PSALM 119 TALK: THE SUPREMACY AND BENEFITS OF GOD’S WORD (Parts 1, 2, 3)

Posted on July 10, 2021 by jimwenman

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 He was actually saying to me that both God and the bible were not only outdated but irrelevant now in the 21st century.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 150 TALK: THE ROAD OF PRAISE

Posted on June 12, 2019 by jimwenman

PSALM 150 TALK: THE ROAD OF PRAISE

(This is the fifth and last of the final five Psalms of the book of Psalms often called The Hallelujah Psalms and this Psalm features a call to praise God with all our life, music and breathe as the fitting conclusion to the book of Psalms. According to this Psalm and the whole book of Psalms God has a way for us to go or a road for us to travel on and by going this way or travelling on this road we are on a road of praise and worship.)

INTRODUCTION

Psalm 150 is fitting Psalm to end the book of Psalms which is obviously a specific Psalm written by original editors of the fifth and final book of Psalms to express a fitting conclusion to the entire Hebrew songbook we call Psalms. Each of the four books of Psalms has a final verse or two that acts as a doxology for that book (see Psalm 72: 18 – 19) but Psalm 150 is a whole Psalm doxology or short expression of praise devoted to the fifth book of Psalms and the entire book of Psalms.

The actual Hebrew word “Psalms” or “tehillim” means “praises” and when we put this title into the context of the whole the five books of Psalms we come up with a wonderful bit of teaching about God and life. Psalm 1 sets the scene for the five books of Psalms with the presentation of two ways or roads we can take, the way of life and the way of death. Then we read in Psalm 2 of the great opposition of the nations or the world of men to God and his chosen anointed king who is David and his faithful followers in the first two books of Psalms but as the books of Psalms develops particularly after the return from exile and captivity in Babylon God’s anointed king is the Promised Messiah who is the Lord Jesus Christ and the book of Psalms moves to look forward to his coming to the nation of Israel and the world.

This opposition and the many problems and difficulties of living in a sinful fallen world cause great pain and stress for David and his faithful followers just as it did for Jesus and those who follow him which includes us today.

Many of the Psalms are called “Laments” and a lament has been described as,

“Apassionate expression of grief or sorrow” (Google dictionary)

These Lament Psalms often end up on a high note of praise as the Psalmist realises that even in times of trial, sorrow, tears, pain, temptation, sickness, bereavement and persecution God is there with him helping him, saving him and comforting him as he walks the road or lives the life God has called him to walk or live.

I read these words in my NIV bible study notes that perfectly puts this Psalm 150 in the context of the entire book of Psalms,

“As the wise faithful person’s life draws to an end, he or she realizes clearly that God’s road is the right road. Knowing this will cause us to praise God for leading us in the right direction and for assuring our place in the perfect world God has in store for those who have faithfully followed him”.

Thirteen times the writer of Psalm 150 use the ultimate term for praise of the God of the Bible, “Hallelujah” or “Praise to Yahweh” which our NIV bible translates as “Praise the Lord”. This final Psalm then answers four important questions concerning Praising Yahweh:

Where should we praise God?
Why should we praise God?
How should we praise God?
Who should praise God?

My answer to these four questions form four headings for this Psalm and I will endeavour to flesh out my answer to these four important questions with what this Psalm says, what others Psalms say, what other parts of the Old Testament says and finally what the New Testament says.

My prayer is that after you have read this Psalm talk God will have helped to equip you to walk his wonderful road of praise.

(vs. 1) WHERE SHOULD WE PRAISE GOD

(vs. 1a) Praise God on the earth
(vs. 1b) Praise God in heaven

2 (vs. 2) WHY SHOULD WE PRAISE GOD

(vs. 2a) Praise God for his acts of power
(vs. 2b) Praise God for his surpassing greatness

3 (3 – 5) HOW SHOULD WE PRAISE GOD

(vs. 3) Praise God with triumphant music
(vs. 4) Praise God with joyful dancing and music
(vs. 5) Praise God with powerful and mighty music

4 (vs. 6) WHO SHOULD PRAISE GOD

(vs. 6a) Praise God everything that has breath
(vs. 6b) The final “Hallelujah”

Let’s then have a closer look at this Psalm as it answers the four important questions on praising God which is walking the road of praise.

(vs. 1) WHERE SHOULD WE PRAISE GOD

(vs. 1a) Praise God on the earth

As each of the past four Psalms have done this last Psalm in the book of Psalm begins and ends with the main Hebrew term for “Praise God”, “Hallelujah” which of course means “Praise Yahweh” and “Yahweh” is the wonderful covenant name for God so revered by the ancient Hebrews they never wrote the actual vows of the Hebrew word just the consonants and in English “Yahweh” would look like “YHWH” but most biblical scholars agree it was probably pronounced “Yahweh” with the possible missing vows.

The reason the vows were never written down was because “Yahweh” was such a sacred holy name for God and this is believed to be a reason why the second book of Psalms was put together. In the second book of Psalms the sacred name “Yahweh” was generally replaced by the general biblical name for God “Elohim” so that non – priestly Hebrews could say out loud the name of God in their prayers and worship songs outside of the Temple.

However, as the history of Israel developed “Yahweh” and particularly “Praise Yahweh” or “Hallelujah” became popular particularly in the prayers and worship songs of Israel.

