long- life bring understanding?”

As Peter advises 1 Peter 5: 5,

“In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders.”

However if those older then us do not submit to the authority of God and his word then we are wiser than them simply because a person who does not believe in God or as the book of Proverbs puts it, fears God than that person is a fool as Proverbs 1: 7 says,

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction”.

So the writer of Psalm 119 has stated that God’s word brings understanding and wisdom if we mediate and obey it and this will make us wiser than anyone else who does not meditate on and obey the word of God.

3. (101 – 102) THE RESULT OF OBEYING GOD’S WORD IS WISE LIVING

The writer of Psalm 119 now tells us what is the results of meditating on and obeying the word of God and we read in verses 101 and 102 what they are:

“I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me”.

Way back at the start of this long and involved Psalm in verse 1 the results of walking in or obeying the word of God is,

“Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord”.

So God blesses the lives of his faithful people and our writer says that God’s word or law as he calls it in verse 102 has led him to do two things:

Keeping his feet from an evil path
Not departing from God’s word.

These two things according to verse 1 of this Psalm leads to God blessings in our lives. This reflects the words of the very first Psalm when it says in verse’s 2 and 3,

“But whose delight is the law of the Lord, and who meditate on his Law Day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither whatever they do prospers”.

Spurgeon writes,

“The Bible is a very sanctifying book. If we keep its precepts, it holds us back from many things into which we might otherwise have run”.

Some Christians have problems with the doctrine of the bible that says we have assurance of being saved once we truly turn to Christ as stated by Christ himself in John 10: 27 – 29,

“My sheep listen to my voice, I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Fathers hand”.

Problems arise of course with this clearly stated doctrine of the bible when we see or hear of Christians falling away from the faith but the truth is made clear by Jesus in another verse like Matthew 24: 13 which says,

“But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved”.

So many of the falling away Christians are showing by the fruits of their lives they were not truly saved in the first place. Another problem is that if we depart from God’s word or laws we will start to walk down an evil path according to the writer of Psalm 119 verse 101 but the grace of God does work and those who are truly saved God will bring back them back to himself often through great trials and difficulties in those believers lives (Hebrews 12: 7 – 12).

Jesus also taught in Matthew 7: 16,

“By their fruit you shall recognize them”.

For the writer of Psalm 119 the fruit or outcome of mediating or obeying God’s word is as I stated already,

Keeping his feet from an evil path
Not departing from God’s word.

4. (103 – 104) THE VALUE OF GOD’S WORD IS INVALUABLE

The writer then returns to another favorite concept of the value of God’s word when he states in verse 103,

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth”.

Already the writer of Psalm 119 has said that God’s word to him is more precious than silver or gold verse 72 and will say that again in verse 127. He also considers God’s word a delight to him vs’ s 16, 24, 35 and 77 and now they are sweet to taste like honey.

David says these two things about God’s law or word in Psalm 19: 10,

“They are more precious than gold, the fine much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb”.

People in the ancient world treasured honey as a food source and it is said that pure honey has even been found in Egyptian Pharaoh’s tombs still able to be eaten up to three thousand years old such is the preservative qualities of honey.

So the precious nature of God’s word, like honey, makes it invaluable and considering how it is God’s word alone that makes a person truly wise we can see why the writer of Psalm 119 might advocate this.

Paul of course spoke of the invaluable nature of God’s word in 2 Timothy 3: 16 – 17,

“All scripture is God – breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”.

In the final verse of this thirteenth stanza the writer brings to conclusion his thoughts on how God’s word gives us wisdom for life with these words,

“I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path”.

Hatred is not always a bad or sinful thing as to hate sin is to avoid it and to hate evil is to resist falling to its awful consequences. John says in Jude 23,

“Save others by snatching them from the fire, to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh”.

Albert Barnes commenting on hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh writes,

“That thing referred to by which the garment had been spotted was polluting, contagious, or loathsome, and that it was proper not even to touch such a garment, or to come in contact with it in any way”.

God’s word then points out what is right and what is wrong and so it wises us up to how we should be living and what we should not be doing in our lives so therefore it will and should promote a healthy hatred of things we should not be doing if we want to walk in the way of the Lord or,

“Kept my feet from every evil path” verse 101 or,

“Not departed from your laws” verse 102.

I close with my verse that starts with a word that starts with the thirteenth letter of the English Alphabet, Mwhich summarizes what I have leant from this stanza,

May I meditate on your word

Daily Lord as I walk your way

Give me the wisdom your word does bring

Give me understanding each day.

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven we thank you for your word which gives us wisdom we would not have without it. Help us to both treasure your word, mediate on it every day and above all put it into practice in our daily lives. We know Father that if we do follow the pure and sweet word of God we will not only be wise in this life but we will enjoy being with you in heaven forever. In Jesus name we pray this, Amen.

Stanza 14: GOD’S WORD GIVES US LIGHT IN THE FACE OF THIS WORLDS DARKNESS

I started my study of fourteenth stanza of Psalm 119 while on a caravan trip around Australia in a small western Queensland dying town called Jericho. My study of this stanza has lead me to believe that the writer of Psalm 119 sees God’s word as a lamp or light to his path in the face of terrible darkness represented by the terrible opposition and persecution he faced as he sought to walk in the light of the word of God which he speaks of in verses 107, 109 and 110.

Because I studied this fourteenth stanza in a place called Jericho I have been led by God’s Holy Spirit to reflect on the story of the conquest of Jericho and I will use this bible story as a backdrop to my thoughts throughout this fourteenth stanza of Psalm 119.

One of the fascinating aspects of the story of the conquest of Jericho is the part that Rahab the prostitute played in this conquest and in this introduction, I would like to point out that this lowly sinful woman somehow came to faith in the God of the bible as she says to the two Israeli spies in Joshua 2: 8b – 11,

“I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below”.

We might say that this lowly prostitute saw the light because obviously her fellow citizens of Jericho although afraid of what the God of the Israelites had done for them did not acknowledge the God of the bible as the one supreme God of heaven and earth as this chapter reveals they sought to kill the spies and fight the incoming Israelites.

Rahab goes on to show how much she had seen the light by her request for salvation for her and her family when the Israelites successfully invade Jericho in verses 12 – 13 of Joshua chapter 2.

So this lowly prostitute shows us what it means to walk in the path of God and his word by acting on her new-found faith in God by believing before the invasion of Jericho that God would give his people total victory.

The writer of the book of Hebrews says in Hebrews 11: 31,

“By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient”.

I was inspired to write the words of a new song for this stanza inspired by its words and my observations of the dying little Queensland out back town of Jericho and the first verse and chorus of that song goes like this.

Jericho, O Jericho your creeks dried up and no waters flow

Jericho, O Jericho what has made you so.

Your shops are boarded up and your town is dying

You break my heart and I am crying

Jericho O Jericho what went wrong in Jericho.

Chorus:

Jericho O Jericho

Your like our world today

You are in darkness and no- where to go

That’s the fate of a Jericho.

So we will see three great truths about walking in the light of the word of God in the face of this world’s great darkness in this fourteenth stanza which I have broken down into three parts:

(105 – 106) GOD’S WORD IS THE LIGHT FOR OUR PATH IN LIFE

2. (107 – 110) MANKIND’S WICKEDNESS LEEDS TO ACTS OF DARKNESS

3. (111 – 112) PEOPLE OF FAITH NEED TO BE COMMITTED TO GOD AND HIS WORD

(105 – 106) GOD’S WORD IS THE LIGHT FOR OUR PATH IN LIFE

The writer of Psalm 119 in verse 105 points to a great light for him in such as dark world he lives in day after day. He speaks of this great light this way,

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path”.

Many people have found this verse to be such a wonderful encouragement as it states the great purpose and benefit of God’s word for our lives. God’s word is a lamp and a light for our lives in this dark world. The apostle John had much to say about God and his light in his Gospel we call, The Gospel of John.

In the first chapter of that Gospel John speaks of Jesus as being the very word of God become flesh, John 1: 14,

‘The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”.

He goes on to speak of its great light or glory when he says,

“We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”.

In chapter three of Johns Gospel John spells out in verses 19 – 21, the value of Jesus, God’s light for those who believe in him but he contrasts this with the terrible reality of the darkness of mankind and how mankind actually loves darkness more than light,

“This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God”.

Arthur Deane the principal of the SMBC bible college I attended many years ago told us that he understood this concept of men loving darkness more than light when he once was walking through the Australian bush and turned up an old rotting log and saw how all the bugs who lived under that log could not stand the light for they ran as fast as they could to find darkness and cover under the turned- up log.

That is what happens to most people when the light of the Gospel comes upon them they fight, kick and run for the cover of darkness because they love darkness or evil more than good and light.

Rahab in the story of Jericho demonstrated this by her words to the spies about what the rest of the people in Jericho spoke about the light or truth of God working for the Israelites who were closing in on Jericho in Joshua 2: 8b – 11,

“I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.

We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below”.

Rahab responded to the light of God’s deeds and word with faith but the rest of Jericho’s reaction to the light of God’s word and deeds for his people is summed up in the words of Joshua 6: 1,

“Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in”.

Jericho was all walled up and shut off to God and his people as they unlike Rahab refused to come to faith in the God of Israel who they had heard was a mighty God to be feared. They probably chose to trust in their own false idol God’s which of course showed that they loved darkness more than light.

Our writer of Psalm 119 reveals his commitment to God and his word of light in verse 106,

“I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws”.

Rahab a fallen sinful woman obviously chose to take an oath to follow the God of the Israelites who is the one true God of the bible as we read of not only her confession of faith to the spies but also what we read of her in Joshua 6: 22 – 23,

“Joshua said to the men who had spied out the land, ‘Go into the prostitutes house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her. So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belong to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel”.

We later read that Rahab becomes a distant descendent of David and of course Jesus so she becomes a most blessed women of faith in her life time and in the future. Such is the power and wonder of the God of the bible and his great light in this dark world.

The next verse of my Jericho song goes like this:

Jericho, O Jericho where is your faith in God’s word to show

Jericho, O Jericho you need the faith that Rahab showed.

Rahab saw the light and then turned to the Lord

Trusting the light of his life changing word

Jericho O Jericho turn to God O Jericho.

Chorus:

Jericho O Jericho

Your like our world today

You are In darkness and no- where to go

That’s the fate of a Jericho.

2. (107 – 110) MANKIND’S WICKEDNESS LEEDS TO ACTS OF DARKNESS

Once the writer of Psalm 119 states his commitment to the word of God he calls the light to his path he then speaks of how the darkness of his world caused by men and women of his country Israel turning against him because he dared believe in God and his word.

He speaks of this opposition as he has already spoken of in previous verses and contrast this opposition with his reaction to it which I have broken into four parts:

vs. 107 The opposition to God and his word seeks to take his life
vs. 108. His reaction to this opposition to praise and seek further teaching from

God

vs. 109 His opponents seek to take his life but he will not forsake God’s word
vs. 110 His opponents seek to trap him but he will not stray from following

God’s word

Let’s then have a closer look at these four contrasting verses that reveal the darkness and wicked acts of those who oppose God and his word.

vs. 107 The opposition to God and his word seeks to take his life

So these four middle verses of stanza fourteen of Psalm 119 reveal a very real and disturbing contrast between the person who comes to the light of God and his word and those who refuse to do so and this contrast is expressed in verse 107 this way,

“I have suffered much; preserve my life, Lord, according to your word”.

Back in verse 88 he spoke of how those who opposed God and his word opposed him and sought to kill him because of his faith in God and his word,

“In your unfailing love preserve my life, that I may obey the statutes of your mouth”.

Why do some of the opponents of God and his word even today wont to kill or destroy people who have faith in God?

I have already quoted from Johns Gospel in my introduction which I believe offers an answer to this question, John 3: 19 -20,

If they hate the light of God then they will hate and sometimes want to kill those who declare or seek to shed the light of God by the way they live and by what they say about God and his word. Jesus warned his disciples of his kind of opposition in John 15: 18,

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first”.

So both times the writer of Psalm 119 spoke of his enemies who live in darkness because they oppose God and his word seeking to take his life he asks God to preserve his life which is what he asks for in verse 107,

“Preserve my life, Lord according to your word”.

Jesus word to his disciples and of course to us in John 15 is that Jesus will not leave us alone but will send to us a helper or advocate or other translations call him counsellor who is the Holy Spirit to help and protect us, as we read in John 15: 26,

“When the Advocate comes whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father -he will testify about me”.

vs. 108. His reaction to this opposition to praise and seek further teaching from

God

Even though the writer of Psalm 119 has just made it clear that his opponents who walk in darkness seek to take his life the big contrast in verse 108 is his reaction to this opposition is to be committed to praise of his God and seeking further teaching from God and his word as he writes,

“Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your word”.

This is an amazing reaction to dark and dangerous opposition instead of compliant and despair our writer reveals praise and commitment to God and his word and this reminds me of Paul’s command to give thanks in all circumstances in 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 -17,

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.

I have read of many Christians in countries today where Christians are in danger of losing their lives owing to the faith and commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ praising God even as some of them are being executed by their dark and wicked opponents this kind of testimony has brought others to faith even sometimes the very people involved in their persecution.

Jesus said in Luke 6: 35 – 36,

“But love your enemies, do good to them. And lend to them without expecting to get back anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked, just as your Father is merciful”.

We must always remember that all of us were enemies of God before we came to him and his Son to receive forgiveness and mercy so the way Jesus treated us when we were his enemies so we should treat our enemies the same way Jesus treated us when we were his enemies.

vs. 109 His opponents seek to take his life but he will not forsake God’s word

Again in verse 109 the writer of Psalm 119 reveals the danger for him of trusting in God and his word in his day which for him led to possible death at the hands of his enemies he writes in verse 109a,

“Though I constantly take my life in my hands”

In our writers day it was a dangerous thing to trust in God and his word and even though that is not the case in the country I live in Australia at the moment it is not the case in many other countries particularly those were Islam holds the sway. Even in Buddhist dominant counties like Myanmar which I have visited many times to minster being a faithful believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has cost some Christians their lives.

However what is the contrasting reaction of this deadly threat, he writes in verse 109b,

“I will not forget your law”

Opposition will not deter our writer and it seems the opposition to God and his word only makes our writer more determined to be committed to it. Many of my friends in Myanmar feel the same way that the opposition they face has only made their faith stronger.

Paul faced prison, persecution and death all through his ministry for God and his word and in what seems to be words written down for his young prodigy Timothy as he faced his death we have Paul’s resolve to be faith to God and his word in 2 Timothy 4: 6 – 8,

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day – and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing”.

vs. 110 His opponents seek to trap him but he will not stray from following

God’s word

Finally this contrast of those who walk in the light to those who walk in darkness comes to a head with what the writer of Psalm 119 says in verse 110,

“The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts”.

Leopold writes,

“The wicked have set a snare for me – Whether this is to be understood literally or to be regarded as merely expressing the thought that plans are afoot to bring him to fall, the danger is extreme”.

The darkness of wickedness and refusing the light of the word of God leads to great opposition to those who are in the light of God and his word, that has been the main thought of these last four verses but in the face of this very real danger our writer is totally committed to God and his word and in verse 110 he expresses this commitment with these words,

“But Have not strayed from your precepts”.

Our writer like the commander of the Israelites Joshua was totally committed to God and his word as he faced the walled up hostile city of Jericho and God’s seemingly ridiculous battle plan for taking the city of Jericho was followed to the letter by Joshua and his people.

For they were to march around the city of Jericho following the ark of the Covenant that represented God and his word with his people once for six days blowing their trumpets and then on the seventh day they had to march around seven times and then blow their trumpets and the walls of Jericho would fall down.

The significance of this battle plan is mentioned in the third verse and chorus of my new song called Jericho.

Jericho, O Jericho your darkness led to your town to fall

Jericho, O Jericho Joshua followed God’s great call

God told him to march around those walls for seven days

This was to prove that they followed God’s ways

Jericho O Jericho you fell to God O Jericho.

Chorus:

Jericho O Jericho

Your like our world today

You are in darkness and no -where to go

That’s the fate of a Jericho.

3. (111 – 112) PEOPLE OF FAITH NEED TO BE COMMITTED TO GOD AND HIS WORD

Now that the writer has contrasted those who walk in the light of God and his word to those who walk in darkness he completes this fourteenth stanza with a clear statement of commitment to God and his word which I believe should be the kind of word of commitment any true believer of God and his word should also profess.

I see this statement of commitment in two parts:

vs. 111 Our inheritance is God and his word
vs. 112 Our hearts should be set on being faithful to God and his word

Let’s then have a closer look at this two- fold statement of commitment to God and his word.

vs. 111 Our inheritance is God and his word

I have become disturbingly aware of problems that inheritance can course families over the course of my life as I have seen families torn apart as they all go for the kill of getting the most they can out of their dead parents estates. This grab for money and possessions reveals the dark wickedness of the human heart without God and his word.

For the Christian our inheritance is in heaven not in on this earth and this kind of commitment to spiritual things is what the writer of Psalm 119 verse 111 is pointing to as it says,

“Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart”.

In many places in the bible we read of the eternal nature of the word of the Lord, like Jesus words in Matthew 24: 35,

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”.