Then the writer of Psalm 150 gives us the place this praise of “Yahweh” should take place and for me it covers the full road to God which I call the road of praise because we are, according to verse 1 to praise God in:

The Earth (the Sanctuary)
In Heaven

In this part I will seek to explain what the writer of the Psalm is actually saying when he writes:

“Praise God in his sanctuary”

This term “The Sanctuary” crops up over and over again in the book of Psalms and is the term most used in the book of Psalms for the earthly dwelling place of God which is of course is also known as The Temple.

In the early Psalms of books 1 and 2 “The Sanctuary” was literally for David “The Tent of Meeting” which was used from Moses to Solomon in Israel before the Temple was built as we read in Psalm 15: 1,

“Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain”.

The concept of God dwelling in the Sanctuary or later Temple was because of The Ark of the Covenant was placed in it and it symbolised God’s covenant agreement with his people which Ezekiel explains so well in Ezekiel 37: 26 – 28,

“I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’”

So, in the terms of Psalm 150 to praise God in his sanctuary is to praise God on earth particularly at the chosen place of worship and praise his Temple the place the Ark of the covenant dwelt.

This Old Testament place of worship remained as it was for centuries unto the coming of the Messiah who is the Lord Jesus Christ and it is very significant that at the very moment of his death on the cross, Matthew tells us in Matthew 27: 51,

“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split”.

No more would God have to be approached in worship by way of the Sanctuary and the Ark of Covenant cut off from everyone by a curtain behind which only the High priest could offer animal sacrificial blood but through the perfect sacrificial blood of Jesus we can approach God in praise and worship directly as the writer to the Hebrews speaks of in the New Testament book of Hebrews in chapter 9 verse 14 says,

“How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,so that we may serve the living God!”

This praise on earth to the great “Yahweh” God is described this way by the writer to the Hebrews in Hebrews 13: 15,

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name”.

The road of praise then for the Christian is the way of Jesus who made for us the way to God as Jesus spells out in John 14: 6,

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

The Temple sat on the large hill in Jerusalem called Mount Zion that is spoken about over and over again in the book of Psalms but in the New Testament Mount Zion becomes the symbol for God’s new dwelling place on earth the Church of God spoken about so clearly in Hebrews 12: 22 – 23,

^“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect”.

Note how this church of the firstborn are spoken of as being those who names are in heaven which means to me we are not on the road of praise that leads to a dead end but this way or road Jesus has made for us leads to the Church of God gathered in heaven with the Angels for all eternity.

2. (vs. 1b) Praise God in heaven

So, as we have just seen this road of praise leads us to heaven the place of heavenly praise joined with the angels called the “angels in joyful assembly” in Hebrews 12: 22. Now in Psalm 150 the writer says,

“Praise him in his mighty heavens”.

Most commentators speak of the term “his mighty heavens” as literally “His mighty firmament” which is the vast extent of earth, the universe and heaven as well. Here in this vast firmament we see the wonders of this world, the universe, stars and heavenly bodies and the wonders of heaven itself. This reminds me of words I read and studied in Psalm 103: 20 – 22,

“Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding,who obey his word.²¹Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,you his servants who do his will.²²Praise the Lord, all his workseverywhere in his dominion Praise the Lord, my soul”.

In the previous term, the praise of God on earth this term is used for praising God in the sanctuary but according to Revelation 21: 22 – 27 at the end of the road of praise there is no temple or sanctuary because we will be with the Lord Jesus in the splendour of heaven.

”I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it. ²⁵On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it.

²⁷Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life”.

So, on earth we are to praise and worship God particularly as we gather as the church of God and of course in heaven we are to praise God along with all the heavenly hosts and all of those who have walked the road of praise to get there.

2 (vs. 2) WHY SHOULD WE PRAISE GOD

(vs. 2a) Praise God for his acts of power

Our writer of Psalm 150 then tells us two reasons why we should praise God and the first is stated this way:

“Praise him for he acts of power”

All through the book of Psalms and indeed the Old and New Testaments the God of the bible is not a God who made the world and then left it to fend for itself, no he is a God who acts continually out of love for his creation and particularly for his faithful followers as David expresses so well in Psalm 57: 3,

“He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me – God sends forth his love and his faithfulness”.

And in verses 9 and 10 of that same Psalm David declares,

“I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.¹⁰For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies”.

David knew the great God who saves with his mighty acts of love and many Psalms speak of God’s powerful acts of salvation in how he brought his people out of the slavery of Egypt as we read in Psalm 106: 7 – 12,

“When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles;they did not remember your many kindnesses,and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. ⁸Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known.⁹He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert.¹⁰He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.¹¹The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived.¹²Then they believed his promisesand sang his praise”.

Note how Israel so easily forgot God’s acts of power and wandered from the road of praise but God continued to show his love for them bringing them back sometimes even through great pain and difficulty to a place of security and hope on the road of praise.

In the New Testament Paul reminds the Ephesian church of God’s mighty acts of salvation and power in the Lord Jesus Christ in these words in Ephesians 1: 18 – 21,

^“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, ¹⁹and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength²⁰he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come”.

Paul goes on in chapter 2 of Ephesians to explain that this act of mighty salvation power was an act of grace by God for us and grace simply means love we don’t deserve.

God’s love saves us from our state of death in our many transgressions to be able to sit with Christ in the heavenly realms, the end of the road of praise, verses 4 – 7,

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus”.

(vs. 2b) Praise God for his surpassing greatness

The second reason why we should and indeed must praise God is expressed this way in the second half of verse 2,

“Praise him for his surprising greatness”

This phrase has been translated by an old commentator named Trapp as,

“Greatness of greatness”

It is not enough to praise God for his acts of powerful and loving salvation for we should also praise him for who he actually is, The Great God of heaven and earth which the book of Psalms continually uplifts as the one great God of all our praise that should be praised because of who he is as we read in Psalm 96: 4 – 6,

“For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;he is to be feared above all gods.⁵For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.⁶Splendour and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary”.