Or Peters quote of Isaiah 40: 6 – 8 in 1 Peter 1: 24 -25 where man’s mortality is compared to God and his word’s immortality,

“All people are like grass, and all their glory like the flowers of the fields, the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever”.

If we seek a material inheritance we are saying that our heritage is material things like property and money but if we seek an eternal heritage then we show by our actions that our hope or as Jesus put in Luke 12: 21 our treasure is in heaven which is founded in the eternal God of the bible.

Paul makes this point of working for or looking forward to our eternal inheritance in Christ Jesus in this life in Colossians 3: 23 – 24,

“Whatever you do, work at it with your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving”.

So the writer of Psalm 119 did not see his heritage or inheritance as land in Israel or money or possessions but his heritage or inheritance was the eternal word of the Lord he calls God’s statutes.

ii vs. 112 Our hearts should be set on being faithful to God and his word

The second part of our writer of Psalm 119 word of commitment to God and his word is a statement of the desire or goal in life of the writer of Psalm 119 to always keep the word of the Lord in his life, which he states this way in verse 112, the last verse of stanza 14,

“My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end”.

The writer of Psalm 119 has told us already that he faced great opposition for trusting in God and his word yet here in the last verse of this stanza his desire is to devote his heart to always keeping the very word of the Lord.

I have been referring to the story of Jericho in this stanza as it relates to what the writer of Psalm 119 has been teaching us and here I want to turn your attention to the commander of the Israelite army who God used to bring judgment upon that ancient city of Jericho.

We leant that Jericho was all walled up or closed up in defiance to God and his chosen people, only a prostitute named Rehab and members of her family acted on the very real word of the Lord in what they knew he did for the people of Israel when escaping Egypt and in its victories over many enemies in the forty years of their wilderness wanderings.

Joshua was a man of great faith and commitment to God and his word and I want to refer to two references in the book of Joshua that show the commitment of this man Joshua to God and his word.

The first is in Joshua 5: 13 – 14, when Joshua was near Jericho he had an encounter with God through a person called “The commander of the army of the Lord”, some bible scholars say this could have been a pre- incarnation of the Lord Jesus himself,

“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’

‘Neither’, he replied. ‘but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come”

Note then what Joshua does on hearing this,

“Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does the Lord have for his servant’”.

Joshua’s heart is clearly here committed to following only God and his word and then I would like to take you to the final chapter of the book of Joshua and reveal to you the word of commitment Joshua had for God and his word even at the end of his life, which reveals that he believed that God and his word was his heritage or inheritance,

Joshua 24: 14 – 15,

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshipped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household we will serve the Lord”.

Joshua knew the temptations of serving other God’s would always be a factor in the future history of his people but he made it clear that for him and his family they were committed to serving the Lord alone.

Jesus makes it clear what our commitment to the Lord should be in Matthew 6: 33,

“But seek first his kingdom, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”.

I close with the fourth and last verse of my new song Jericho and my four- line poem I finish each of these 22 stanzas of Psalm 119 with,

Jericho, O Jericho Joshua trusted God as the way to go

Jericho, O Jericho you failed to turn O Jericho

Darkness is the fate for those who turn from the Lord

Light is given through God eternal word

Jericho O Jericho you’ve been judged O Jericho.

Chorus:

Jericho O Jericho

Your like our world today

You are in darkness and no- where to go

That’s the fate of a Jericho.

Now your word is a light for me

Showing me the way in this life

Helping me through this dark dangerous world

I trust in Lord even in my strife.

I close as usual with a final word of prayer:

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven we trust in your wonderful light that is your word the bible which reveals to us who you are, what we are like and what you have done for us. Your word reveals to us the wonderful light of your dear Sons coming to this world and his sacrificial death on the cross to save us from the darkness of our many sins. Help us Lord to shine your light in this dark world by the way we live and seek to point others to your great light, your amazing word, the bible. In Jesus name we pray this, Amen.

Stanza 15: (113 – 120) GOD’S WORD IS TO BE TRUSTED AND OBEYED TO BE SAVED

A few years ago my wife and I celebrate 40 years of happy and successful marriage and when we were married over 40 years ago we chose hymns for our wedding ceremony that we hoped would speak to the unbelieving families we both came from. One hymn we chose was the famous and wonderful hymn called Trust and Obey written by John Sammis in the late 19 hundreds after a young man gave his testimony at a D.L Moody evangelistic meeting in Brockton Massachusetts and said, “I’m going to trust, and I’m going to obey”. These words were passed on by Moody’s song leader Daniel Towner to Sammis in a letter to him about this young man’s powerful but honest testimony and Sammis used them as the theme of a chorus he soon developed into a hymn. The first verse and chorus of that hymn goes like this:

When we walk with the Lord

In the light of his word

What a glory he sheds on our way!

While we do his good will

He abides with us still

And with all who will trust and obey.

Chorus:

Trust and obey for there is no other way

To be happy in Jesus

But to trust and obey.

The fifteenth stanza of Psalm 119 features this very important teaching about trusting and obeying God and I think verses 115 and 116 speak of this in this way,

“Away from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commands of my God! Sustain me, my God according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed”.

So with the central theme of trusting and obeying God’s word to be saved in mind I have broken this fifteenth stanza into three parts:

(113 – 114) WHEN WE TRUST AND OBEY GOD’S WORD WE HAVE GOD AS A REFUGE

AND HOPE

2. (115 – 117) WHEN WE TRUST AND OBEY GOD’S WORD WE WILL BE SAVED

3. (118 – 120) WHEN YOU DON’T TRUST AND OBEY GOD’S WORD YOU WILL SUFFER

GOD’S JUDGMENT

Let’s then have a close look at these three parts of this fifteenth stanza of Psalm 119:

(113 – 114) WHEN WE TRUST AND OBEY GOD’S WORD WE HAVE GOD AS A REFUGE

AND HOPE

As the whole of Psalm 119 has done there is a constant contrast with the many who oppose God and his word and the writer who seeks to love and obey God and his word and the first verse of this fifteenth stanza does just that with these words,

“I hate double minded people, but I love your law”.

Allan Harman says that the term “double minded people” speaks of people who are,

“Unstable in all their ways”

Harman points to the words of James in James 1: 7 and 8 where James uses the same expression of being double minded when speaking of people who ask God for things without exercising faith and in fact actually doubt that God will answer their requests, James writes,

“That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double – minded in all they do”.

The people then who opposed our writer of Psalm 119 did not trust and obey God and his word but our writer is saying he does even as they oppose him for doing so.

Then the writer of Psalm 119 makes a clear statement of what it means to trust and obey God and his word and what such trust and obedience leads to in verse 14,

“You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word”.

Our writer picks up a favorite expression of the writers of the Psalms particularly David in the concept of God being their refuge and shield. David puts it this way in Psalm 18: 2,

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation my stronghold”.

The idea that God is our protector or the one who saves those who trust and obey his word is put this way by David in Psalm 32: 7,

“You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance”.

Note how the writer of Psalm 119 believes God is his refuge or protector and it is because he has put his hope in God’s word. This means that for this man God’s word promises that God will save or sustain him as he states in verse 116,

“Sustain me, my God. According to your promise, and I will live”.

It is not that David or our writer of Psalm 119 or any other writer of the bible believed that they made any contribution to their salvation but that God, out of his love promises through his word that those who turn to him in faith shown by obedience will be saved by him and him alone. Paul makes this clear in Ephesians 2: 8 – 9,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no can boast.”

Like the young man at the D. L Moody evangelistic meeting the writer of Psalm 119 says in the second half of verse 114,

“I have put my hope in your word”.

This is another way of saying that he trusted in and sought to obey God and his word and this word promises those who do so have God as their refuge and hope as John Sammis puts it in the second verse and chorus of his Trust and Obey Hymn,

“Not a shadow can rise,

Not a cloud in the skies,

But his smile quickly drives it away,

Not a doubt or a fear,

Not a sigh or a tear

Can abide while we trust and obey,

Chorus:

Trust and obey for there is no other way

To be happy in Jesus

Bit to trust and obey.

2. (115 – 117) WHEN WE TRUST AND OBEY GOD’S WORD WE WILL BE SAVED

The writer of Psalm 119 then:

Speaks directly to his enemies who do not trust and obey God and his word (vs. 115)
Speaks directly to God for God to help him trust and obey him and his word (vs’s 116 -117)

Let’s look at these three verses a little closer:

Speaks directly to his enemies who do not trust and obey God and his word (vs. 115)

The writer speaks directly to his enemies in direct and strong way with the words in verse 15a

“Away from me, you evildoers”.

It seems that the people who oppose him oppose God and his word because the reason the writer wants these evildoers to leave him alone is so that he can trust and obey God and his word because he writes in the second half of verse 115,

“That I may keep the commandments of my God”.

The writer of Psalm 119 has spoken many times about how his enemies have sought to kill or destroy him because of his commitment and obedience to God and his word as he declares back in verse 95,

“The wicked are waiting to destroy me, but I will ponder your statutes”.

Even today opposition to those who trust and obey God and his word is alive and kicking and we need to be prepared for such opposition by as Paul puts it in Ephesians 6: 10 – 11,

“Finally be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Put on the amour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”.

Paul then spells out what that armor is and he includes such things as the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God and the breastplate of righteousness which is all brilliant images of simply trusting and obeying God and his word when we are under attack by the devil and his many followers.

Speaks directly to God for God to help him trust and obey God and his word (vs’s 116 -117)

The writer of Psalm 119 then turns from addressing his enemies to addressing God which is simply a prayer to God for God to help him trust and obey his word in verse 116 and 117, He writes,

“Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed. Uphold me, and I will be delivered; I will always have regard for your decrees”.

Some say that assurance of faith in God leads to disobedience as if we are once saved and always saved we could take a salvation for granted but the bible says that a truly saved person is a person of faith and obedience and that not trusting and obeying God reveals we actually have not truly understood and grasped the grace of God he gives to those who trust and obey his son, The Lord Jesus Christ for their eternal salvation as Paul writes in Romans 6: 1 – 4,

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptizm unto death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life”.

Paul makes his point even more clearer in the next three verses that a true believer has died to sin and freed to serve God in what have been calling trusting and obeying God, Paul puts it this way,

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been set free from sin”.

So like the writer of Psalm 119 in verses 116 and 117 we should show our trust and obedience to God in our desire for God and God alone to sustain us and help us to live the way he wants us to live. Not let our hopes to be dashed but be delivered which is and Old Testament language for being saved.

Even here in the Old Testament the act of salvation is in God alone, he sustains us, he causes us to live, he upholds us and he delivers us but we like the writer of Psalm 119 must,

“Always have regard for God’s decrees”.

That also is Old Testament language for trusting and obeying God and his word. I like the third verse of John Sammis hymn “Trust and Obey”

“But we never can prove

The delights of his love

Unto all on the altar we lay.

For the favor He shows,

For the joy he bestows,

Are for them who will trust and obey.

Chorus:

Trust and obey for there is no other way

To be happy in Jesus

Bit to trust and obey.

3. (118 – 120) WHEN YOU DON’T TRUST AND OBEY GOD’S WORD YOU WILL SUFFER

GOD’S JUDGMENT

The Gospel message is both Good news and bad News in that it is good news to those who accept it and are saved but it is bad news to those who reject it and simply want to stay in rebellion to God. As John puts it in John 3: 18,

“Whoever believes in him is not Condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”.

The writer of Psalm 119 puts it this way in verse 118,

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

The writer of Psalm 119 is a Jew or a member of God’s special people called the Israelites who were the people who he is speaking about here in verse 118 and are the same people God’s word came through by the law being given to Moses to them as a gift of grace and some have turned away from following it.

The writers enemies have stopped trusting and obeying God and his word and what they have replaced that with is called by our writer as,

“Their delusions”

Paul told Timothy that what people will turn to when they stop trusting and obeying God’s word is according to 2 Timothy 4: 4,

“Myths”

Interestingly Christians today are accused of believing in Myths but the truth is anything other than the word of God is a delusion or myth. Some forms of Christianity have turned the truths of the Gospel into myths but the word of God is not a myth as it is grounded in history in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So verse 118 of Psalm 119 says that God rejects those who stray from his life- giving word and verse 119 goes on to say they are therefore under the judgment of God,

“All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross”

An echo of the words in Psalm 1: 4,

“Not so the wicked! They are like chaff / that the wind blows away”.

These are words of God’s judgment coming on those who refuse to trust and believe in God and his word as verse 5 of Psalm 1 states clearly,

“Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement; nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous”.

The opposite is true of those who trust and obey God and his word as verse 6, the final verse of Psalm 1 says,

“For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous”.

The righteous in this Psalm are is summed up in verse 2 and 3 of Psalm 1 when it says,

“But whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his Law Day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers”.

The writer of Psalm 119 closes his fifteenth stanza with words of his commitment of trusting and obeying God and his word in verses 119b and 120, he writes,

“Therefore I love your statutes. My flesh trembles in fear of you. I stand in awe of your laws”.

To fear here is to revere or look up to which involves trusting and obeying the God of the bible for it is the bible alone that presents a God who loves the world and all who have lived, live and will live in it.

Just as that famous Gospel presenting verse says, John 3: 16,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

All who accept this great message of love are all those like the young man all those years ago at the D.L Moody crusade who shared his testimony after hearing this great message of the Gospel from the preaching of D.L. Moody and said, “I’m going to trust, and I’m going to obey”.

I close this Psalm talk on the fifteenth stanza of Psalm 119 with the final verse of Trust and Obey and its chorus from the hymn written by John Sammis inspired by this young man’s simple but profound testimony and my own four- line English Alphabet summary verse for stanza 15 and a final word of prayer:

“Then in fellowship sweet

We will sit at His feet.

Or we’ll walk by his side in the way;

What He says we will do,

Where He sends we will go;

Never fear, only trust and obey.

Chorus:

Trust and obey for there is no other way

To be happy in Jesus

Bit to trust and obey.

Open O Lord my heart to your word

Help me now to trust and obey

You are my refuge against my foes

Lord give me hope and faith today.

PRAYER:

Father in Heaven thank you for the message of your great love for this world and for all who live in it. Thank you that it was your great love that sent Jesus into our world from heaven to show us who you really are and to die for our sins on the cross so that we will not perish because of our many sins but have the wonderful gift of eternal life. Help us and all people to learn to trust and obey this great message of your love. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

PSALM 119 (PART 3: 121 – 176) TALK: THE SUPREMACY AND BENEFITS OF GOD’S

WORD

(The third part of the longest Psalm and chapter in the bible like the first two parts sets down in some detail how God’s word shows us how we should live our lives how we are to consider it as more valuable than anything in this life).

INTRODUCTION

This then is the third part or instalment of my Psalm talk on Psalm 119 the longest Psalm and chapter of scripture in the bible. Its length is a testimony to the love and devotion of this ancient man to God and to what he saw as the supremacy and benefits of the word of God.

We have seen so far the writer of Psalm 119 defends, promotes and stays true to God and his word even in the face of overwhelming opposition to him and his God and his word. It seems he was only opposed because he dared to continue to trust and obey the word of God at a time that such devotion and commitment to God and his word was completely out of step with the majority of society in his day. This situation fits perfectly our world today as Christians who dare to even suggest that God is real and his word the bible is true and valuable are laughed at, ridiculed and people who believe in God’s word the bible even persecuted for such beliefs.

Therefore in these final seven stanzas we will continue to learn the benefits and the supremacy of God’s word in our own day and age as well.

My eight stanzas in this third part of Psalm 119 are:

Stanza. 16. (121 – 128) GOD’S WORD DEMANDS COMMITMENT IN THE FACE OF

PEOPLES OPPOSITION

Stanza. 17. (129 – 136) GOD’S WORD IS WONDERFUL BECAUSE IT GIVES LIGHT AND

UNDERSTANDING IN LIFE

Stanza. 18. (137 – 144) GOD’S WORD IS TRUE AND RIGHT AND CAN BE RELIED UPON.

Stanza 19: (145 – 152) GOD’S WORD GIVES US REAL FAITH TO BE ABLE TO CALL ON

HIM IN OUR HOUR OF NEED

Stanza 20: (153 – 160) GOD’S WORD PRESERVES AND REVIVES US IN LIFES

DIFFICULTIES

Stanza 21: (161 – 168) GOD’S WORD IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE IT OFFERS US PEACE AND

SALVATION

Stanza 22: (169 – 176) GOD’S WORD IS THE INSTRUMENT OF HIS HELP AND

SALVATIONTHEREFORE I WILL SING ITS PRAISES

Stanza. 16. (121 – 128) GOD’S WORD DEMANDS COMMITMENT IN THE FACE OF

PEOPLESOPPOSITION

When each of my three children were young and still at home my wife and I had a rule which was that when they requested for us to pay and support their involvement in some kind of sport or leisure activity they had to remain committed to it for the season or term it ran before they could pull out of it.

We had this rule because we wanted to teach our children the all- important ethic of life of commitment. A couple of times one or two of our three children wanted to pull out of a season or term commitment and we said no and this caused tension in our relationship with this child at the time but my wife and I stuck to our rule and on one occasion of doing this one of our children actually changed their mind as they continued to attend the activity they wanted to pull out of and actually signed up the following year for the same sporting activity.

One of the sad and negative aspects of our world today, as I see it is the often-complete lack of commitment many people have to life today. In the church this lack of commitment is seen in people failing to turn up to church regularly or in people not fulfilling commitments to ministry or jobs in the church.