Mathew Henry commenting on the concept of praising God’s surprising greatness writes this,

“Not that our praises can bear any proportion to God’s greatness, for it is infinite, but, since he is greater than we can express or conceive, we must raise our conceptions and expressions to the highest degree we can attain to”.

In Philippians 2 Paul speaks of the humility and love of Christ in his act of the great rescue mission he performed in becoming human and even the form of a servant descending from highest heaven to die on the cross like a common criminal. However, that was not the end of it because we read these words in verses 9 – 11,

“Therefore, God exalted him to the highest placeand gave him the name that is above every name,¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,¹¹and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.

At the end of the road of this world will be according to verse 11 a great universal praise of the greatness of The Lord Jesus Christ, a praise that some will do in what Jesus calls,

“Weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13: 42)

For they will be those who chose the road of rebellion to the rule of Christ but for those who followed the road of praise they will join with the angels in great and glorious praise of Jesus as he sits on the throne in heaven surrounded by all his faithful followers both human and angelic as we read in Revelation 7: 9 – 12,

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice:“Salvation belongs to our God,who sits on the throne,and to the Lamb.”¹¹All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹²saying:“Amen!Praise and gloryand wisdom and thanks and honourand power and strengthbe to our God for ever and ever.Amen!”

3 (3 – 5) HOW SHOULD WE PRAISE GOD

(vs. 3) Praise God with triumphant music

The Psalm then moves into three verses that express something of how we should praise God Allan Harman points out that the writer of this Psalm uses double phrases that gives us the feeling of movement to a dramatic climax.

The problem for us today is to get a sense of both what Old Testament worship music was like and what the sound of these ancient instruments would both convey and even emote. To say that the music of the Old Testament was used to cause effect on the worshippers emotions sounds very controversial today but the problem is what we have in the bible accounts of worship and its music points to an atmosphere of often loud and highly emotional moving praise.

Is the stirring up of emotions wrong or even sinful?

First of all, the bible seems to present the idea that there are good or Godly emotions like loving others and God, peace and of course joy. However, there are wrong or sinful emotional behaviour like hate, pride or even sinful sexual lust.

To me those who have journeyed down the path of giving up all music in worship because it stirs up sinful emotions and detracts from the message of the bible are suffering from what is known as throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I like this comment I read in my NIV bible on some of the verses in Psalm 89,

“Music and worship go hand in hand. Worship should involve the whole person, and music helps lift a person’s thoughts and emotions to God”.

These three verses of Psalm 150 as I now understand them instruct us to both use God honouring, praising music that stir God honouring emotions that all true worship should have.

The first verse here, verse 3 which says,

“Praise him with the sounding of trumpets, praise him with harp and lyre”.

Many Old Testament references like Leviticus 25: 8 – 9, show how the trumpet was used in ancient Israel as a loud triumphant instrument. Or as we read in Psalm 81: 3 – 5, the sounding of the rams horn another form of Old Testament trumpet was commended for the worship at the “New Moon” festival. The trumpet or horn was also used in battle as we see in Joshua 6: 8 and many other places in the Old Testament. I’m sure the blowing of those trumpets as Israel’s army marched around Jericho would have stirred the emotions of the people living behind the walls of Jericho. It was a kind of victory march before victory was even secured.

In the book of Revelation, the trumpet is used in heaven as a loud triumphant instrument of worship and praise as we read in Revelation 11: 15,

“The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

“The kingdom of the world has becomethe kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,and he will reign for ever and ever.”

Verse 3 also speaks of the use of the harp and lyre and a lyre is an ancient form of a modern guitar. David was a great harp player and both harp and lyre would allow the player to be able to sing as they played as we read David did in many references in the Old Testament. Psalm 71: 22 speaks of praising God by singing while playing the harp and lyre,

“I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God;I will sing praise to you with the lyre,Holy One of Israel”.

In the New Testament, the use of the harp as an instrument of triumph and praise with singing is again in Revelation 14: 1 – 3,

“Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. ²And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. ³And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth”.

The 144,000 is the symbolic number in the book of revelation for the large and complete number of true believers in heaven. If John was anti – musical instrument in the New Testament church he would have had a big problem with this teaching seeing and hearing lots of musical instruments played in heaven. Also, to recognise the sound of harps playing John must have been familiar with how that instruments sounded.

So, on my road of praise the use of music has been for me a major way I have both privately and corporately praised God. I don’t play a harp or lyre but a Ukulele and I love joining with other musicians and singers to help lead congregations of God’s faithful followers in triumphant stirring praise of the God of the bible.

(vs. 4) Praise God with joyful dancing and music

The next set of instruments would have had a different type of tone and dancing is included here giving us more a sense of joy in our corporate worship, verse 4,

“Praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with strings and pipe.”

I think this Psalm would cause problems for some Christians who have a heavy emphasis on no musical accompaniment and now the mention of dancing in worship.

I remember growing up in a conservative evangelical church in the 1960’s and being blasted for dancing in the parish church hall one Friday night at a youth fellowship meeting as we played music on a record player. I was caught jigging around with other young people to the music. I have never been a great dancer but even then, I could not see why our minister was so anti – dancing. I did not know then that dancing in worship is spoken of in the Old Testament.