A greater sign of lack of commitment is to the very word of God as many so called professing Christians show is a complete lack of belief and commitment to the very word of God often caused by the prevalent negative opposition to the bible which most people today dismiss as ancient fairytales or archaic out of date made up stories that have little or no relevance to our world today.

Our writer of Psalm 119 in stanza 16 sets forth his commitment to the word of God in the face of overwhelming opposition to it. Opposition that causes our writer to feel oppressed and uneasy and in need of God’s deliverance from imminent danger to his very life.

In this stanza we have three things about commitment to the word of God our writer sets down:

(121 – 123) A CALL TO GOD THAT HIS COMMITMENT TO GOD’S WORD WILL

ASSURE HIS SALVATION

2. (124 – 126) A PLEA TO GOD THAT HIS COMMITMENT TO HIS WORD WILL LEAD

GOD TO SHOWING COMMITMENT TO HIM

3. (127 – 128) A FINAL DECLARATION OF OUR WRITERS COMMITMENT TO GOD AND

HIS WORD

Let’s then have a closer look at these things our writer speaks of about commitment to God’s word.

(121 – 123) A CALL TO GOD THAT HIS COMMITMENT TO GOD’S WORD WILL

ASSURE HIS SALVATION

Like other sections of this long but beautiful Psalm 119 the opening three verses are written as a prayer to God and these first three verses of the stanza are a call to God expressing his commitment to God and his word as a reason for God to deliver him from his oppressors as he writes in verse 121,

“I have done what is righteous and just; do not leave me to my oppressors”.

The fact that he has been committed faithfully to God in acting righteously and justly does not equal merit for God to act as H.C Leopold points out,

“Though he may not merit deliverance he has at least not done that which would make him unworthy of it”.

The writer of Psalm 119 has already stated he only believes God will deliver him because God has promised to do so for his faithful followers as he writes back in verse 82,

“My eyes fail, looking for your promise”

In fact in another previous verse, verse 76 he says that God’s promise of deliverance or salvation is linked to God’s love,

“May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant”.

God’s promise of salvation is given because he is a loving and faithful God and in Old Testament terms this is linked with the covenant promises of God as we read in Exodus 34: 6 – 7,

“And he (God) passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love, and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin”.

The Old Testament covenant goes on to warn that those who are not committed to God in obedience to his covenant will face God’s judgment and not receive the blessings of his loving promises.

In the New Covenant’s the promises of God are made by a loving God out of love to those who are committed to The Lord Jesus Christ as the writer to the Hebrews states in Hebrews 9: 15,

“For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant”.

Paul speaks of our salvation in terms of a very special form of love he calls grace and says this about how we find salvation from God in Ephesians 2: 8 — 9,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast”.

Then in verse 122 he uses the term “Servant” to describe himself that he uses again two more times in verses 124 and 125.I believe the term servant is a humble way of the writer of Psalm 119 is both describing his relationship with God and his commitment to God even in the face of hostile and powerful opposition, he writes in verse 122,

“Ensure your servant’s well – being; do not let the arrogant oppress me”.

He, unlike his oppressors is a faithful servant of God and his word and again because of his obvious commitment to God and his word he has the faith to ask God for his help to give him well – being which Leopold reveals literally means,

“Do good for a man”.

The concept of being a faithful servant is a major teaching in the New Testament which flows from the very attitude and teaching of Jesus who describes himself and his mission in coming to this world this way in Mark 10: 45,

“For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many”.

Paul tells the Philippians to use the servanthood nature and actions of Christ as a model in their relationships with one another in Philippians 2: 5 – 8,

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross”.

So our commitment to God and his word should show in our lives as being faithful servants of God. This is shown by us by the way we serve God’s faithful people who like us seek to be committed to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I love the modern hymn called “The Servant Song” by Richard Gillard and the first verse of that hymn sums up what both that hymn and the concept of being servants of God means,

“Brother let me be your servant

Let me be as Christ to you.

Pray that I might have the grace

To let me be your servant too.

The third verse in this first part of stanza 16 is verse 123 which makes this call for salvation or deliverance from his oppressors because of his commitment to God and his word in a stronger way, he writes,

“My eyes fail, looking for your salvation, looking for your righteous promise”.

Spurgeon explains the meaning of this verse well, this way,

“He wept, waited, and watched for God’s saving hand, and these exercises tried the eyes of his faith till they were almost ready to give out. He looked to God alone, he looked eagerly, he looked long, he looked till his eyes ached. The mercy is, that if our eyes fail, God does not fail, nor do his eyes fail”.

The New Testament does not offer those who are committed to God and his word an easy life with no sorrow or tears but it does offer us comfort in our times of trials and difficulties as Paul states clearly in 2 Corinthians 1: 3 – 4,

“Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those with the comfort we ourselves receive from God”.

The fourth verse of the modern hymn “The Servant Song” speaks of the tears we might experience in serving God and other people in this life,

“I will weep when you are weeping

When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.

I will share your joy and sorrow

Till we’ve seen this journey through.

The last line of this fourth verse of “The Servant Song” of course looks forward to heaven when things like tears are wiped away and this life of peril and conflict will be no more, Revelations 21: 3 – 4,

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away”.

2. (124 – 126) A PLEA TO GOD THAT HIS COMMITMENT TO HIS WORD WILL LEAD

GOD TO SHOWING COMMITMENT TO HIM

The next part of this sixteenth stanza followers a similar idea as the first three verses with what I see is not just a call or prayer request but a desperate plea for God’s salvation from his aggressive oppressors. The plea he makes in these verses has at its heart the concept that because he is committed to God and his word God will in turn be committed to him and free him or save him from his enemies who are not committed to God and his word.

We have in these three verses in fact three pleas which I have called:

(vs. 124) A plea for God to deal with his committed servant according to his love
(vs. 125) A plea by the committed servant of God and his word to give him discernment
(vs. 126) A plea by the committed servant of God and his word to act for him now.

Let’s then have a closer look at each of these three pleas to God by this committed servant of God and his word.

(vs. 124) A plea for God to deal with his committed servant according to his love

In this first plea I believe the writer has in mind what I said he had in mind when he spoke of God’s promises in verse 123 and that is the covenant of love which is Israel’s relationship with God is founded on, he writes in verse 124,

“Deal with your servant according to your love and teach me your decrees”.

I spoke earlier of the basis of any help, blessing and salvation coming from God, even in the Old Testament, is based on God’s unmerited love and I will quote again something I think our writer of Psalm 119 had in mind when he pleads with God to deal with him,

“according to your love”

Namely Exodus 34: 6 – 7,

The write of Psalm 119 who calls himself,

“Your Servant” or God’s servant

The writer of Psalm 119 is saying he is committed to God and his word and according to his word as we have just read God promises to deal with those who are faithful and committed to him not with anger or disdain but with love. Our writer therefore is claiming a promise of God in prayer for his current desperate situation.

I also mentioned earlier that for us under the new covenant we have even a greater declaration of God’s commitment to deal with us according to his love and the message of Christ is in fact the message called the Good News that God because of what he has done for us deals with us according to love not vengeance. This is something we simply do not deserve as Jesus declares in John 15: 9 – 14,

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Fathers commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

My command is this; love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command”.

According to John 3: 16 God sent Jesus into the world to die for our sins to save us and he did this because of his great love for us,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

So like the writer of Psalm 119 we too who are committed to God and his word should have the same confidence to plea to God for his help on the basis of his love and his love alone.

A fitting poetic description of servanthood service inspired by the love of Christ particularly in his death on the cross for our many sins is found in the fifth verse of the modern hymn, “The Servant Song”,

“When we sing to God in heaven

We shall find such harmony.

Born of all we’ve known together

Of Christ’s love and agony”.

(vs. 125) A plea by the committed servant of God and his word to give him

discernment

His second plea is for discernment which is called by some commentators as a plea for understanding or insight which Leopold says,

“Helps a man to meet difficult situations as to the ones which the psalmist now finds himself in”.

As verse 125 says,

“I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes”.

The writer is committed to God and particularly his word which he says back in verse 105 is,

“A lamp for my feet, a light on my path”.

So the writer now is saying if your statutes or word is my guide then give me understanding of it for my current problems with my oppressors.

Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 16 and 17 that not only is the bible or the word of God inspired by God but it is useful for teaching and understanding,

“All Scripture is God – breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The writer of Psalm 119 in verse 125 is asking for wisdom and wisdom he does not humanly have so it must come from God and particularly from God’s word.

This reminds me of a wonderful verse in James, which is James 1: 5, which says,

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without fault, and it will be given to you”.

I have personally claimed this promise in this verse on many occasions in my long life and God has wonderfully answered me with insight or discernment every time.

I think the third verse of the modern hymn, The Servant Song” echoes poetically what the writer of Psalm 119 is saying in verse 125,

“I will hold the Christ light for you

In the night time of your fear.

I will hold my hand out to you

Speak the peace you long to hear”.

Holding out the “Christ Light” and speaking “the peace” are poetic descriptions of holding out or offering others as true servants of God the very word of God that came primarily through the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s great light to all the world.

(vs. 126) A plea by the committed servant of God and his word to act for him

now.

Allan Harman presents the key to understanding this verse is the phrase,

“Your law is being broken”,

He says that our writers opponents were nothing more than, “breakers of God’s covenant”so our writers third desperate plea to God is,

“It is time for you to act, Lord”.

Jeremiah speaks of what will happen to lawbreakers in Jeremiah 11: 10 – 11,

“They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant I made with their ancestors. Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will bring on them disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them”.

Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah all spoke of the fate of lawbreakers or covenant breakers is God’s Judgment and even in Exodus 34 when God gave the covenant of love to Moses God warned that those who are not committed to God’s covenant of love face generations of God’s judgement as Exodus 34: 7b says,

“Yet he (God) does not leave the guilty unpunished, he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation”.

So when our writer pleas for God to act in verse 126 he is asking for God to judge his oppressors who are not committed to God and his word because they are law breakers.

The reality is that we are all law breakers as Paul says in Romans 3: 23,

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

In the early chapters of Romans Paul sets down how both Jews who God gave the law to and Gentiles or non – Jews who have the basis of God’s law in their hearts all failed to keep God’s law and therefore are law breakers.

In Romans 6: 23, he revels first of all the penalty of our law breaking when he says,

“For the wages of sin is death”.

But then in the same verse he declares the wonderful message of the Gospel when he declares,

“But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

So when God acts in final judgment our only hope is the wonderful message of the Gospel that because we are committed to the Lord Jesus Christ with faith in what he has done for us then we will be saved from God’s terrible judgment.

3. (127 – 128) A FINAL DECLARATION OF OUR WRITERS COMMITMENT TO GOD AND

HIS WORD

Our writer of Psalm 119 then concludes this sixteenth stanza of his 22 stanza Psalm with two verses that declare his total commitment to God and his word in two ways:

(vs. 127) He considers God’s word as the most precious thing he knows
(vs. 128) He considers God’s commands right and anyone who opposes it is in

the wrong

Let’s take a closer look at these two expressions of commitment to God and his word in these final two verses.

(vs. 127) He considers God’s word as the most precious thing he knows

Five times in this long Psalm our writer declares that God’s word is the most precious thing he knows as we read in verses 14, 57, 72, 111 and will see again in verse 162 and here in verse 127 he says it this way,

“Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold.

Gold in the ancient world was the most precious of all metals and even today gold is the most stable commodity on the earth for high value so gold has been and is the benchmark for the most precious things in this life.

So what does our Psalmist think of the word of God?

He loves it more than gold.

It is the most precious thing he knows and would trade any amount of gold or riches to have it, now that is commitment to God and his word. Jesus declared both the eternal nature and value of his word which is the basis of God’s word to us when he says in Matthew 24: 35,

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”.

Peter and the early disciples of Jesus had the same commitment to the word of God which they now knew as the word of Christ Jesus as we see in Peters encounter with a crippled man in Jerusalem in Acts 3: 6,

“Silver or gold do not have, but what I do give you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk”.

The name of Jesus embodied all Jesus is and said so really this man rose up and walked through the power of Jesus word communicated to him through the lips of Peter.

When I have given English bibles to Christians in Myanmar who are not able to purchase them there I have witnessed unbelievable gratitude and one man went to his knees and kissed the bible I gave him. Such devotion and feeling of value to the bible simply does not happen in my own country yet when the bible is almost impossible to get in a country like Myanmar Christians value it so much.

(vs. 128) He considers God’s commands right and anyone who opposes it is in

the wrong

Then in sixteenth stanza that I believe commitment to God and his word in the face of great opposition to him is its central theme our writer of Psalm 119 closes with a final word of commitment to God and his word with these words in verse 128,

“And because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path”.

Such is our writers commitment to God and his word that he see it and it alone as right and true and as verse 105 says,

“A lamp for my feet, a light on my path”.

God’s word showed our writer how he should live his life so anyone who goes against the word of God walks a wrong path.

I have been quoting Richard Gillard modern hymn “The Servant Song” throughout this talk on the sixteenth stanza of Psalm 119 and the only verse from that modern hymn I have not quoted is verse 2 and I think this a appropriate summary of this stanza,

“We are pilgrims on the journey

We are brothers on the road.

We are here to help each other

Walk the mile and bear the load.

The writer of Psalm 119 ends stanza 16 with the words,

“I hate wrong path”

As pilgrims on God’s road or as the hymn says, journey” we are on the right road but all other ways, roads lead to destruction and as the writer of Psalm 119 puts it are the,

“Wrong path”

I close with some of C.H Spurgeon’s comments on this verse,

“His detestation was as unreserved as his affection; he had not a good word for any practice which would not bear the light of truth. The fact that such large multitudes follow the broad road had no influence upon this holy man, except to make him more determined to avoid every form of error and sin. May the Holy Spirit so rule in our hearts that our affections may be in the same decided condition towards the precepts of the word”.

My four- line English alphabet conclusion verse and final word of prayer for this sixteenth stanza is:

Please dear Lord help me in my daily walk

To follow your word every day

Not letting this world squeeze me into

The mold that does not follow your way.

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven help us to be totally committed to you and your word. May we serve you and others following the example of your Son Jesus Christ the Lord. May we walk your way, speak your peace, love each other, serve each other unto life’s journeys end when we will all be with you in heaven for ever more. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Stanza. 17. (129 – 136) GOD’S WORD IS WONDERFUL BECAUSE IT GIVES LIGHT AND

UNDERSTANDING TO THE SIMPLE AND DIRECTS OUR PATHS

IN LIFE.

I originally wrote the Psalm talk for stanza 17 of Psalm 119 while I was about half way round the great lap of Australia. The great lap is the long and wonderful tour around my country Australia so many both young and old alike are doing today. Australia is a vast and beautiful country and we were away for four months just to complete the lap and see just some of the highlights of our amazing country. My wife and I visited many remote churches on this trip offering lots of love and encouragement to the wonderful Christians in those churches.

As wonderful as Australia was on that trip it’s magnificent rouged often untouched wonder is no match according to the writer of Psalm 119 to the wonderful nature and value of God’s word the bible. He writes in verse 129,

“Your statutes are wonderful”.

He then proceeds to both tell us some of the wonderful things about the word of God and as he does this he applies what he sees as wonderful to the current needs in his life in a prayer which basically asks for mercy or love, guidance and freedom from the evil clutches of his enemies who not only oppose him but also oppose the very word of God our writer finds wonderful.

With this in mind my breakdown for this seventeenth stanza is:

(vs. 129) THE WONDERFUL NATURE OF THE WORD OF GOD

2. (130 – 132) THE WONDERFUL LIGHT AND LOVE GOD GIVES US THROUGH HIS WORD

3. (133 – 135) THE WONDERFUL DIRECTION GOD’S WORD GIVES US IN LIFE

4. (vs. 136) THE TERRIBLE EFFECT ON US WHEN GOD’S WONDERFUL WORD

IS REJECTED BY OTHERS.

Let’s then have a close look at these four parts of our Psalmist appreciation of the wonderful nature of the word of God.

1. (vs. 129) THE WONDERFUL NATURE OF THE WORD OF GOD

At a church service I attended this morning we sang the great old hymn, “How great thou art” and the first two lines of this great old hymn go like this,

O Lord my God when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the works thy hands have made.

I was struck by the term “awesome wonder” having the day before read and studied the first verse of the seventeenth stanza of Psalm 119, verse 129 which starts with the statement,

“Your statutes are wonderful”.

The first verse of “How Great thou Art” goes on to speak of the awesome wonder of God’s deeds in creation when it says,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displays.

While Psalm 119 verse 129 speaks of the wonder of God’s statues or as we have seen throughout this long Psalm the word of God we call the bible there is a connection with the wonder of creation and the word of God as the bible and particularly the first chapter of the book of Genesis tell us God made the world through his word as six time in Genesis one we have the phrase,

“And God said”

And of course when God spoke things were made and brought into being.

David starts Psalm 19 with God’s work of wonder in creation with these words,

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of his hands”.

Then in the second half of his Psalm 19 starting at verse 7 David gives praise to the word of God.

But what does the writer of Psalm 119 mean by the phrase,

“Your statutes are wonderful”.

Allan Harman says in answer to this important question,

“Wonderful, a word exclusively used of God’s actions and words matched by what cannot be produced by human effort”.

Isaiah 25: 1 says,

“Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago”.

But how is the bible or the word of God particularly wonderful?

I love Spurgeon’s answer to this question when he writes,

“Full of wonderful revelations, commands and promises. Wonderful in their nature, as being free from all error, and bearing within themselves overwhelming self -evidence of their truth; wonderful in their effects as instructing, elevating, strengthening, and comforting the soul”.

David spoke of the wonderfulness of the word of God this way in Psalm 139: 6,

“Such knowledge is to wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain”.

In the New Testament Jesus is described as the very word of God become flesh in John 1: 14 which John declares,

“The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father. Full of grace and truth”.

Johns description of Jesus the word of God become flesh as being glorious is his way of saying that Jesus the word of God become flesh is wonderful. In fact Isaiah prophesying of the coming Messiah who we know is Jesus Christ, God’s Son says his name would be called “Wonderful Counsellor” in Isaiah 9: 6,

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Prince of Peace”.

Wonderful Counsellor is a great description of Jesus the word of God helping us like a counsellor or guide in our lives which of course is exactly what the writer of Psalm 119 saw as a major role of the word of God in verses of his Psalm like verse105, which says,

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path”.

Finally the writer of Psalm 119 says after declaring God’s word or statutes being wonderful in the second half of verse 129,

“Therefore I obey them”.

He is saying one of the reasons why he obeys or follows the word of God is because it is so wonderful and so should we for as Spurgeon said, the word of God is,

“Full of wonderful revelations, commands and promises”.

Non -believers might see the bible as a boring book of rules, outdated and irrelevant to our world today but all true believers see it like Spurgeon and the writer of Psalm 119 see the bible as inspired book full of wonderful revelations.

2. (130 – 132) THE WONDERFUL LIGHT AND LOVE GOD GIVES US THROUGH HIS WORD

Now in verses 130 and 132 our writer of Psalm 119 speaks of three great reasons why he considers the word God wonderful and then in verse 131 he implies God’s word is the only thing that will satisfy the deepest longing of his heart by making a plea for God’s word to satisfy his hearts deepest longings. So I have broken these three verses of the second of the seventeenth stanza into these three parts:

God’s word is wonderful because it gives light to the simple (vs. 130)
God’s is wonderful because it alone satisfies the deepest longing of our hearts (vs. 131)
God’s word is wonderful because It offers mercy and love (vs. 132)

Let’s then have a closer look at these three parts of this second section of the seventeenth stanza of Psalm 119:

God’s word is wonderful because It gives light to the simple (vs. 130)

The writer of Psalm 119 expresses his first reason why he sees God’s word as wonderful this way,

“The unfolding of your words gives light”.

The fact is that spiritually without the light of the word of God we are all in the dark. Why do so many today say I don’t believe in God because I cannot see him. One of my favorite modern folk singers who is not a believer says in one of his songs that he has not seen anything that tells him there is a God. This is an honest statement of an unbeliever as we are so much in the dark when it comes to God that John tells us in John 3: 21,

“Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God”.

Paul presents in the early chapters of the book of Romans that the darkness about God is caused by sin or rebellion to God as he says in a verse like Romans 1: 21,

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened”.

John back in John 3 also speaks of a big problem caused by this dark state of the human heart and mind when he writes in John 3: 19,

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil”.

We will see in the third part of these three verses of the second section of the seventeenth stanza that God for some turns to them in mercy and love and as Paul says that God works in the hearts and lives of men and women through his Spirit to make us his sons or people able to know his love, Romans 8: 14 – 16,

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children”.

The writer of Psalm 119 speaks of God’s word “unfolding”which Leopold explains that God’s word,

“brings with it new and deeper insight”.

The writer of Psalm 119 then says that this deeper insight,

“Gives understanding to the simple”.

This does not mean that intelligent men and women do not gain insight from God’s word but rather all enlightened men and women can understand the deeper insights God gives through his word the bible alone not by their so- called human intelligence.

Jesus in fact spoke of having the faith of a child (Luke 18: 17), which also means not childish faith but child- like faith which is simple and accepting. Another wondrous thing about God’s word is that all kinds of people can and do gain insight from it, from the simple child or ordinary average intelligent person to the very intelligent type person but it is a wisdom Paul says that is not the wisdom or understanding of the world but of the Spirt as he writes in 1 Corinthians 12 – 13,

“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit explaining spiritual realities with Spirit taught words”.

God’s is wonderful because it alone satisfies the deepest longing of our hearts (vs. 131)

As I have already indicated the writer of Psalm 119 in verse 131 breaks into a plea to God for his word to satisfy a deep spiritual longing but as we reflect on what he is asking for in this verse we have another reason why he considered God’s word to be wonderful.

His plea to God goes like this,

“I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands”.

Leuopld explains what is going on here with these words,

“The Psalmist has always opened his mouth, as it were, in great thirst and panted for God’s commandments”.

The word “panting” is the word used to describe an animal longing for water and is used by a Son of Korah to describe his deep spiritual thirst at the start of Psalm 42,

“As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you my God”.

Spurgeon sees the animal not panting for water but breath and writes,

“So animated was his desire that he looked into the animal world to find a picture of it. He was filled with an intense longing, and was not ashamed to describe it by a most expressive, natural, and yet singular symbol. Like a stag that has been hunted in the chase, and is hard pressed, and therefore pants for breath, so did the Psalmist pant for the entrance of God’s word into his soul. Nothing else could content him. All that the world could yield him left him still panting with open mouth”.

So the word of God is wonderful for it alone quenches the deep -seated spiritual thirst or longing we all have within us. Jesus in two places in Johns Gospel speaks of how he alone quenches our spiritual thirst and the first is to the adulterous Samaritan women at the well in John 4: 13 – 14,

“Jesus answered, ‘everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life”.

My NIV study bible makes a great point when it says,

“We would not think of depriving our bodies of food and water when the hunger and thirst. Why then should we deprive our souls? The living Word, Jesus Christ, and the written Word the bible, can satisfy our hungry and thirsty souls”,

Then in John 7: 37 and 38 Jesus says a similar thing when he says,

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them”.

So many people today show by their lives how desperately spiritually thirsty they really are through alcohol abuse, drug abuse and even mental depression but the promise of Jesus is put your faith in him and he will quench that great spiritual thirst you have and the sad reality is that so many people today won’t even look into God’s word to find this great promise and so they continue to go thirsty and hungry.

Praise God some people do look to the wonderful word of God and find that true and wonderful satisfaction of their deepest longing hearts.

God’s word is wonderful because It offers mercy and love (vs. 132)

The writer of Psalm 119 continues to plead with God asking for mercy and love in verse 132,

“Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name”.

The mercy this writer seeks is the mercy of God to save him from his oppressors and he asks for God’s mercy and love with confidence as he uses the phrase,

“As you always do”

He says this because he knew in his bible the Old Testament that God offers mercy and love to his faithful people and in fact mercy and love is the very foundations of God’s covenant with his people Israel as I have referred to many times in my Psalm talks in passages like Exodus 34: 6 – 7,

He know doubt knew the example of great men of faith like David who always experienced the love and mercy of God in their lives and maybe his own past experience of trusting in God and his word lies behind his phrase,“As you always do”

So our writer of Psalm 119 believes God’s word is wonderful because it tells him assuredly of the love and mercy of God and how all he has to do is turn to God for his love and mercy and God will give it.

Paul presents to the Ephesians the great basis of our relationship with God which he calls grace the New Testament word for mercy and love and he says these wonderful words about God’s grace in Ephesians 1: 6 – 9,

“To the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ”.

So wonderful is the grace and love of God in Christ that it and it alone brings us into God’s glorious presence forgiven and blessed with riches beyond understanding.

As the great hymn “How Great Thou Art” speaks of in the second verse of the wonderful message of God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord and particularly in his death on the cross to forgive all our sins,

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in.

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing

He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, m Savior God to thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee

How great Thou art, how great thou art.

3. (133 – 135) THE WONDERFUL DIRECTION GOD’S WORD GIVES US IN LIFE

Our writer of Psalm 119 has been exploring in his seventeenth stanza some of the reasons why he considers God’s word to be wonderful and with what he has already reflected on namely how God’s word,

1. Gives light to the simple (vs. 130)

2. Satisfies the deepest longing of our hearts (vs. 131)

3. Offers mercy and love (vs. 132)

He now asks God for guidance and direction as all the three reasons above that express why God’s word is wonderful encourage him to seek the guidance and direction he needs in his life with confidence that God will give it to him.

He asks for this guidance by God through his wonderful word in three ways and they are:

A direct request for guidance (vs. 133)
A request for redemption or deliverance from his enemies (vs. 134)
A priestly appeal for God’s face to shine on him (vs. 135)

Let’s then have a close look at these three requests for direction and guidance in his life based on the wonderful word of God.

A direct request for guidance (vs. 133)

In verse 133 our writer of Psalm 119 directly asks for direction or guidance when he writes,

“Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me”.

In verse 130 he has made it clear that he believed that God’s word gives him light and understanding and that the understanding he so desired was a deep- seated hunger or thirst that only God can fulfil through his word, verse 131 and then that inner satisfaction was only possible because of God’s great mercy and love, verse 132 and so now he wants his God to direct him according to his wonderful word, verse 133.

Proverbs 3: 5 and 6 says something similar and fleshes out how God actually does direct us and what we must do to have that direction or guidance in our daily lives and it says,

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”.

Not leaning on your own understanding is another way of saying look to God’s understanding which we only find in the pages of the bible which is God’s understanding made known to us.

Paul told Timothy how he should operate as a faithful minister of the lord and part of his advice is these words in 2 Timothy 3: 16 and 17,

“All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”.

By trusting in the Lord and following his word in a submissive and prayerful way will result in God directing our footsteps. The writer of Psalm 119 knew that this was not always easy as he completes this request for direction with a plea for sin not to rule over him. He knew what his own sinful heart could do and he knew what his sinful or God rebelling enemies could do and had done to him so when he asked God for direction he also asked for God to not let sin rule over him.

Paul knew also how sin and this world can squeeze us into its mold or pattern and so he gives us this warning and word of advice in Romans 12: 2 – 3,

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world (squeeze you into its mold) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will”.

A request for redemption or deliverance from his enemies (vs. 134)

Maybe he was thinking of the pressure and sinful influence of his enemies when he asked God to,

“Let not sin rule over me”.

As he now asks in verse 134 for redemption or deliverance from his enemies, when he writes,

“Redeem me from human oppression, that I may obey your precepts”.

He has spoken a lot about his oppressors who even sought to take his life verse 95 and they certainly made life very difficult for him as has says in verse 107,

“I have suffered much; preserve my life, according to your word”.

So now in verse 134 he wants God to deliver him from these enemies so he can be free to obey the wonderful word of God.

The New Testament is full of advice on how we should act when we find ourselves oppressed for our faith and I take comfort and advice from the words of Peter on this in 1 Peter 3: 13 – 16,

“Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened. But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander”.

A priestly appeal for God’s face to shine on him (vs. 135)

I call this a priestly appeal for God’s face to shine on him because the request in verse 135 echoes what is known as the priestly blessing Aaron gave his people, Israel in Numbers 6: 24 – 26,

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace”.

Our writer thinking of this priestly prayer of Aaron writes in verse 135,

“Make your face shine on your servant and teach me your decrees”.

The face of God is the essence of God and also so is the presence of God and that’s what our wrier wants in the face of his continuing problems with his enemies.

On many occasions the writers of the Psalms drew on this priestly prayer and here are just two famous examples. Firstly we have David using it this way in Psalm 31: 16,

“Let your face shine on your servant save me in your unfailing love”

Then Asaph draws on the priestly prayer three times in his Psalm 80, first in verse 3 then 7 and finally 19 and it is seems to be the chorus for his song for each time it reads this way,

“Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved”.

It is the wonderful face or nature of God that makes the difference for Israel and for us as our writer of Psalm 119 rightly adds to a request for the face of God to shine on him with a further request for God to teach him his decrees or word because we only know, see or experience the wonderful face or nature of God through the word of God as we read it, believe it and inwardly digest it as John tells us about Jesus, the word of God become flesh in John 1: 14,

“The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”.

In five verses before that wonderful verse John speaks of how believing in this glorious light or word of God makes all the difference and brings us into the family of God that the priestly prayer of Aaron relates to, in verses 12 and 13 he says,

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husbands will but born of God.”

4. (vs. 136) THE TERRIBLE EFFECT ON US WHEN GOD’S WONDERFUL WORD

IS REJECTED BY OTHERS.

I have made the last verse of this seventeenth stanza a separate part of the Psalm as it deals with a completely different aspect of the wonderful nature of the word of God in what I would call a negative way.

It is a negative way because it describes the emotion those who see the wonderful nature of the word of God rejected and even written it off as useless and worthless, the writer of Psalm 119 puts it this way in verse 136,

“Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed”.

A very close friend of mine in my late teens and early twenties was a strong believer and like me found wonder and purpose in God’s word but my fiends father was a committed atheist and said to us one day that he had read the bible through twice and he found it of no value and in fact he found it to be a boring outdated book that should be assigned to the trash heap of history.

I’m not sure if my friend’s father had actually read the bible through twice but he certainly had attempted to read it in some way but obviously with a closed mind of a committed atheist. I think he was attempting to aggressively challenge his son and me with what he said and I think I said to him that I felt sad by his conclusion about the bible and would pray that God might show him the wonder and truth of his word. He simple scoffed at my reply shaking his head and refused to discuss our obvious faith and commitment in God any further.

When non- believers scoff and ridicule the bible it is a sad thing and even Jesus wept at least on one occasion at the lack of faith in God he found in the great city of God Jerusalem in his day when we read Jesus words in Matthew 23: 37 – 39,

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left resolute. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”.

Jesus like the writer of Psalm 119 feels deep and painful tears as he saw, heard and experienced rejection of him and his word and he knew when he said these words that this rejection of him and his word would lead very soon to them killing him by nailing him to the cross.

God’s word is wonderful to those who read it with an eye of faith but it is worthless and scorned by those like my friends old father who read it with a spirit of disobedience and unbelief.

Another sadness we feel is that as Jesus predicted the result of staying in a state of disobedience is the terrible judgment of God that is surely coming.

John tells us how God’s judgment works in relation to the rejection of God’s light, his word who is Jesus Christ in John 3: 19 and 20,

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

This seems like a dark message not a message of wonder and light but the next verse gives us the wonderful message of the Good News of the Gospel when John says in verse 21,

“But whoever lives by the light comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God’”.

CONCLUSION

We have seen that the nature of God’s word is wonderful as it brings light and guides to those who are simple or humble before God. God’s wonderful word directs us through this life if we believe it for it shows us not only how we should live but also the loving wonderful face or nature of God which we see in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But we must also say that God’s word rejected bring terrible consequences and leaves those who reject God and his word in terrible darkness and judgement.

The last verse of the great old hymn “How Great Thou Art” looks forward to the great day that is surely coming when he will return to finally judge the world and wonderfully take all who have truly looked to him as their savior and Lord back to heaven with him,

“When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.

Then I shall bow, in humble adoration

And then proclaim, my God how great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great thou art.

I close with my four- line English Alphabet summary verse for this seventeenth stanza of Psalm 119 and a final word of prayer:

Quench my thirst Lord with your wonderful word

For your word brings hope and light

Direct my steps by your word O Lord

And help me to proclaim it aright.

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven we thank you for your wonderful word which you have given us to show us the way you want us to live in this dark world. Thank you for your wonderful Son who is your word become flesh to bring us this great light for life and to make the way back to you through his death and resurrection. Help us to go your way in life and to seek to present to others the message of your wonderful gospel even when so many reject it sadly as irrelevant and even useless. In Jesus name me pray this, Amen.

Stanza. 18. (137 – 144) GOD’S WORD IS TRUE AND RIGHT AND CAN BE RELIED UPON.

While I was doing my research this eighteenth stanza of this Psalm I was also reading a biography of a recent Australian politician and throughout the book this politician revealed how so many politicians in all parties of our political system played with the truth for their own often well- meaning and sometimes doubtful self -interests. This was a disturbing piece of information but sadly it did not surprise me.

St. Paul makes it clear that all men and women are nothing more than fallen sinners in the early chapters of the Book of Romans, like Romans 3: 23 we read,

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

“All” are not just criminals or ordinary people in this world like you and me but even those we elect to lead us are sinners or are people who lie and do not do the right things in this life. That is not to say they and us do not always do wrong things but compared to the righteous standards of God we read of in the bible our righteous acts are like filly rags, as Isaiah says in Isaiah 64: 6,

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”.

Isaiah is saying that compared to the righteous standard of God even our so- called righteous acts are tainted with sin for at heart all of us is sin from our birth as David declares in Psalm 51: 5,

“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me”.

However even though our elected leaders sometimes show their sinfulness with their lies and unrighteous acts God is not like them or us in his government or control of this world and the universe as the writer of Psalm 119 makes clear a number of times in this eighteenth stanza of his long Psalm that God and his word is totally righteous or true as we see in his opening statement of this stanza which we call verse 137,

“You are righteous, Lord, and your laws are right”.

Four times our writer refers to the righteousness of God in this stanza directly in verses 137, 138, 142 and 144 and he refers to God and his word as being right and true in a number of other ways in this eighteenth stanza.