The interesting thing I discovered from my study of dancing and timbrel playing (an ancient version of a Tambourine) in Psalm 149 verse 3 is that whenever these two things are mentioned together in other parts of the Old Testament it is women who are doing it like Exodus 15: 20,

“Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing”.

The previous verses set of instruments were usually played by Levite’s as are the cymbals in the next verse but here we have instruments played by Old Testament lay people. Which means the Old Testament worship orchestra was a combination of priestly men and lay men and women pointing to an activity God has ordained as something for all people to do in praising and worshipping him.

The note of joy in worship features in another famous worship Psalm, Psalm 100 verses 1 and 2,

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.²Worship the Lord with gladness;come before him with joyful songs”.

I remember a man coming up to me after a church service I was helping to lead the singing at saying to me he was tone deaf and was a lousy singer but he still joined in singing the songs I was leading because he said the bible says, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord not a tuneful one”. I’m sure it would not be advisable for a person like that to be out the front leading the congregation in singing but as part of the larger body of Christ his voice would be welcomed by the Lord if he sang with true joy and faith.

The pipe mentioned here is said to be associated with common people like shepherds Judges 5: 16 and common people in general praising God with joy and rejoicing, 1 Kings 1: 40,

^“And all the people went up after him, playing pipes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound”.

Twice Paul encourages the church to engage in making music to the Lord and I think he strikes the note of joy and rejoicing in his words in Colossians 3: 15 – 17,

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.

The anti-musical accompaniment Christians would argue that Paul does not mention here or anywhere musical instruments and therefore he banned them from the New Testament church. However, I feel this is a dangerous way of building a teaching in the church on the basis of silence or no mention of something.

I’m sure if Paul believed for some reason or another the New Testament church should not use musical instruments in worship he would have given a direct instruction on this and there is no instruction in the New Testament to say that musical instruments are not to be used in church worship.

Personally, I would have no trouble worshipping in a church that has no musical instrument accompaniment as I have been involved on many occasions with groups of singers in church singing my tenor parts for four part harmonies in what is called A Cappella style in fact they would probably would want me to come every week because I have a real God given gift in singing this style of music.

I think these Christians will have a real problem when they get to heaven because there the joy and rejoicing in worship is certainly accompanied by musical instruments, Revelation 15: 2 – 4,

“And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God ³and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are

your ways, King of the nations, ⁴Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Please note who gave these worshipping people in heaven the harps to play the musical accompaniment, non- other than God himself.

(vs. 5) Praise God with powerful and mighty music

As I said in my introduction to this third section of this Psalm Allan Harman points out that this Psalm uses double phrases that gives us the feeling of movement to a dramatic climax and verse 5 is that climax,

“Praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals”.

I am not a great fan of percussion instruments but recently I was part of a group of performers that played a variety of instruments and I stood next to a bongo player with a large bongo set of drums and next to her was a drummer with a full set of drums which also feature modern forms of cymbals. Let me tell you those two talented musicians could really make some mighty sounds and added to the over-all powerful performance our group made that night.

Cymbals in the bible are always spoken of as playing with other instruments by the Levites and it has been suggested that they were used for music for processions as well as Temple staged performances. There are many Old Testament descriptions of these worship orchestra’s but I like the one in 2 Chronicles 5: 13 – 14, and how it mentions cymbals as an accompaniment instrument,

“The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang:“He is good; his love endures forever.”Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, ¹⁴and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God”.

Even though Psalm 150 does not mention directly singers as well as musicians playing their instruments as part of the praise and worship of the Lord it is implied especially when we get to the last verse of this Psalm.

The cymbals then speak to me of how our praise of God through music is to be both mighty and powerful.

However, loud music without any connection to the word of God or if it is again loud but is only a performance of the talented people making that music then it is not what I would call a mighty and powerful praise of God.

The only New Testament reference I could find on cymbals is 1 Corinthians 13: 1 and this is a very telling verse for any act of service or worship that is not done out of love for God and others,

“If I speak in the tonguesof men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal”.

There are many churches today who are known for their often loud, lively and modern music and I am not one who says this is wrong but even traditional forms of worship can fall into the same trap of it being just a musical event rather than an act of loving powerful and mighty praise for God.

The question to ask about any act of worship is,

Is this worship God centred and God honouring?

When Paul speaks of the use of music in worship to two different churches, Colossi and Ephesus he closes that instruction of singing Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with a direction to do this honouring and praising God,

Ephesians 5: 20,

“Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ”.

And Colossians 3: 17,

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him”.

As one of the leaders of the musical part of worship in my home church I must always keep these words of Paul in my mind making sure we are making we are not just making beautiful music but we are doing this as an act of mighty and powerful praise of the God it should be

directed to.

4 (vs. 6) WHO SHOULD PRAISE GOD

(vs. 6a) Praise God everything that has breath

We come then to the last verse on our journey of praise not only through Psalm 150 but for me the entire book of Psalms which I have been studying now for ten years. This verse makes it clear who is to give this triumphant, joyful and powerful praise to God,

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord”

So, even though we have just had three verses that speak of musical instruments being used to praise God now we have a verse that directs the voices of creation to give praise to God. As I inferred in my comments on verse 5, if the human heart offering praise and worship to God is not inspired and directed to and by the love of God then as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13: 1, without love,

“We are only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal”.

I really like Albert Barnes comments on verse 6 of Psalm 150 when he writes,

“Let his praises be celebrated not only with instruments of music, but let all living beings unite in that praise; let a breathing universe combine in one solemn service of praise”.

Which reminds me of what the Apostle John wrote in Revelation 5: 13,

“Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power,for ever and ever!”