The reality is that in the mind of the writer of Psalm 119 because God is righteous or right and true his law or word is right and true and because of that we can rely on God and his word to guide and help us even in the face of difficulties and trials.

So I will seek to open up this eighteenth stanza with the righteousness of God and his word as its central theme, a theme I have simplified by calling God’s righteousness as being that which is right and true.

(137 – 138) God and his word is right and true so trust in God and his word

2. (139 – 143) God and his word is right and true so delight in God and his word

3. (vs. 144) God and his word is right and true so live for God and follow his word

So let’s have a closer look at these three parts of this eighteenth stanza of Psalm 119 that all relate to God and his word being right and true.

(137 – 138) God and his word is right and true so trust in God and his word

The writer of Psalm 119 starts his eighteenth stanza with a clear statement of the righteousness of his God and his word with these words,

“You are righteous, Lord, and your laws are right”.

C.H Spurgeon makes a clear statement of what the writer is trying to say with these words,

“He praises God by ascribing to him perfect righteousness. God is always right, and he is always actively light, that is, righteous. This quality is bound up in our very idea of God. We cannot imagine an unrighteous God”.

Spurgeon is right for right throughout the bible one of the core natures of God is his righteousness and this simply put is that he is always right and true unlike our political leaders who sometimes bend and abuse the truth to continue to rule. However God rules this world and in fact this universe with righteousness as he is totally good and right and true as David for instance declares in Psalm 9: 8,

“He (God) rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity”.

God’s righteousness is a key concept in the New Testament where we are given the gift of the righteousness we lack through faith in Christ as Paul states a number of times in verses like 2 Corinthians 5: 21,

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”.

And then Paul links this imputed righteousness of God with the very Gospel message again a gift we have from God in Romans 1: 17,

“For in the gospel the righteousness of God revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith”.

The Gospel is a New Testament term for the message or special word of God which the writer of Psalm 119 says is right or righteous and this is so because God’s word flows from his very nature of righteousness or being right and true. Paul declares in Roams 10: 4 that Christ is the culmination of the law, Paul says,

“Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes”.

It is not our faith that makes us righteous before God it what our faith is in, namely the death and resurrection of Christ that makes us righteous before God.

The writer of Psalm 119 then makes it clear concerning the righteousness or the right and truth of the very word of God in verse 138, he writes,

“The statutes you have laid down are righteous; they are trustworthy”.

Then in verse 142 he writes,

“Your righteousness is everlasting and your word is true.

Note how he says that God’s word is both trustworthy and true as Jesus says in John 17: 17,

“Sanctify them by the truth: your word is truth”.

If God is righteous the writer of Psalm 119 is arguing then his word is righteous or right and true and so it is trustworthy so trust in God and his word.

This is a message our world needs to hear today as we are so often surrounded by that which is not right and even our so- called good leaders lie and deceive us to gain and keep power but in this world of unrighteousness we can have faith in a righteous God, a God who because he is right and true can be trusted. We will see in the rest of this eighteenth stanza how this truth relates powerfully to our day to day lives.

2. (139 – 143) God and his word is right and true so delight in God and his word

The writer of Psalm 119 then tells us some of the very real problems he faced because he dared in the Godless unrighteous world he lived in to continue to trust in God and his word. He says this in verse 139,

“My zeal wears me out, for my enemies ignore your words”.

Our writer of Psalm 119 has spoken many times already about the enemies of God and his word he faced, enemies he often called his oppressors like he says in verse 121,

“I have done what is righteous and just; do not leave me to my oppressors”.

He was being oppressed because he dared to trust in, believe and follow the word of God and therefore he had zeal or true commitment to God and his word. This zeal or commitment to God and his word did not let this writer down in the face of the oppression he faced by those who chose to disobey God and his word as he says this in verse 140,

“Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them”.

God and his word has helped this man so much he is willing to say in the face of opposition to God and his word that he trusted in them and loved them and they had never let him down.

The apostle John had a lot to say about love in the letters he wrote to struggling churches he sought to teach and encourage we believe later in his life and ministry and in 1 John 4: 7 – 12 John speaks of how God’s love has come to us and how this love should inspire us to love God and the message or word of God and others, he writes,

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us”.

Our writer of Psalm 119 then tells us the standing he had or was given in the society he lived in because he dared to trust in God and live according to his word in verse 141a, he writes,

“Though I am lowly and despised”

We do not know who this writer was or what official job or position he held in the society of his day but so far as his enemies were concerned because he trusted in God and his word he was considered by them as lowly and despised.

Jesus was thought of this way by his enemies the scribes and Pharisees and eventually on the cross his enemies and our sin made Jesus totally despised and their he fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the suffering Messiah in Isaiah 53: 3,

“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem”.

Yet our writer and Jesus even in the face of being despised still loved God and his word and so our writer of Psalm 119 says in verse 141b,

“I do not forget your precepts”.

So easy would it be to abandon God and his word when we face persecution but this man does not simply because of what he says in the next two verses about God and his word he writes,

“Your righteousness is everlasting and your word is true. Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands give me delight”.

He is saying that because God and his word is right and true he believes even in the face of distress and trouble God and his word is his delight. Our writer of Psalm 119 agrees with the writer of Psalm 1 where he says in verse 2,

“But whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his Law Day and night”.

Or as Paul says in Romans 7: 22,

“For in my inner being I delight in God’s law”.

Allan Harman explains well what the Psalmist is saying here with these words,

“In the midst of difficulties, in which he is confronted with trouble and distress, he takes pleasure in God’s commands”.

Paul speaks of the delight of the soul or what I call inner peace in the midst of outward conflict this way in Philippians 4: 7,

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”.

God and his word through the Lord Jesus Christ, the very word of God become flesh (John 1:14) gives us this peace or delight of the soul when we trust in Jesus and what he has done for us. This is only possible because God and his word is true and I and many other believers can testify to this wonderful reality of the Christian faith and experience.

3. (vs. 144) God and his word is right and true so live for God and follow his word

I have made the last verse of this eighteenth stanza of Psalm 119 a separate part on its own as it introduces a final new idea about how God and his word is true and that is that if he and his word is true then we should always seek to live by it or follow its truths in our day to day lives.

The final verse says this,

“Your statutes are always righteous; give me understanding that I may live”.

The writer of Psalm 119 has asked God for understanding or further insight into his word on a number of occasions in his Psalm 119, like verse 33, 49, 66, 125 and then he will ask for it again in verse 169 where he puts this request for understanding of God’s word this way,

“May my cry come before you Lord; give me understanding according to your word”.

Jesus made it clear that if we follow his teaching or his word in John 8: 31 and 32,

“You will know the truth and the truth will set you free”.

So we have wonderful understanding of God and life through the word of God and particularly through the word of Christ. We must then follow that word in our daily lives and we like the writer of Psalm 119,

“May live”.

I really like how Proverbs 3: 5 and 6 puts not trusting in our own understanding God and his word when it says,

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”.

God promises here to always guide us in our daily lives if only we trust in him and we do that by living not according to our own understanding but living by the true and living word of God.

God is true so his word is true so live for God by following his word that is the central message of this eighteenth stanza of Psalm 119.

I close with my four -line English Alphabet poetic summary verse of this eighteenth stanza and a final word of prayer:

Under your righteous word and truth I live

For you Lord are a righteous God

Though I face many trials in this life

I delight in your word as I trod.

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven help us to always realize that you are always right and true and we are always sinners saved only by your amazing undeserved love for us. Help us to seek to read, understand and live by your word in our daily lives so that we can know continually the guidance and peace only you can give us through your only Son Jesus Christ, your word become flesh to die for our sins on the cross, In Jesus Name we pray this, Amen.

Stanza 19: (145 – 152) GOD’S WORD GIVES US REAL FAITH TO BE ABLE TO CALL ON

HIM IN OUR NEED

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5: 7,

“We live by faith, not by sight”

This faith is not blind faith but a faith based in the very word of God made finally clear by the coming of his Son, Jesus Christ into the world to preach God’s word and to die on the cross to forgive our sins and rise from the dead on the third day after his death to declare who he is and what he has achieved for us.

This walking by faith not sight is rejected and ridiculed by this so- called enlightened age we live in that says it only believes in what it can see.

I was reminded of the foolishness of the concept of only believing what you can see by a good friends recent post on Facebook which picked up a remarkable story that goes like this.

“A gardener once worked for a heart surgeon. The heart surgeon was an atheist. The gardener was a man of faith. They got on very well together, but had friendly arguments about the nature of life, and faith and the spiritual life.

One day the heart surgeon thought he had finally settled the argument when he told the gardener, ‘You talk about a soul, but let me tell you I have cut open thousands of human hearts in the course of my career, but not once have I found a soul inside”.

‘Well’, replied the gardener, ‘I have to tell you that in the course of my work over all these long years in your garden, I have accidentally sliced through many buried daffodil bulbs with my spade, but have never seen a daffodil inside them’”.

The post then goes on to say a number of things but I like these words about faith and sight that go like this,

“Just because we cannot see something, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. When you shut your eyes does the world around you actually disappear”?

Other explanations of believing in things you cannot see are gravity or love which you can feel the effects of or see the results of but you cannot physically actually see them. So it is with God and faith in God is not a reality based on sight.

The writer of Psalm 119 had never seen God but he had read his word which in the last stanza he described God and his word this way, verse 142,

“Your righteousness is everlasting and your word is true”.

Now in stanza 19 the confidence in this righteous and true God known to him through his righteous true word gives him the confidence for him to believe by faith that the God he is calling out to in his great hour of need will not only hear his cry for help but will answer him with his salvation or deliverance as we read in verse 149,

“Hear my voice in accordance with your love; preserve my life, Lord, according to your laws”.

So the writer has faith in God to deliver him in his hour of need because he knows that this is what God promises to do for those who have faith and he only knows this because he has read it to be so in the word of God we call today the bible.

With this theme of how God’s word gives us faith to be able to call on God in our hour of need I have broken this nineteenth stanza intothe following three parts:

(145 – 146) REAL FAITH IS BASED ON GOD’S WORD

2. (147 – 149) REAL FAITH IS SHOWN BY CONSISTENT FAITHFUL PRAYER

3. (150 – 152) FAITH IS REAL DESPITE GREAT OPPOSITION TO THE FAITH WE HAVE

IN GOD

Let’s then have a closer look at these three aspects of what it means to call on God for help and salvation through faith in his word made by prayer even in the face of great opposition to God and his word.

(145 – 146) REAL FAITH IS BASED ON GOD’S WORD

This nineteenth stanza is a very real prayer for help and deliverance or salvation by our writer of Psalm 119. Allan Harman points out how this stanza starts a trend in the Psalm from this point onwards to a direct prayer to God for help, he writes,

“As the Psalm moves towards its conclusion the direct prayers to God increase”.

The first two verses start with the words, “I Call” which is the Psalmist’s phrase for “I pray” and this prayer is very real and full of faith in God and his word. This opening call of prayer contains two main elements:

Earnest faith based on Gods’s word (vs. 145)
Practical faith based on God’s word (vs. 146)

Let me explain what I understand from these two descriptions of the opening of this man’s prayer in verses 145 and 146.

Earnest faith is based on Gods’s word (vs. 145)

The writer of Psalm 119 does not simply have an intellectual or simple knowledge- based faith in God and his word as his prayer in verse 145 simply says,

“I call with all my heart; answer me, Lord, and I will obey your decrees”.

This man’s faith in God’s word is practical, simple and above all earnest. He is, in this verse pleading with God in prayer for God to answer him and I get this idea from the words in this verse that says,

“I call with all my heart”.

The heart in the Old Testament could be summed up as the real you that lives deep within us all and the real you or person of the writer of Psalm 119 is a man of deep real earnest faith in God and his word.

I have been to many churches over many years both visiting and being a member of them and I have witnessed the two extremes when it comes to faith in God and his word and those two extremes are a faith that is dry and intellectual that the person whom has it is just full of sometimes great knowledge but it shows little impact in that person life. Then I have sadly come across people who say they are Christian believers but they have denied the value and role of the bible calling it a book that only contains the word of God but is not actually God’s word.

Both these types of people suffer from what I call a lack of real earnest true faith in God and his word but praise God the churches I have belonged to all my life have been generally full of true earnest believers of God and his word like our writer of Psalm 119 who’s prayer in verse 145 goes on to say,

“Answer me, Lord, and I will obey your decrees”.

Spurgeon points out the significance of the Psalmist request for God to answer him with these words,

“He asked that the Lord would draw near, and listen with friendly ear to the voice of his complaint, with the view of pitying him and helping him”.

Those with only bible knowledge in their heads might quote the bible like Matthew 7: 7,

“Ask and it will be given you”.

Then argue why is this so -called bible believer not realizing that God’s word says God’s promises that when we pray he listens but even Matthew 7: 7 says by its wording that God wants from us genuine earnest prayer for Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 7: 7,

“Seek and you will find: knock and the door will be opened to you”.

Also some people might say all we need to do is pray but I say to them who are you addressing your prayer to? I think what makes the difference in prayer is in fact who it is directed to and for our writer of Psalm 119 it is God and in fact the God of the bible he prayed to. This reveals in our writer of Psalm 119 a true earnest faith in God and his word by the words of his prayer that says,

“Lord,and I will obey your decrees”.

The title “Lord” or “Yahweh” is the Old Testament covenant name for God and the commitment to obedience of that “Lord’s” word reveals that our writers faith is anchored soundly in the God of the bible.

So our faith in God should show itself in earnest prayer to the God of the bible as Paul speaks of in his great word on practical earnest prayer in Philippians 4: 6 and 7,

Practical faith based on God’s word (vs. 146)

The writer of Psalm 119 then in verse 146 continues his prayer or call to God with what to me in the context of this Psalm and this nineteenth stanza is a word of faith for practical help. Let me explain what I mean.

The words of verse 146 says,

“I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes”.

He is calling on God to save him and you might ask:

Save him from what?

Well, l have a listen to the situation he presents in verse 150,

“Those who devise wicked schemes are near, but they are far from your law.”

He has spoken a lot about those who oppose him because he dares to continue to have faith and obedience in God and his word and here he speaks of wicked or Godless schemes that are schemes the writer says his enemies have devised to even kill him as he says in verse 96,

“The wicked are waiting to destroy me, but I will ponder your statutes”.

So I believe our writer is asking for practical help from God to save him from even death from his enemies when he calls out to God to save him in verse 146.

This man’s faith is not theoretical of mere head knowledge but it is real practical faith that seeks God to act on his behalf to save him from his enemies.

Also his faith is not wishy washy but firmly anchored in the word of God because when he asks for salvation from his enemies he goes on to offer the God he has faith in a commitment to keep his word,

“I will keep your statutes”.

Jesus spoke a lot about obedience and faith in his final words to his disciples at the last supper like John 14: 15,

“If you love me, keep my commands”

And John 15: 10,

“If you keep my commands, you remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love”.

So faith that does not lead to obedience is a dead faith as James suggests in James 2: 17,

^“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead”.

And James 1: 22,

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what itsays”.

2. (147 – 149) REAL FAITH IS SHOWN BY CONSISTENT FAITHFUL PRAYER

So this nineteenth stanza continues as a prayer and in the second section its writer tells God how and when he has been praying and concludes with why he has faith in God and his word and as a result has the confidence to call to God in prayer believing he will answer him.

I have broken this second part of stanza nineteen into three parts:

(vs. 147) Consistent earnest prayer in the morning
(vs. 148) Consistent earnest prayer in the night
(vs. 149) Consistent earnest prayer anchored in the love and word of God

Let’s have closer look at each of these three parts of the second section of stanza nineteen of Psalm 119,

(vs. 147) Consistent earnest prayer in the morning

I have been making the point already on my Psalm talk of stanza nineteen that our writers prayer was earnest and practical and real.

Now our writer tells God when he is actually praying this prayer of faith and it reveals consistency because in verse 147 he is telling God he is praying when he rises from his bed in the morning to pray to God to save him from his enemies, he writes,

“I rise before dawn and cry for help: I have put my hope in your word”.

This verse and the next remind me of two of David’s Psalms we believe he wrote as desperate prayers when on the run from his rebellious Son Absalom and those Psalms are Psalm 3, a prayer prayed in the morning of the second day of David’s flee from his sons murderous threats for his life and Psalm 4 a prayer uttered on the first night when he fled from Absalom. Interestingly the opening words of Psalm 4 are the same words we have just read in verse 145,

“Answer me, Lord”.

So our writer of Psalm 119 says he prays when he gets up in the morning and with that he speaks also of his obvious faith commitment to God and his word with the words,

“I have put my hope in your word”.

David shows his consistent faith in God and his word when he writes in Psalm 3: 5,

“I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me”.

Spurgeon sums up this man’s earnest, consistent and real faith in the God of the bible with these words,

“His supplications had become so frequent, fervent, and intense, that he might hardly be said to be doing anything else from morning to night but crying unto his God. So strong was his desire after salvation that he could not rest in his bed; so eagerly did he seek it that at the first possible moment he was on his knees”.

If this man did not so consistently pray to God for the deliverance from his enemies than his faith could be said to not be real.

Peter says in 1 Peter 1: 6 and 7 that having faith in God in the face of trials proves the genuineness of our faith and for this we should rejoice when in the midst of the trials of life.

(vs. 148) Consistent earnest prayer in the night

Like Spurgeon has just indicated this writer of psalm 119 was not just going to God in prayer driven by his faith in God in the morning when he rose from his sleep but verse 148 says he was even praying at night before he went to bed, he puts it this way,

“My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises”.

So this man was praying morning, noon and night and this shows us that he had real faith in God because he prayed to God for practical help morning, noon and night.

Jesus spoke a lot about consistent real prayer and one great example of this is the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18: 1 – 8. This women was not given justice by a judge so she continually kept coming to the judge and asking for justice and finally because of her persistence the judge gives her the justice she deserves simply to get rid of her persistent requests for justice.

Jesus concludes this parable with these words in verse 7 and 8,

“And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Note how Jesus finishes this parable about showing faith in God by persistent and real prayer with a question about how much real faith he will find on earth when he comes again.

(vs. 149) Consistent earnest prayer anchored in the love and word of God

The writer speaks of God hearing his voice a voice that is speaking words of prayer to God based in both who God is, love and what he has declared to us, his word in verse 149 which reads like this,

“Hear my voice in accordance with your love, preserve my life Lord, according to your law”.

The writer of Psalm 119 is saying here that he knows what God is like and what he has promised him in his law which is an Old Testament term for God’s word because our writer knew what God is like from the law or covenant agreement that was given through Moses as we read in Deuteronomy 7: 7 – 9,

“The Lord did not set his affection on you and chose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But itwas because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, he is the faithful God keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments”.

The writer of Psalm 119 words in verse 140,

“In accordance with your love”

Are an echo of the words for the love of God he knew was the very covenant love Deuteronomy 7 and other verses in the Old Testament speak about.

For us under a new covenant brought about by the coming of and the death and resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s son become flesh we know more perfectly the love of God as proclaimed by the apostle John in his well- known verse, John 3: 16,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

Note how God’s word indicates how we only experience his gift of love and that is through real faith in his one and only Son, Jesus Christ. So real faith in God is anchored in God’s word which has been made manifest to us through the coming of Jesus Christ and through his death and resurrection.

Real faith then shows itself in our persistent and real prayers to God as has been said by many before me, “prayer is the breath of faith” or prayer is our faith in God working itself out in our daily lives.

3. (150 – 152) FAITH IS REAL DESPITE GREAT OPPOSITION TO THE FAITH WE HAVE

IN GOD

I have already made it clear what the connection of real faith in God is to trials and difficulties in life especially when I quoted the words of Peter in 1 Peter 1: 6 and 7 which I would like to fully quote here,

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refine by fire – may result in praise, glory and honor when Christ is revealed”.

Now we will see that connection of trials and difficulties to real faith in God in the rest of this Psalm.

Our writer of Psalm 119 now speaks of the painful trials and difficulties he currently faced in verse 150,

“Those who devise wicked schemes are near, but they are far from your law”.

As I have said many times throughout this long Psalm the writer of it suffered much at the hands of those he called his oppressors who he calls here people far from God’s law or people who do not believe in God and his word and remember these people more than likely would have been Jews like our writer and therefore should have known the God of the bible.

Maybe they even still professed some kind of faith in God but their wicked actions or schemes revealed that their faith in God was not real but was in fact false.

One of the most painful things true bible believing Christians face is how they are criticized by so called Christians who deny the authority of the bible or water it down so much it becomes just another reference book to refer to in their flimsy wishy- washy sermons. Real faith to the writer of Psalm 119 is anchored in God and his word the bible and this is so true to him that those who work against bible believers in his day he says are in fact,

“Far from your law” Or in fact far from God.

Paul warned Timothy of the problem of preachers and church leaders moving away from God’s word and what Timothy should do about this in 2 Timothy 4: 1 – 5,

“In the presence of God and in Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry”.

The writer does not dwell on the wicked schemes of his enemies here but goes on to declare real faith in God in the words of verse 151,

“Yet you are near, Lord and all your commands are true”.

Our writer is speaking pure and true words of real faith here as he cannot see God but he believes he is real and near to him despite the terrible opposition by those who either deny God’s existence or distort his revealed nature with a false view and faith in God.

Interestingly Peter in my previous quotation from 1 Peter 1 goes on to speak of faith without sight but real faith based on the testimony of Disciples of Jesus like Peter who did see the word become flesh and did witness his death and resurrection. Peter says this in 1 Peter 1: 8 – 9,

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls”.

As the writer to the Hebrews explained what real faith actually is in Hebrews 11: 1,

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”.

Our writer of Psalm 119 finishes this nineteenth stanza with a pure word of real faith when he writes in verse 152,

“Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever”.

Our writer knew his bible and he knew it was the very word of God from which his faith was anchored in. This word did not rely on him or anyone else to be believed but on its own merit it stood forever as the very word of God unchangeable.

Jesus made such a claim about his own word which of course was God’s word also as Jesus is God’s word become flesh (John 1: 14) in Matthew 24: 35,

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”.

The writer of Psalm 119 seems to be a man of some age as he speaks of learning and knowing the word of God, “long ago” but his faith was built on solid ground, the very eternal word of God and his faith was real as it stood the test of being challenged by wicked men who made life for him very difficult.

May we too trust in the eternal word of God and show the world that we have real faith by our consistent and devoted allegiance to God and his word.

I close this nineteenth stanza as usual with my four- line English Alphabet summary verse and a final word of prayer.

Salvation from my enemies Lord I crave

As I trust in your word each day.

Day and night, I come to God in prayer

In your word Lord my faith finds your way.

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven we thank you that you hear and answer our prayers and your word constantly encourages us to bring to you our every need in prayer. We seek to follow the example of your dear Son who when on earth regularly and earnestly prayed to you for help and guidance. May we earnestly ask, seek and even knock on the door of heaven knowing that if we ask you will give, if we seek we will find your answers and if we keep knocking you will open the door of your blessing to us here on earth. In the powerful name of Jesus we pray this, Amen.

Stanza 20: (153 – 160) GOD’S WORD PRESERVES AND REVIVES US IN LIFES

DIFFICULTIES

Life sometimes seems smooth and good and at other times life seems dark and difficult. This has been my experience of life of over 60 years now and yet I can testify as a bible believing Christian that through all times of my life God has always been there to help preserve and revive me through it all.

I cannot imagine who or what people who do not know the God of the bible turn to in difficult times in their lives and a few years ago I was reminded of this when a person I know reasonably well who does not know the Lord lost her husband to cancer.

On Facebook many people who knew her offered her all kinds of words of comfort but the best her non- believing friends could say was, “I’m thinking of you” and I decided to say on my post to her that I was thinking of her and praying for her and I asked God before, during and after the funeral of her dear husband that God would preserve and revive her life as she went through a painful dark and difficult time in her life.

The preservation and reviving of our writer when faced yet again with painful difficulties caused by those who opposed him and his God and his word is the main theme of stanza 20. This is because his request for God to preserve him appears three times in this stanza in verses 154, 156 and 159,

H.C. Leopold who’s excellent commentary on the book of Psalms which I always read thoroughly in my own research of the Psalms I am studying translates the word “preserve” as “revive” as does older translations of the bible like the King James version and Leopold does this because he believes the original Hebrew verb has the idea of,

“Becoming free and joyous again”.

Becoming free and joyful again is what we all seek in dark and difficult times in our lives like my friend who lost her husband unexpectedly and faced as a result the darkness and difficulty of grief. She would have longed to be free and joyful again and this is the true preservation and revival of the soul we all need from time to time in the dark and difficult times of life we all face from time to time

We will learn from this twentieth stanza of Psalm 119 that the preservation and revival of the soul we so often need and seek can only be found in God and his word and this God is non- other than the God we find in the bible.

So with the theme of God’s word preserves and revives us in the rough and tumble of life in mind my outline for this stanza is:

(153 – 154) GOD’S WORD ALONE PRESERVES AND REVIVES US

2. (155 – 158) GOD’S WORD REJECTED LEADS TO NO PRESERVATION

AND REVIVAL FOR US

3. (159 – 160) GOD’S ETERNAL WORD LOOKED TO AND BELIEVED IN GIVES US

PRESERVATION AND REVIVAL

Let’s now have a closer look at these three sections:

(153 – 154) GOD’S WORD ALONE PRESERVES AND REVIVES US

There is no doubt that the writer of Psalm 119 when he wrote Psalm 119 was going through a very difficult time in his life which he attributes to the opposition he was suffering from non – bible believing enemies as he indicates in verse 157 of this twentieth stanza which says,

“Many are the foes who persecute me, but I have not turned from your statutes”.

So his prayer that started at the start of the previous stanza continues with this further request in verse 153,

“Look on my suffering and deliver me, for I have not forgotten your law”.

Note he is suffering we know from the persecution of his enemies but what does he do in the difficult time in his life?He,

Looks to God
Continues to trust in God’s word

This is what he has been doing all through this long and wonderful Psalm he has been looking to or trusting in God and at the same time he has been looking to or trusting in God’s law or as we understand that, God’s revealed word we call the bible.

Last Sunday I attended a church that is part of a denomination where the most part of it deserted the word of God as the word of God and became liberal in its views of God and the bible. The church I went to was a small part of that denomination that remands faithful to God’s word the bible and it continues to grow as the larger non – bible believing liberal denomination continues to die.

The fact is only God’s word and God and his word alone can preserve and revive us as the writer of Psalm 119 goes on to say even clearer in verse 154,

“Defend my cause and redeem me; preserve or revive my life according to your promise”.

The first part of verse 154 apparently uses legal terminology in the term we translate, “Defend my cause”, and it is as though the writer of Psalm 119 is asking God to become his advocate or attorney who will present his case for redemption and revival from the enemies he faces.

I find this a very revealing fact because the same language is used by Jesus when he promises us The Holy Spirit in the later chapters of Johns Gospel. In John 15: 26 – 27 Jesus says this about the coming of and the function of the Holy Spirit,

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes from the Father – he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning”.

Note how this advocate or some translations call the counsellor actually helps the disciples to testify or speak the truth which is another name Jesus calls the Holly Spirit,

“The Spirit of truth”.

The New Testament part of the bible only came into being because God through the person of The Holy Spirit led and inspired those early disciples to be able to remember and write down what Jesus did and said as Jesus tells his disciples in John 16: 12 – 15,

So when a person and even worse a church moves away from the word of God they move away from the reviving and preserving word of life and as we see with many Churches today they die and are no more.

We can only then find the real reviving of our souls and lives in the rough and tumble of life when we trust and believe in God and his word. The writer of Psalm 119 knew this and this is why he asks in his prayer for preservation and revival,

“Preserve or revive my life according to your promise”

Where do we find the promises of God?

Only in his word which we call today the bible.

2. (155 – 158) GOD’S WORD REJECTED LEADS TO NO PRESERVATION

AND REVIVAL FOR US

In the second part of this twentieth stanza our writer of the Psalm points out very clearly that when a person and of course a church rejects the word of God they put themselves in a very difficult and dangerous place and this idea is found very clearly in the first verse of this second part of this twentieth stanza, verse 155 which says,

“Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek out your decrees”.

The word “Salvation” is more like deliverance and what the writer of this Psalm said in the opening verses of how his deliverance he called restoration and revival will not come to those who are wicked and who show this by the way they do not seek out or trust in the word of God.

I know of many Bible believing churches in the denomination I belong to which are thriving and going ahead and yet in other places in my country the same denomination I belong to is dying and I can say the main difference is the trust and commitment to the word of God which makes all the difference.

Sure you will point out to me what you see as bible believing churches that you know are dying but it not a matter of simply not giving up the bible but it is all about truly trusting in and living by that word that makes all the difference.

Our writer of Psalm 119 not only knew his bible but he trusted in the essence of what it was all about, namely the love or grace of God offered freely to us for in verse 156 he says this about God in contrast to what his bible denying non – believing enemies seem to say about him.

“Your compassion, Lord is great; preserve (or revive) my life according to your laws”.

Our writer knew that the God of the bible was a God of compassion or love and we as bible believing Christians know the underserved love of God which the New Testament calls “grace” as Paul declares so beautifully in Ephesians 2: 4 – 8,

7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”.

However just as this is Good News for the bible believer it is equally bad news for the person who rejects the bible and its message of grace and hope and our writer of Psalm 119 says as much in the next two verses, 157 and 158,

“Many are the foes who persecute me, but I have not turned from your statutes. 158I look on the faithless with loathing, for they do not obey your word”.

Our writers enemies persecute him because he dares trust in God and his word but he knew that only in God’s word do we find salvation and revival of our souls and lives. He loathed what the non – bible believers stood for and lived for and as he said back in verse 155,

“Salvation is far from the wicked”.

Paul spoke in a number of places in his writings in the New Testament about how even within the church preachers and leaders will turn aside from God and his word and he gives such a warning of this to the elders or minister leaders of the church in Ephesus in Acts 20: 28 – 31,

“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears”.

Paul loathed the idea that leaders in the church of God would one day lead people away from God and his word and we need to be reminded of this today that any teaches in the church who stray from the word of God should be loathed as they offer no real help to their hearers in the rough and tumble of this life and in fact as Paul said they are in fact like savage wolves who destroy the flock of Christ.

3. (159 – 160) GOD’S ETERNAL WORD LOOKED TO AND BELIEVED IN GIVES US

PRESERVATION AND REVIVAL

The third and final time the writer of Psalm 119 asks God for preservation and revival in his life as he faced suffering owing to his persecutors is in verse 159 and he again links his hope of preservation and revival of his life with the word of God and the love of God, he writes in verse 159,

“See how I love your precepts; preserve my life, God, in accordance with your word”.

On a number of occasions in this long wonderful Psalm the writer has referred to his love of God inspired by God’s love for him as he spoke of clearly in verses 156 of this same stanza 20,

“your compassion, Lord is great; preserve my life according to your laws.”

In Old Testament terms this love of God the writer speaks of in this verse is part and parcel of the covenant of love especially given through Moses on the Mount Sinai as we read in Deuteronomy 7: 7 – 9,

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, he is the faithful God keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments”.

As Christians we love God only because we know the love of God through what the book of Hebrews calls The New Covenant as Hebrews 9: 15 declares,

“For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant”.

Paul makes it clear that because of the work of Christ on the cross to win for us our salvation by grace all who put their faith in Christ are now not under law but are under grace, Romans 6: 14,

“For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace”.

So the bible speaks of in both Old and New Testaments that our preservation and revival in the rough and tumble of life comes through the underserved love of God.

Then our writer of Psalm 119 concludes this twentieth stanza with a statement of the importance and value of God’s word in which he is looking too, to give him preservation and revival in the face of his dark and painful suffering caused by persecution by his enemies, he writes in verse 160,

“All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal”.

I like Spurgeon’s comments on this verse and particularly his following words,

“Whatever the transgressors may say, God is true, and his word is true. The ungodly are false, but God’s word is true. They charge us with being false, but our solace is that God’s true word will clear us.”

We might face all kinds of trials and difficulties in our experience of the rough and tumble of life but as bible believing Christians we can join with Paul and declare as he does in Romans 8: 37 – 39,

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

Since writing my original Psalm talk for this stanza when I thought of my non – believing friend who lost her husband three other God believing, bible believing friends of mine have lost their God believing husbands and even though all of them have been suffering from dark and painful grief they all have a great loving God to turn to along with a caring loving church to support and encourage them. This is the difference between non – believers and God believing Christians they can find in the midst of their pain and difficulty preservation and revival in their daily lives in the midst of their pain and darkness that only God and his word can give them.

I close this stanza as I have done in all the previous nineteen stanzas with my four- line English Alphabet verse that sums up what I have learnt from this twentieth stanza and a final word of prayer:

Take away the pain my enemies cause

Revive me O Lord I pray

Trusting your word I will find the way

To know your love and your peace each day.

PRAYER:

Dear loving heavenly father help us to always trust in you and your life- giving word. A word that always gives us revival and preservation in the midst of the dark and difficult times of life. Help us to look to The Lord Jesus Christ for help and comfort. May all of us who know him care for our fellow brother sisters in Christ particularly in the dark difficult times of life we all face from time to time, In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Stanza 21: (161 – 168) GOD’S WORD IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE IT OFFERS US PEACE AND

SALVATION

We all live in a dark and hostile world where all kinds of things can easily destroy our peace and security and make us feel anxious in this life. I remember visiting many years ago a very old and frail Christian lady in a nursing home that some of my friends joined me in visiting once a month to offer ministry and encouragement to the aged residence there.

This women was once an active ministers wife but her husband had passed away many years before I met her. She herself was now unable to get out of bed but her mind was still active and her faith in God still strong. This women was such an encouragement to myself and the other young people who accompanied me every time we visited her. When we entered her room she refused to let us sing to her, read the bible to her and pray with her unto others in rooms around her were invited to her room if they could get out of bed to come an join us.

This women in her strife and difficulty still radiated the love and peace of the Lord Jesus and even in her bed ridden state still sought to minister for the Lord in the power of his word. She helped to make me realize that even in pain and difficulty we can both know the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ and can be a powerful witness to the wonderful salvation he offers us.

The memory of the witness of that lady in the nursing home came back to me when I was studying the twenty first stanza of Psalm 119 and I think verse 165 in that stanza captures the central message of this second last stanza when it says,

“Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble”.