This is a fitting end to this Psalm and indeed the entire book of Psalms. In this life if we are going God’s way we are travelling down what I have been calling a road of praise and this is because life itself is probably the greatest gift of God and that gift alone deserves our thanks and praise not only with our lips but also with our very lives.

As Christians, we should praise God not only for the breath of life God gives us in physical life but also for the breath of God’s Holy Spirit that gives us new life in Christ. As Paul speaks of in Romans 8: 10,

“But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness”.

This points again to the love or grace of God which is also called “The Mercy of God” particularly in the book of Psalms and Paul declares in Romans 12: 1 that our praise and worship of God should be inspired and driven by this mercy of God,

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship”.

This verse also tells us that the road of praise or the life of praise and worship is not just the corporate gathering we call a church service where we gather with others to sing and speak the praises of God together but is a life of what Paul calls sacrificial service and he then says,

“This is your true and proper worship”.

We must always keep in mind that every breathe we breath is a gift of God just as any spiritual knowledge, talent, opportunity or blessing is also a gift of God and so we come the full circle of the book of Psalms with the first two verses of the first Psalm says,

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wickedor stand in the way that sinners takeor sit in the company of mockers,²but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

and who meditates on his Law Day and night”.

The road of praise is the life of praise that day and night is centred on the word of God and the great God that word speaks of.

Note also it is a blessed road for those that do not walk the way of those who refuse to acknowledge God and go his way. These two roads or ways of life are summed up in the final verse of Psalm 1 that simply says,

“For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction”.

(vs. 6b) The final “Hallelujah”

The final word of the entire book of Psalms is the distinctive favourite expression of praise so prominent in the book of Psalms that the ancient Hebrews called their book of prayers and songs, Psalms or “Praises” which is what Psalms means in the Hebrew language. That expression is of course,

“Hallelujah”

Or as our English translations translate it,

“Praise the Lord”

This phrase should not only sum up the book of Psalms but our lives for even if we should face on the road of praise a time of sickness, pain, persecution, depression and even death we know from the word of God that he is with us helping us to cope and leading us through to the eternal home of praise, heaven itself and that should always lead us to say,

“Hallelujah”

I close as usual with an original poem / song and prayer for the final time in these Psalm Talks.

THE ROAD OF PRAISE

(Based on Psalm 150 and the entire book of Psalms)

I’m travelling on a road of praise

To a mighty God whose been with all my days

And I will praise him in his church on earth

And I will praise him in heaven where I’ll be hence forth.

I’m travelling on a road of praise

A road that God made by his loving powerful ways

And I will praise him for his surpassing greatness

For the road of praise is the life of thankfulness.

Refrain:

Praise the Lord with your trumpet and guitar

Make music to the Lord with all that you are.

I’m dancing on the road of praise

To the beat of the drum of God’s blessings all my days

And I will praise him with the music God’s Son gave us

When he won our forgiveness by his death on the cross.

Come join me now on the road of praise

And praise him with every breath you have all your days

For every creature that breaths owes its breath to God

So, a life of praise must be the road we trod.

Refrain:

Praise the Lord with your trumpet and guitar

Make music to the Lord with all that you are.

By: Jim Wenman

PRAYER:

I thank you Father in heaven for all you have done for me, providing me with the breath of life and the new spiritual life through the breath of your Holy Spirit. I thank you for your Son who made the way for me to go in life to heaven by his death on the cross. I praise you Lord with my music, my life and my all for your great love that made all this possible for me and many others, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

PSALM 149 TALK: PRAISE GOD WITH THE OLD NEW SONG OF GOD’S LOVE

Posted on May 30, 2019 by jimwenman

PSALM 149 TALK: PRAISE GOD WITH THE OLD NEW SONG OF GOD’S LOVE

(This is the fourth of the last five Psalms of the book of Psalms often called The Hallelujah Psalms and this Psalm features a call to praise God with what I call old new story of God’s love. A story of how even though we deserve the terrible judgement of God we can be saved from that judgment by trusting in God’s saving love made possible by the death and resurrection of his Son, The Lord Jesus Christ.)

INTRODUCTION

In 1867 a successful business man with a gift to write tunes for hymns named William Doane attended a YMCA convention Rally in Montreal Canada and at that meeting he heard a man named Major General Russell read some of a long poem written a year earlier by an English missionary nurse named Katherine Hankey. Hankey was working as a missionary in South Africa when she came down with a serious illness that nearly killed her and during her yearlong bedridden recovery she wrote a long two- part poem called “Old, Old Story”.

Doane along with everyone at that convention meeting was emotional moved by the touching words of Katherine Hankey and parts of the first part of her poem later inspired Doane to write the famous hymn, “Tell Me the Old Old story”.

Then two years later another famous composer of hymns, William Fischer was inspired by some of the words from the second part of Katherine Hankey’s long poem “Old, Old Story” to write the famous hymn “I love to Tell the Story”.

Hankey’s first verse of her second part of her poem seems to me to be the main inspiration for Fischer hymn “I love to Tell the Story” as it reads this way,

“You ask me for ‘the story’

Of unseen things above, –

Of Jesus and his glory,

Of Jesus and his love.”

This led Fischer to write his first verse to his him, “I love to tell the story” that goes like this,

“I love to tell the story of unseen things above

Of Jesus and his glory of Jesus and his love

I love to tell the story because I know it is true

It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do”.

However, it is Fischer’s last verse of his hymn I want to focus on in connection with Psalm 149, this verse reads this way,

“I love to tell the story, for those who know it best

Seen hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.