That was the testimony of the writer of Psalm 119 when he faced great turmoil and difficulty in his life and that was the living testimony of the elderly Christian lady I visited all those years ago in the Nursing home where she was bedridden.

These two testimonies remind me of the first verse and chorus of the famous him, “It is well with soul” which goes like this,

When peace, like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

What -ever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain : It is well, it is ell, with my soul, with my soul

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

The preciousness of God’s word and the peace and Salvation it offers in the hostile world we live in is the theme I have chosen for this second last stanza of Psalm 119 and my three section outline that follower reflects this:

(161 – 163) GOD’S WORD IS PRECIOUS TO THOSE WHO TRUST AND REJOICE IN IT

(164 – 166) GOD’S WORD IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE IT OFFERS US PEACE AND

SALVATION

(167 – 168) GOD’S WORD IS PRECIOUS SO LOVE AND OBEY IT

So let’s now have a closer look at this amazing twenty first stanza of Psalm 119:

(161 – 163) GOD’S WORD IS PRECIOUS TO THOSE WHO TRUST AND REJOICE IN IT

This first section of the twenty first stanza of Psalm 119 I have broken down into three parts that make the point that God’s word is precious to those who trust and rejoice in it.

Those three parts are:

(vs. 161) The context of the writers words – great persecution
(vs. 162) The statement of how he values God’s word – precious.
(vs. 163) The reason why others find Gods word useless – falsehood and

faithlessness

Let me then open up in more detail each of these three parts of this first section;

(vs. 161) The context of the writers words – great persecution

Our writer has spoken a lot about the pain and difficulty he has received from people he sometimes calls his oppressors (vs. 121 and 134) and at least some of these oppressors were the very leaders or rulers of his time (vs. 23 and 46) and now in this verse, verse 161a he writes,

“Rulers persecute me without cause”.

Who these rulers and even kings in verse’s 23, 46 and here in verse 161 where we cannot tell as we simply do not know who the writer of Psalm 119 actually is and when he was living when he composed the Psalm. Many candidates could be suggested like the prophet Jeremiah who was persecuted by at least three of the five kings during his ministry and almost killed by king Zedekiah. Jeremiah was also persecuted by chief priests and other rulers of his day during his long difficult and often painful ministry.

Then in the times of Nehemiah and Ezra both these men were oppressed by leaders and rulers now in a multi – cultural Israel after the Jews return from the exile in Babylon. Nehemiah foils a plot by some non – Jewish oppressors to kill him recorded in Nehemiah 6.

However right through the bible God’s prophets were rejected and often persecuted by the rulers and kings of Israel as theses kings and religious rulers rejected God’s message spoken by his prophets to repent of their sins and return to him with faith in his word as Jesus concludes in Matthew 23: 37,

But in the face of such powerful opposition our writer of Psalm 119 says he is not afraid of these powerful rulers but in fact more afraid of someone far more powerful namely the God of the bible as he writes in the second half of verse 161b,

“But my heart trembles at your word”.

Again Jesus tells us who we should fear in Matthew 10: 28,

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell”.

All through the history of the church and even in our present- day true believers of God and his word have faced great opposition for their faith even from rulers and kings and many have lost their lives because of their brave stand for God but they knew who to really fear.

Even if their bodies were bashed and destroyed by these rulers to kill off their powerful testimony to God and his word they were saved by God who has the power to,

“Destroy both soul and body in hell”.

And of course this God has the power and ability to save them from hell through the saving death of Christ on the cross as Paul points out so beautifully in Romans 8: 31 – 39,

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(vs. 162) The statement of how he values God’s word – precious.

Once our writer reveals the context of his statement of how he values God’s word which is of course is in the context of great opposition to it that leads to persecution he then states in verse 162 what he sees as the value he places on the word of God which he describes this way,

“I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil”.

It has been said that there are around 5467 promises in the bible and the writer of Psalm 119 obviously knew many in what he would have had of the Old Treatment because he says,

“I rejoice in your promise”.

Promise here is yet another term for the word of God and to call the bible “God’s promises” is a neat way of saying that the bible gives us great hope and reasons for being positive even if we are like the writer of Psalm 119 who faced a very difficult time in his life. The apostle Paul practiced and preached the idea of rejoicing or glorifying God in our suffering and for good reasons as he writes in Romans 5: 3 – 5,

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us”.

Paul knew that God used all things to work together for good for those he calls according to his good purpose (Romans 8: 28). Most of the promises of God offer God’s help and hope in the face of difficulty and most of the Psalms like this one would not have been written if the writer had not faced persecution or some kind of suffering in their lives that caused them to write the Psalm.

So the value of God’s word is then stated in verses 162 in ancient battle imagery because he the writer says,

“Like one who finds great spoil”.

The writer of Psalm 119 has spoken three times before of the great value of God’s word the bible (vs’s 14, 72, 111) but now he says its value is like great spoil which is like a soldier picking up items of great value from the battle field after their enemies had been defeated. Many armies in ancient times thrived on the spoil they took from their defeated enemies. Spurgeon explains well what our writer is saying here when he writes,

“He compares his joy to that of one who has been long in battle, and has at last won the victory and is dividing the spoil”.

His enemies might think they have the upper hand or come from the more superior position as those who reject God’s word often do but in the true state of affairs they are loser’s and the bible believer is the winner as they have the most valuable thing in life, the very word of God.

Jesus makes the value of God’s word real in two verses and the first is Matthew 24: 35,

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never pass away”.

Then in Matthew 6: 19 – 21 he says these wise words,

(vs. 163) The reason why others find Gods word useless – falsehood and

faithlessness

Finally in the third verse of this first section of the twenty first stanza he says this in verse 163,

“I hate and detest falsehood but love your law”.

Here our writer of Psalm 119 is telling us that to turn away from God and his word which is most precious is a result of falsehood or faithlessness. This falsehood or faithlessness our writer detests or hates and he has said similar things before like verse 21,

“You rebuke the arrogant, who are accursed, those who stray from your commands”.

Note how in this verse it is arrogance or pride that leads to faithlessness in God and his word and arrogance or pride is what lies at the root of man’s sinfulness. People do not want God in control of their lives so Paul says in Romans 1: 18 – 20,

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse”.

So it is little wonder that people even today find little value in even reading the bible and write it off as an antiquated book of myth or fairytales. Even in the so- called Christian church there are many who have so devalued the word of God that it is rarely considered and has become merely one of the many text books Christians can refer to for truth and insight.

This terrible state of affairs in the Christian church was even a problem in the New Testament times as Paul gives Timothy this warning with advise about problems he believes Timothy must be prepared forin the future in 2 Timothy 4: 1 – 5,

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”.

Our writer is not like those who love falsehood and therefore turn away from God’s precious word but he is a person who loves God word because in the second half of verse 163 he simply says,

“But I love your law”.

This is something he has been saying all the way through this long and wonderful Psalm and in fact the whole Psalm is a praise for the supremacy and benefits of God’s law or word that this writer of Psalm 119 dearly loves.

2. (164 – 166) GOD’S WORD IS PRECIOUS BECAUSE IT OFFERS US PEACE AND

SALVATION

After our writer of Psalm 119 made it clear that God’s word is very precious to those who rejoice in and love the word of God he makes a claim about how God’s word influences him in his day to day life. This shows us how he puts into practice his rejoicing in and his love of the word of God, he writes in verse 164,

“Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws”.

I don’t think our writer of Psalm 119 is saying literally that he praise’s God’s word seven times a day but rather using the Jewish number for completeness or perfection, seven, he is saying he lives continually in an attitude of praise for the word of God. Spurgeon explains it well when he writes,

“He laboured perfectly to praise his perfect God, and therefore fulfilled the perfect number of songs. Seven may also intend frequency. Frequently he lifted up his heart in thanksgiving to God for his divine teachings in the word, and for his divine actions m providence”.

This is a similar idea to Paul teaching in particularly in 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 – 18,

“Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.

Then our writer gives us two great practical reasons why God’s word is so precious in the next two verses and they are:

(vs. 165) God and his word gives us peace
(vs. 166) God and his word gives us salvation

Let’s have a closer look at each of these two great practical things God gives us through his word that makes his word so precious:

(vs. 165) God and his word gives us peace

Our writer of Psalm 165 now comes to, what I believe is the heart of this twenty first stanza namely God’s blessing of his peace in our lives especially in times of problems and difficulties as he writes in verse 165a,

“Great peace have those who love your law”.

This peace of God is something we can have even in times of problems and difficulties because he qualifies it with what he says in the second part of verse 165,

“And nothing can make themstumble”.

Where did our writer get from God’s word that God and his word will give him peace?

I believe this idea of the blessing of God and his word being his peace is found in what is called the Priestly Blessing of Aaron found in Numbers 6: 24 – 26,

“The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 ‘“The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’

God turns his face or character towards his people by revealing that face or character through his word the bible. Allan Harmon writes,

“God gives us ‘peace” which is much more than mere absence of hostility or strife. It is a gift for those who are blessed, guarded and treated graciously by the Lord”.

It is a peace that God gives us in the midst of hostility and strife as the writer of Psalm 119 says it is a peace that means,

“Nothing can make them stumble”

I was so taken by this amazing offer of peace God promises us when we trust in him and his word that I did a detailed study of “Christian peace” in the New Testament and here is my favorite three New Treatment references from that study:

We have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ – Romans 5: 1 – 5,

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us”.

Note the peace we have through the Lord Jesus Christ is not a peace that is absence form hostility but a peace that Paul describes as being access by faith to God and more particularly the grace of God which Paul says we now stand on.

Paul goes on to say that in fact this peace with God is not absence from hostility but rather is a peace that we have in suffering that God uses to produce perseverance, character and hope.

2. Peace that passes all understanding – Philippians 4: 6 – 7

In the second peace passage in the New Testament that really impressed me was one of my all- time favorites and I have quoted it many times in my Psalm talks and it comes from the fourth chapter of Philippians and verse 6 and 7 which says,

Again note the peace Paul offers here is not again absence from hostility but the ability to cope with it and have a peace in the midst of it that Paul says in verse 7,

“Transcends all understanding”

This peace Paul says,

“Will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”.

This is a similar idea to the writer of Psalm 119 idea in verse 165 of,

“Nothing can make them stumble”

God you see is not saying trust in me and my word and you will no longer have any conflict or difficulty in your life rather he is saying trust in me and my word and I will help you in the midst of any conflict or difficulty you might face and if you do trust in me and my word I will give you my wonderful peace.

3. Jesus offers peace that the world cannot give us – John 14: 27,

My last choice of a peace passage or verse in the New Testament is from the lips of our Lord himself when in John 14: 27, Jesus spoke these words to his disciples on the night before he went to the cross to pay for our sins and make a way for us back to God. Jesus knew that his disciples would face all kinds of difficulties and even conflict in the days and years ahead but he offers them in the midst of that conflict his peace.

Let me quote now the words of Jesus offer of peace,

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”.

We might think God does not care for us and our world because it is in such a mess and even those of us who trust in him and his word still suffer often like the writer of Psalm 119 did because we trust and believe in God and his word but Jesus is saying I will give you my peace even in the midst of the difficulty and conflict you are going through.

This kind of peace the world or those outside of Jesus cannot give and with this inner peace Jesus offers us we cannot let our hearts get troubled or be afraid or again as the writer of Psalm 119 says in verse 165 with this peace,

“Nothing can make them stumble”

(vs. 166) God and his word gives us salvation

The second practical reason why God’s word is precious to those who trust in it is what I will call salvation and the writer of Psalm 119 speaks of this in verse 166,

“I wait for your salvation, Lord, and I follow your commands”.

It is obvious that our writer had not yet experienced absence from all hostilities yet he believed ultimately God would give him this as he said he now waits for God’s salvation. This is his faith in the word of God in action and his understanding of this hope of salvation was not based on his feelings or desires for that salvation but on the very words of God which he calls in this verse,

“Your Commands”.

I quoted earlier the type of words of commands this writer knew and obviously trusted in passages like Deuteronomy 7: 7 – 9,

“The Lord did not set his affection on you and chose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, he is the faithful God keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments”.

Even in the Priestly blessing of Aaron there is a strong indication of God giving those who trust in him and his word ultimate salvation, Numbers 6: 24 – 26,

However nothing in the Old Testament comes close to the clear and sure offer of peace with God and ultimate salvation like we read in the New Testament and brilliantly illustrated by the previous word of Paul I quoted from Romans 5: 1 – 5,

This passage of Paul speaks of the three aspects of our salvation:

We are saved – vs. 1,

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’

2. We are being saved – vs’s 3 – 4

3. We will be saved – vs. 2b

“And we boast in the hope of the glory of God”.

Note it is a hope to come not a hope that might come but a hope that will come.

I would like to quote C.H Spurgeon as he shows us how being saved by grace connects with obedience to the word of God. Spurgeon argues that works are but outworking of the grace of God we claim we have found, he writes,

“That same divine teaching which delivers us from confidence in our own doings leads us to abound in every good work to the glory of God. In times of trouble there are two things to be done, the first is to hope in God, and the second is to do that which is right. The first without the second would be mere presumption: the second without the first is mere formalism”.

3. (167 – 168) GOD’S WORD IS PRECIOUS SO LOVE AND OBEY IT

The writer of Psalm 119 finishes his twenty first stanza or his second last stanza with a word of commitment to God and his word is a word of commitment that has flowed from his understanding of the preciousness of that word that he has just said gives him now God’s peace to cope with conflict and difficulty and will give him ultimate salvation from all conflict and difficulty.

His commitment to God’s word is twofold:

(vs. 167) – Love it
(vs. 168) – Obey it

Let’s have a closer look at these final two verses of this twenty first stanza with these two aspect of commitment our writer pledges for God’s word.

(vs. 167) – Love it

In both of the last two verses the word “obey” appears but I will focus on that word more in the last verse and here I will focus on the concept of loving God’s word for verse 167 says,

“I obey your statutes, for I love them greatly”.

Seven times the writer of Psalm 119 declares that he loves God’s word (47, 97, 119, 127, 140, 159 and 163) and the whole Psalm has spelt out in many wonderful ways why he loves the word of God which includes seven times referring to knowing God’s love or compassion for him (41, 64,76, 77, 88, 149, 156) which he obviously only got from God’s word.

The apostle John spoke a lot about the love of God including the important idea that we only love God because he first loved us, 1 John 4: 19,

“We love because he first loved us”.

So we too only know that God loves us because of Jesus the word became flesh declares that God loves us because he died for our sins on the cross, John 3: 16. Not only John 3: 16 tells us God loves us but the whole bible tells us that as well, one way or another, in fact it is to me the central message of the whole bible.

Therefore God loves us according to his word so that means we should love God and the word that tells us he loves us.

John knew personally the very word of God become flesh, Jesus Christ and he says this about loving God and how that love should inspire us to love one another, 1 John 4: 7- 12,

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us”.

2. (vs. 168) – Obey it

Finally the love that our writer has for his God and particularly his word meant for him that he sought to obey it as he writes in the first part of verse 168, the final verse of this twenty first stanza,

“I obey your precepts and your statutes”

He has just not only stated that he loved God’s word in verse 167, the previous verse but there also he stated,

“I obey your statutes”

At the end of the second section of this twenty first stanza I quoted C.H. Spurgeon’s comments on the relationship of grace and works or here love and obedience and I would like to give you the first part of this important quote again,

“That same divine teaching which delivers us from confidence in our own doings leads us to abound in every good work to the glory of God”.

Jesus himself makes the connection between loving him and obeying him when he simply says in John 14: 23,

“Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them”.

Earlier in verse 15 of that same chapter in John’s Gospel he simply says,

“If you love me, keep my commands”.

Jesus wants us to follow his example, he was loved by his father and he in term loved him and that led him, while on earth, to obey what the Father wanted him to do and he spells this out in the next chapter in verse’s 9 – 10,

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love”.

Paul spells out the function of Good works or obedience to God and his word at the end of his famous passage on being saved by grace or God’s underserved love alone through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in Ephesians 2 with these words in verses 8 – 10,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.

True Godly or God given good works flow from a true love for what God has done for us and if we do not have them or show them then you reveal that you have not truly come to faith in God as James puts it more simply in James 2: 17,

“In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action (or works) is dead”.

Our writer of Psalm 119 said he loved God’s word and that meant for him that he sought to obey it and he was so sure that his proclaimed faith and obedience was real because he closes his twenty first stanza with the words,

“For all my ways are known to you”.

The author of Psalm 19 was sure that the God who sees all and knows all knew he had real faith in him that showed in that writers life by his obedience to his word. But it must be also true that God would have seen that even this great man of God who loved God and his word was like all us a sinner saved by God’s unmerited love which only becomes really clear when Jesus came to lay down his life for us and through this great act of love we are truly saved to, as Paul put it “to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.

I close as usual with my four- line English Alphabet summary verse of this twenty first stanza of Psalm 119,

United with you Lord I fear no foe

For your word is precious to me.

It gives me great peace in the midst of strife

I love you Lord for setting me free.

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven we thank you for sending Jesus into this world to save us from all our sins by his death on the cross, love we simply don’t deserve. Thank you, Father, that your Son’s death and resurrection has given us peace as all who accept what you have done for us are no longer at war with you. In fact Father through faith in your Son we have your gift of peace that passing all human understanding. In the powerful name of The Lord Jesus we pray, Amen.

Stanza 22: (169 – 176) GOD’S WORD IS THE INSTRUMENT OF HIS HELP AND SALVATION

THEREFORE I WILL SING ITS PRAISES

In one lecture I had at Bible College many years ago I remember a question one lecturer asked us that I will never forget and the question was:

When Christians gather together for worship what is the most important thing they do?

Members of my year at college started to give answers to this important question. One person suggested the sermon as that is when we learn about God and how we should respond to him. The lecturer said the sermon was a very important part of the worship service but was not the most important thing we do.

Another student suggested singing the praises of God as that is when we are really worshipping him. The lecture said yes singing the praises of God was a very important part of worship but it was not the most important thing we do when we gather to worship.

Finally another student said the most important thing we do when we gather to worship God was prayer for that is when we talk to God. The lecturer said yes prayer is a very important part of worship but it still is not the most important thing we do.

By this stage the lecture hall was quiet as no other suggestions were made. Then the lecturer picked up his bible and said the most important thing we do in a worship service is when the word of God the bible is read to us. This is the most important thing we do when we gather to worship as this is when God speaks to us with no human intervention but the voice of the bible reader reading the pure words of God.

He went on to explain that a good sermons should only explain and apply God’s word. That singing God’s praises should always conform to the word of God and even prayer is just us speaking to God but the way God chooses to answer is primarily through his word the bible.

We have seen all through Psalm 119 its writer singing the praises of God’s word and telling us in a most comprehensive way the benefits and value of God’s word. Here in the last stanza of this enormous Psalm the writer brings home this message. He sees God’s word and God’s word alone as God’s instrument of help and salvation for his daily life. He says in the first verse of this stanza,

“May my cry come before you, Lord; give me understanding according to your word”.

You see when this man prays to God he asks for a reply, an answer, he believes comes only through the very word of God which he says,

“Gives me understanding”.

We will explore together the theme of this last stanza of Psalm 119 namely how God’s word, the bible is God’s chosen instrument of help and salvation and we will see yet again how the writer of Psalm 119 always sings its praises or speaks of its value and benefits in both word and song.

With this theme in mind then my outline for this twenty second stanza is:

(169 – 170) A PRAYER BASED ON THE WORD OF GOD BEING GOD’S INSTRUMENT

OF HELP

(171 – 173) A PRAISE OF GOD’S WORD AS THE INSTRUMENT OF HIS HELP

(174- 175) A LONGING FOR GOD’S SALVATION GIVEN THROUGH THE

INSTRUMENT OF HIS WORD.

(vs. 176) A FINAL PLEA FOR GOD TO SAVE HIM THROUGH HIS INSTRUMENT

OF SALVATION THE WORD OF GOD.

(169 – 170) A PRAYER BASED ON THE WORD OF GOD BEING GOD’S INSTRUMENT

OF HELP

When I worked as a church youth worker after left bible college many years ago I taught scripture in both primary and high schools. In my home state in Australia, New South Wales to this day the churches by law have access to public schools to teach the scripture’s for up to two hours a week. This became law in New South Wales when a deal was struck for the churches to give up most of its schools to be state run. This law is seriously under attack at this present time as our society moves further and further away from God and his word.

An often-asked question by students in my scripture classes was:

How can you know there is a God?

I would always point my students to the bible and how the bible and the bible alone tells us about God and how we can know him through The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s word become flesh who came to earth to show us what God is like and make a way back to him.

Some students would say, “That’s a dumb way for God to make himself known”. I thought about this reaction a lot and came up with this answer. If God chose to speak to us with a great universal voice in the sky what would that be like. I would then put my hands to my mouth making a way of making my voice sound louder and then in a loud voice say something like,

“Hey world I am God listen to me”

I pointed out how disconcerting this would be and then pointed out how God is spirit and therefore we cannot physically see him in this life so he made it possible for us to see him in a form we can handle and understand, namely a human being like we are who spoke like we speak and that was recorded for all time and we read the record of this in this book called the bible which has been translated into most of languages of the world and those who don’t have it in their native tongue Christians are right now working on changing that,

Our writer of Psalm 119 knew this important principle as well as we see in verse 169, the first verse of the twenty second stanza of Psalm 119 when it says,

“May my cry come before you Lord; give me understanding according to your word”.

You see our writer believed he could speak to the God of the bible in prayer which this verse calls,

“My cry”.

Then our writer tells us that God’s chosen instrument of speaking to us is his word for the second half of the verse says,

“Give me understanding according to your word”.

The writer to the Hebrews says this about how God speaks to us in Hebrews 1: 1 – 2,

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe”

You see to get understating of God you need his revelation of himself and his chosen instrument to do this is his word brought to us first through the prophets which represents the Old Testament and finally through his Son, Jesus Christ who is one with God in heaven come to earth as John declares in John 1: 14,

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”.

The next verse in this final stanza of Psalm 119 continues the same idea, verse 170,

“May my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your promise”.

Note how our writer of Psalm 119 again prays to God as supplication is another word for prayer and one dictionary I found on line defines supplication as,

“The action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly”.

But our writer begs or earnestly asks God for deliverance from his many enemies with confidence of God answering, because he knew the many promises God had made in his word that told him of God’s help for people who truly trust in him.

Promises like Isaiah 40: 29,

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak”.

Or Psalm 72: 12 – 14,

“For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. 13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. 14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight”.

In the last stanza I pointed out that there are 5467 promises in the bible and many of these are in the Old Testament so our writer put his faith in God’s word that contains many promises for help and salvation.

As Christians we have a far greater knowledge of the promises of God because we know Jesus Christ who Paul says in whom all God’s promises find their yes, 2 Corinthians 1: 20,

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God”.

Paul knew that Jesus was the way God made back to God and that faith in him brings us salvation and help as Paul states in Romans 5: 1- 5,

So God’s channel for hope and salvation is The Lord Jesus Christ who we know today through the word of God we call The Bible. This great fact is yet another reason why the reading of the bible, God’s word to us is the most important part of any church service.

2. (171 – 173) A PRAISE OF GOD’S WORD AS THE INSTRUMENT OF HIS HELP

So we have seen all through Psalm 119 our writer has praised God’s word and so here in the final stanza it is not strange then that our writer praises God’s word. In verses 171 and 172 he speaks of two ways he seeks to praise God’s word:

(vs. 171) By speaking it
(vs. 172) By singing it

So let’s have a closer look at these two ways our writer seeks to praise God’s word and in both why he wants to speak and sing its praises.

(vs. 171) By speaking it

The first way our writer wants to praise God’s word is by speaking of it, he writes in verse 171,

“May my lips overflow with praise”.

Our writer has spoken before of using his mouth as a means for praising God and particularly for praising his word like verse 108,

“Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws”.

So our writer of Psalm 119 in this verse wants to speak of the praise he has for Gods’ word and at the same time he wants God to teach him his word. Even Paul, who particularly knew and proclaimed the word of God always wanted to know that word of God who is The Lord Jesus Christ more and more as he indicates in Philippians 3: 10 – 11,

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead”.

So why does our writer want to speak the praises of God and his word and his answer to this is in the second part of verse 171,

“For you teach me your decrees”.

C. H Spurgeon explains the meaning of these words by saying,

“Eminent disciples are wont to speak well of the master who instructed them, and this holy man, when taught the statutes of the Lord, promises to give all the glory to him to whom it is due”.

God teaches him or uses his word as the channel to teach him and in turn he promises to speak of what he has leant with praise from his lips as David often promises to do like Psalm 30: 11 – 12,

“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever”.

(vs. 172) By singing it

Our writer of Psalm 119 has composed a very long and beautiful Psalm that in one way or another sings the praises of the word of God. He has done this because he knew that through the word of God, God channels his help and blessing so he determines to continue to sing the praises of the word of God in verse 172 when he says,

“May my tongue sing of your word”.

His tongue and his hand in writing has done just that and he goes on to say why he sings such wonderful and comprehensive praises of the word of God in the second part of verse 172, when he declares,

“For all your commands are righteous”

The truth of God’s word has been another constant theme in this Psalm appearing one way or another eight times before (7, 43, 106, 128, 137, 142, 160 and 164). I like verse 137 and I think it’s worth quoting here,

“You are righteous, Lord, and your laws are right”.

Jesus prays to his father in heaven for the disciples and what will happen to them after he dies, rises from the dead and goes back to heaven in John 17.In John 17 he speaks of the truth of the word he has given them which became what we now call The New Testament. Jesus says this about the word of God in John 17: 14 – 17,

“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth”.

God is true or righteous so what he says is true and righteous and so the writer of Psalm sings the praises of God’s word in word and song believing that it is God word alone that can save him and he goes on in verse 173 to say this,

“May your hand be ready to help me”

The hand of God Allan Harman says is a,

“Synonym for power” (see Deuteronomy. 32: 39 and Isaiah 28: 2)

Harmon goes on to explain,

“The appeal is for a demonstration of divine action in securing him from his trouble”.

Note how again this writer of Psalm 119 links this appeal for rescue by the hand of God to the word of God as he says,

“ I have chosen your precepts”.

So God’s chosen channel of help and salvation for every believer is the word of God.

3. (174- 175) A LONGING FOR GOD’S SALVATION GIVEN THROUGH THE

INSTRUMENT OF HIS WORD.

So this underlining theme of the word of God being God’s instrument or channel of help and salvation continues in the next two verses where he:

(vs. 174) Longs for God’s salvation through God’s word which he delights in
(vs. 175) Longs for God to let him live by sustaining him by his word

Let’s have a closer look at these next two verses:

(vs. 174) Longs for God’s salvation through God’s word which he delights in

All through this long Psalm our writer has referred to the enormous difficulties he faced caused by his enemies who he often calls his oppressors who are people who reject God and his word as being true and helpful. His zeal for the word of God has caused him to be the object of his non – bible believing opponents scorn and ridicule as he aptly declares in a verses like 22 and 23,

“Remove from me their scorn and contempt, for I keep your statutes. Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will mediate on your decrees”.

These powerful enemies got so vicious it seems they sought to take his life as he indicates in verse 95,

“The wicked are waiting to destroy me, but I will ponder your statutes”.

So in verse 174 our writer longs for God’s Salvation or deliverance from these dangerous vengeful enemies and he writes,

“I long for your salvation Lord”

And then he indicates in the second part of the verse that this salvation will only come through God’s word which he delights in,

“Your law gives me delight”.

Delighting in God’s law has been mentioned seven time before (16, 24, 47, 70, 77, 92 and 143) and is another constant theme in this long Psalm that sings the praises of the word of God and pinpoints its many benefits.

Now, however its benefit is his salvation which he sees connected to the word of God and so I ask where did our writer get the idea that God’s word will give him salvation?

Our writer of Psalm 119 knew that God saved his people Israel out of Egypt and this showed him that the God of the bible had the willingness and ability to save him. God had saved his faithful people and this was the basis of his loving covenant with his people as we read in Exodus 19: 3 – 6,

“Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

So all through the Old Testament God is presented in his word as a gracious and loving God who saves people who trust in him and obey his word. In the previous Psalm, Psalm 118, we saw how God is good because his love endures forever and three times in that Psalm God is spoken of as their savior, verses 14, 21 and 25. I will quote just one of these verses, verse 14,

“The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation”.

So God chooses to love and save us even though we don’t deserve this salvation and we know this through the word of God so like the writer of Psalm 119 we should delight in his word as it alone brings us the message of God’s salvation and that delight for God and his word should cause us to want to sing the praises of our God and his precious word, the Bible.

In the New Testament we have clearer message of God’s salvation, like Acts 2: 21,

“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”.

We read in the New Testament of how God saves us like the famous John 3: 16 verse clearly proclaims,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.

So God’s instrument of salvation is his Son, Jesus Christ the word of God become flesh who gave his life to save us from our sins. Therefore we must call on him and according to Acts 2: 21, we,

“Will be saved”

The writer of Psalm 119 sought salvation of deliverance from his powerful enemies but we seek deliverance or salvation from the powerful enemies of sin and the devil.

(vs. 175) Longs for God to let him live by sustaining him by his word

So I have made it clear in the previous point that the salvation or deliverance the writer of Psalm 119 sought from God was from his powerful enemies who sought to kill him and this becomes even clearer in the first part of the next verse, verse 175 which says,

“Let me live that I may praise you”.

Being saved from their enemies and even from sin so that the writer may praise God is all through the book of Psalms and a brilliant example of this is in David’s confessional prayer in Psalm 51 offered after he realized God knew his sins of adultery and murder and in verses 12 – 14, David prays,

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Saviour, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness”.

Our writer like David knew this offer of such wonderful love and salvation was only clear through the word of God so he completes verse 175 with these words,

“And may your laws sustain me”.

So our writer sought God’s sustaining power that he believes comes through the word of God as in that word there are many promises of God’s help and protection like in the Old Testament Deuteronomy 31: 6,

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

And in the New Testament 2 Thessalonians 3: 3,

“But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one”.

The writer of Psalm 119 had connected the promise of God sustaining him with the word of God back in verse 116 which says,

“Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live”.

So God has chosen to offer those who put their trust in him his protection and help and we only know this because we have his word, the bible which declares it.

We also have the proof of God’s love and offer of protection in the living word of God become flesh in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who endured the cross to win for us our salvation and prove once and for all that God promises to bless those who believe in him with his amazing grace which is true and real and through it we have his salvation and blessing.

I once had some Mormon missionaries come to my door and ask me if he could come inside and bless me and my home and I refused him entry because I did not need his blessing as I had all the blessings I could ever want in the Lord Jesus Christ. I then read to him from my bible Ephesians 1: 3 – 9,

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ”.

The Mormon missionaries left my front door shaking their heads and saying something like, “and he doesn’t wont our blessing”, I thought they just didn’t get it as God’s word promises us his blessing in Christ that includes his sustaining power and might in our daily lives.

4. (vs. 176) A FINAL PLEA FOR GOD TO SAVE HIM THROUGH HIS INSTRUMENT

OF SALVATION THE WORD OF GOD.

The last verse of this twenty second stanza which is of course the last verse of this amazing long Psalm might seem to be a bit of contradiction to what the writer has been saying for over 175 verses now for this verse says,

“I have strayed like lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands”.

On a surface level this verse might make sense if it said something like,

“My persecutors your enemies have strayed like lost sheep”

But no the writer of Psalm 119 says that he has strayed like a lost sheep. So why would he say this when over and over again he has said something like he says in the last part of this verse,

“For I have not forgotten your commands”.

Allan Harmon offers a different way of understanding the writers expression of,

“I have strayed like lost sheep”.

When he explains,

“It must be a reference to the Psalmist helplessness in the face of persecution”.

If his persecutors are both many and include the powerful rulers of his day which he has referred to at other times in the Psalm like verse 23,

“Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees”.

Then the image of a lost sheep who had strayed from the protection of its shepherd would be a powerful one.

Our writer of Psalm 119 chooses a popular biblical image of sheep and their protector and guide the shepherd who is the God of the bible. This image David employs so beautifully in his famous Psalm 23: 1 – 4,

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me”.

The protection and guidance David speaks of here is what our writer longs for from God because in this last verse he goes on to call himself,

“Your Servant”

So he wants God to act like the Good Shepherd he is and go after his lost sheep or his sheep that has wandered into great danger and save them from their many enemies.

Our writer links the salvation and help of God to the word of God in his final statement of the Psalm when he writes,

“For I have not forgotten your commands”.

Our writer of Psalm 119 has shown over and over again that he believes that God’s instrument of help and salvation for his people is his word.

Of course I want to link the instrument of God’s help and salvation to the word of God become flesh who is The Lord Jesus Christ who also honed in on this popular biblical image of The Good Shepherd looking after his sheep in John 10: 11 – 18,

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

So with this powerful image of God being like a Good Shepherd who cares for his sheep especially those in trouble our writer of Psalm 119 concludes his long but beautiful Psalm. He has declared so comprehensively throughout this long Psalm both the supremacy and value of God’s word and has applied its many benefits to his very difficult life in which he faced many powerful enemies who denied value of God’s word.

We live in a world that flatly denies value of God’s word but it is God’s word alone that offers us both help and salvation.

I close with what the writer to the Hebrews says about the word of God in Hebrews 4: 12 and 13 and my usual four- line English Alphabet verse that sums up the message of this twenty second stanza of Psalm 119 and a final word of prayer.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account”.

Vital is your word to my life O Lord

Help me to understand it now.

For your word declares your love for me

And it gives me your grace and power.

PRAYER

Dear Father in heaven I thank you for sending down from heaven your only dear Son Jesus Christ who is your word become flesh. Thank you that through him we have a clear and wonderful understanding of who you are and how much you love us. Thank you that your only dear Son gave up his life on the cross to make a way back to you by paying for all our sins. May we continue to both read and inwardly digest your word and proclaim to the world in word, song and deed you precious word, the bible. Finally may we as lost sheep know your protection and help through your dear Son who is the great good shepherd of the sheep who we can turn to at any time in our lives. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

Psalm Talks

Monthly Archives: July 2021

PSALM 119 TALK: THE SUPREMACY AND BENEFITS OF GOD’S WORD (Parts 1, 2, 3)