And when in scenes of glory I sing the new, new song

Twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.”

The connection of this verse from Fischer’s hymn is the words of Psalm 149 first verse that says,

“Sing to the Lord a new song”

H.C. Leopold explains well the meaning of what he believes the writer means by the term, “Sing to the Lord a new song” with these words,

“A new song does not involve the idea of a new poetic or musical composition, but as Briggs rightly points out a ‘new outburst of song because of a new event that evokes it”.

I listened and viewed the “Youtube” performance of “I love to tell the story” by the American country singer Allan Jackson and I got a new insight and inspiration of that old hymn I have known for many years and to me it was like it was a new song especially the last verse that speaks of singing the old song of the Gospel message of the bible as a New song in heaven as the Apostle John speak of twice in the Book of Revelation, Rev. 5: 9 – 10 and 14:3 which I will comment further on in my first section of this Psalm talk.

I have called Psalm 149, “Praise God with the old new song of God’s love” even though the love of God is not spoken of directly it is strongly implied in its message.

God’s love or his gifts to us we don’t deserve is shown in this Psalm in seven ways:

He made the nation (vs. 2)
He takes delight in his people (vs. 4a)
He crowns his humble people with victory (vs. 4b)
He causes his people to rejoice in his honour (vs. 5a)
He leads his people to sing even on their beds (vs. 5b)
He provides his people with the weapon of a double- edged sword (vs. 6)
He gives his people victory over their enemies who are God’s enemies (vs’s 7 -9)

All these things God has done for us even though we don’t deserve them so he has given them out of his Amazing love or grace which is love we don’t deserve.

It seems clear this Psalm was written after some new great event of salvation for his people Israel but what that is we simply cannot tell. Many suggest it was the return from Babylonian captivity and the new enemies they faced were those who opposed them and their God back in Israel after they had returned from exile.

This is not clear and I think the writer and the editors of this last book of Psalms kept it this way so that future believers could relate and use this Psalm for their praise of God. Future generations new outburst of song and praise from a fresh realisation of God’s love and help for them.

With the theme of “Praise God with the old new song of God’s love” my outline is:

1 (vs. 1) A CALL TO SING A OLD NEW SONG

(vs. 1a) The call to sing the old new song
(vs 1b) A old new song to be sung in the assembly of God’s people

2 (2 – 5) THE OLD NEW SONG OF THE STORY OF GOD’S LOVE

(2 – 3) The old new song of God the creator king
(4 – 5) The old new song of the God who saves

3 (6 – 9) THE OLD NEW SONG OF GOD’S VICTORY OVER HIS ENEMIES

1 (vs. 6) The old new song of God’s gift of the powerful weapon of his word

2 (7- 9) The old new song of God’s ultimate victory over his enemies

Let’s then have a closer look at this Psalm using the above headings:

1 (vs. 1) A CALL TO SING A OLD NEW SONG

(vs. 1a) The call to sing the old new song

As the past three Psalms have started this Psalm starts with the famous Hebrew term for Praise the Lord, “Hallelujah” and as I have said many times this Hebrew term for Praise the Lord literally means, “Praise Yahweh”. Of course, “Yahweh” is the special covenant name for God that carries with it many wonderful truths and if you want to know many of these wonderful truths the name “Yahweh” teaches us I recommend you read John Pipers excellent talk you can find on the internet called, “10 Things Yahweh Means”.

In the context of the message of singing the Old New Song the meaning John Piper speaks of that fits best are “He never Had a Beginning” which also means he will never have an end, which the writer to the Hebrews relates to The Lord Jesus Christ this way in Hebrews 13: 8,

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”

This means what we know Jesus said and did is timeless and is therefore Christ message is an Old new song for us to sing.

This leads then to the writer of Psalm 149 to call for us to sing this Old New Song,

“Sing to the Lord a new song”

This call to sing a new song has appeared in many Psalms before, Psalm 33: 3, 40: 3, 96: 1, 98: 1 and as recent as Psalm 144: 9.

It is not just found in the Psalms as Isaiah uses this term as well in Isaiah 42: 10 and I like Albert Barnes helpful comment on this verse in Isaiah when he writes,

“Here the prophet calls upon all people to celebrate the divine mercy in a song of praise in view of his goodness in providing a Redeemer. The sentiment is, that God’s goodness in providing a Saviour demands the thanksgiving of all the world”.

Isaiah then is speaking of God’s Old new song of the message of God’s love manifest to the world through coming of and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and particularly in his redeeming work on the cross.

Many commentators point out that the singing of a “New Song” is strongly associated with victory and of course God’s greatest victory over sin, death and the Devil was made by the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ. As Paul speaks so powerfully of in 1 Corinthians 15: 56 – 57,

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”.

Note how Paul calls us to give thanks to God another way of saying we should praise God for his great act of victory in Christ made only possible because of his love.

As I said in my introduction this call of “Sing to the Lord a new song” appears twice in the book of Revelation, Rev. 5: 9 – 10 and Rev. 14: 3.

Both times the singers of this new song in these two Revelation references are believers in heaven along with rest of heaven. I like Revelation 14: 3 when it says,

“No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from earth”

The number 144,000 is I believe the symbolic number for the complete number of saved or redeemed believers that will dwell with God in heaven and if you are a believer in The Lord Jesus Christ like me we will be part of that great heavenly choir that will sing one day in heaven this great Old new song of the love of God.

As William Fischer says in the chorus of his hymn “I love to tell the Story”

“I love to tell the story twill be my theme in glory

To tell the old, Old story of Jesus and his love”.

Note the message stays the same even in heaven but it will be like a new song when sung in heaven because then we will get a great new vision of the great victory Jesus has won for us over sin, death and the Devil.

(vs 1b) A old new song to be sung in the assembly of God’s people

As we have just seen from the book of Revelation this old new song will be sung in the great assembly of God’s people and all the heavenly hosts. This idea of the old new song being song in the assembly of God’s faithful people is what the writer of Psalm 149 speaks of next when he writes,

“His praise in the assembly of his faithful people”

This assembly is literally in Hebrew an assembly of the Old Testament word for “Saints” and this is a term used in many previous Psalms and was first used by David in Psalm 16: 3 and here are some helpful comments I made on this term in my Psalm 16 talk:

“David calls them “saints” which literally means “People set apart for God”

“First of all the word saint comes from the Greek word “hagios” which means “consecrated to God, holy, sacred, pious.” It is used in the plural form “Saints” on a number of occasions in the New Testament”.

These references are like Acts 26: 10,

“And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons“

The use of “saints” in these types of references always point to the “Saints” being another name for Christians not like the distorted use of this term for some kind of super Christian the Roman Catholic church has massively promoted.

So, when we gather in church as “Saints” or as our NIV translation calls us “God’s faithful people” we are to praise God with a new song which I have suggested is the Old new song of the love of God. So many times, I have been leading the singing in my church and words from an old hymn I have sung many times leap out at me with a new and inspiring thought or two and then I know I am singing an old new song of the love of God.

As I mentioned in my introduction when I saw and heard on Youtube Allan Jackson version of the old hymn “I love to tell the Story” I got one of those “words leaping out at me experiences” when I heard the words sung by Jackson that say,

“And when in scenes of glory I sing the new, new song

Twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long”.

This says to me along with the two references in the book of Revelation that we will sing a new song but the theme of that new song will be the old old story of the love of Jesus shown to us through his death and resurrection.

2 (2 – 5) THE OLD NEW SONG OF THE STORY OF GOD’S LOVE

1. (2 – 3) The old new song of God the creator king

The writer then gives his readers and of course singers, as this was written as a song to be sung in worship in the Temple worship services some content to our Old new song we should sing in praise to the Lord.

The first of these is the twin concepts of God being our:

Maker or creator
Our King

Let’s then have a close look at each of these twin concepts of God that flesh out what our Old New song should be about:

Maker or Creator

The writer of Psalm 149 says,

“Let Israel rejoice in their maker”

Israel had a unique creation spoken about many times in the Old Testament summed up best by Isaiah in Isaiah 43: 1 – 3,

“But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel:“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.When you walk through the fire,you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.³For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour;I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead”.

Maybe Isaiah has something of what Deuteronomy 7: 7 – 9 has in mind when God declares how he not only created Israel but called them to be his special people,

“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. ⁸But 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. ⁹Know 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”.

Paul calls us who are now part of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, The New Israel of God in Galatians 6: 16 and Jesus speaks of how he chose us, we did not choose him in John 15: 16,

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you”.

So, Israel and then all of us who have been made and called by God should include in our Old new song the fact that God made us to be part of his special people a fact that is worthy of great praise.

Our King

The writer of Psalm 149 then says in the second part of verse 2,

“Let the people of Zion be glad in their King”.

The people of Zion is yet another way of describing God’s special chosen people, Israel in both the Old Testament and the New Testament and we then are called to praise our God in this Old new song by being glad and committed to God as our King.

In the New Testament, the idea of God being our King is spoken of in terms of Jesus being our Lord as Paul speaks of in Romans 10: 9 – 10,

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved”.

Paul brings the idea of Jesus as God being king and Lord together in verses like 1 Timothy 6: 14 – 16,

“To keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,¹⁵which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honour and might forever. Amen”.

Note how Paul declares in these verses that the full reality of Jesus being Lord and King will be revealed in his coming again which Paul speaks of as a thing all mankind will acknowledge in Philippians 2: 9 – 10,

“Therefore, God exalted him to the highest placeand gave him the name that is above every name,¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.

Even those who refuse to sing God’s Old new song will at least acknowledge one of its great themes namely how Jesus is Lord and king something that won’t be a pleasant experience for them for they will realise that they have lost their opportunity to turn to him as Lord and Saviour when they had an opportunity to do so but refused to do so out of sin and rebellion to this great God of love who will become then their great God of judgment.

However, for all true believers, those who in this life have acknowledged Jesus as their Lord and Saviour this great coming day of the Lords return will be a great day of rejoicing. Interestingly the theme of rejoicing and even dancing appears in the next verse, verse 3 of Psalm 149, when it says,

“Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp”.

Those who failed to acknowledge Jesus as the Lord in this life will do it with what Jesus calls in Matthew 13: 42,

“Weeping and gnashing of teeth”

This is the dead opposite of verse 3 of Psalm 149 that speaks of praise with dancing and lively music to the timbrel and harp. The timbrel being an ancient form of the modern tambourine. Theses timbrel’s are often associated with women dancing before the Lord like the famous one in the time of Moses in Exodus 15: 20.

I remember the first time I saw women dancing in church in praise to the Lord in a church in Myanmar and how I was both surprised and uplifted as it seemed to them such a natural and joyful way of praising the God they loved. The women did a kind of single file contra dance with women getting up and joining a long line of dances waving their arms in the air as they danced and sang with us all a lively hymn of praise.

I also remember how years ago when I was a very young man being criticised by an older man in the congregation about using a tambourine when presenting an item in church when I was a member of a Gospel folk group. The older man told me to not bring that Godless instrument of the devil into his church again. I counted his criticism with the fact that tambourines are an ancient instrument mentioned in the bible in connection with worship of the Lord. He then counted that by saying if I felt that way I should join the Salvation Army who had the modern tradition of using that instrument in worship services. I chose not to argue with him after he said that.

I have been pleasantly surprised in my study of the Psalms of how I have seen over and over again how loud and joyful worship was in the Old Testament Temple and I believe the joyful musical aspect of praise is also part of what God wants for us today as well according to the New Testament when we consider how twice Paul told churches to practice this kind of worship in Ephesians 5: 19 – 21 and the one I would like to quote here Colossians 3: 15 – 16,

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts”.

Note how Paul speaks of this joyful musical worship is bound up in the message of Christ and so our church worship should always feature the Old new story of Jesus and his love. I like the start of William Fischer’s second verse of his famous hymn “I love to tell the Story” that says,

“I love to tell the story tis pleasant to repeat

What seems each time I tell it more wonderfully sweet”.

2. (4 – 5) The old new song of the God who saves

I believe verses 4 and 5 lie at the heart of the message of this Old new song our writer of Psalm 149 is encouraging the people of God, God’s faithful people to sing as these verses speak of how God has saved them and this is very much the message of verse 4 that says,

“For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.”

Even though this verse does not use the word save it is all about the Salvation the people of God at the time of writing experienced from the loving hand of their God. This is because of two key phrases in this verse which are:

The Lord takes delight in his people
He crowns the humble with victory

Let me explain each of these two phrases:

The Lord takes delight in his people

The question to ask first is, do his people or for that matter anyone deserve God’s delight or good pleasure as some commentators translate it to be?

The answer is no and Paul makes that very clear in his great statement of the state of every man women and child in Romans 3: 23,

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

God takes delight in his people even though they don’t deserve this favour of God and this is particularly true when it comes to our salvation as we certainly do not deserve the love of Jesus shown to us in his death on the cross for our sins.

In the case of the original people Psalm 149 was addressed to it is thought to be the salvation they received which they did not deserve which was their freedom from captivity in Babylon. They were in Babylon because of their many great sins as a Nation but after 70 years God saved them out of Babylon just as he had many generations before that saved his people out of slavery in Egypt.

The clue to this phrase “For the Lord takes great delight in his people” being a reference to their salvation is the next phrase which speaks of victory which seems to be a direct reference to Israel’s salvation and more than likely salvation out of the captivity in Babylon.

Paul makes it clear that God saves us by his grace manifest in Christ Jesus and what he has done for us and this shows us both his kindness and grace to us which is another way of saying he delights in us as Paul expresses so well in Ephesians 2: 4 – 9,

This is the Old new story William Fischer spoke of in his hymn “I Love to tell the story” which says in its chorus,

“Twill be my theme in Glory”

Which is,

“the old, old story of Jesus and his love”

He crowns the humble with victory

If this was written after the return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon then the crowning is the adorning to a far greater status from a meek and lowly status of captive slaves in the far- off land of Babylon. This truly was a great act of salvation by God for his people and is nothing more than what it says it is, a victory. Many commentators say that the Hebrew word for victory could actually be translated salvation.

This act of underserved love of God is a new expression of his old story of his saving love making it a new song or as I have been calling it an old new song or even a new old song which also makes sense here.

We too have been crowned with a glorious victory in our salvation through the love of Christ manifested in his death and resurrection which Paul speaks of over and over again in his letters to the churches like Colossians 2: 13 – 15,

^“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross”.

Our writer of Psalm 149 then closes this second section with a verse that contains a further call for God’s faithful people to praise and worship with this Old new song not only in the formal Temple services but also at home on their beds in verse 5, he writes,

“Let his faithful people rejoice in this honour and sing for joy on their beds”.

This great act of salvation by their God is indeed nothing more than a great honour implying yet again they do not deserve what God did for them in saving them more than likely out of captivity in Babylon. This is such a great honour causing so much joy they must praise God for it with this Old new song day and night.

The mention of “on their beds” here is beautifully explained and expanded by Spurgeon in the following quote from his commentary on this Psalm,

“Their shouts are not now for the battlefield, but for the places of their rest: they can peacefully lie down and yet enjoy the victory with which the Lord has beautified them. Without fighting, faith wins and sings the victory. What a blessing to have our beds made into thrones, and our retirements turned into triumphs!”

Paul also speaks about our triumphs through the love of Jesus and the message of the cross to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 2: 14 – 16,

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. ¹⁵For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.¹⁶To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?”

I like here the last two lines of William Fischer’s hymn “I love to tell the Story” which goes like this:

“I love to tell the story for some have never heard

The message of salvation from God’s own holy word”

This is an Old new song we should be singing day and night for it is a song that says so much about our God and what he has done for us and will do for us in the future. A song we should sing in church with other fellow believers and a song we should sing even in the privacy of our homes with our families and friends sitting on couches as apparently the Hebrew word for bed could also be translated couches.

3 (6 – 9) THE OLD NEW SONG OF GOD’S VICTORY OVER HIS ENEMIES

1 (vs. 6) The old new song of God’s gift of the powerful weapon of his word

The Psalm in the last section takes on this singing of the old new song in a more- darker atmosphere of ongoing conflict or battle. This is not a negative thing but rather a very realistic thing as even though we know the love of Jesus many do not and many of those who do not know are often used by the devil to cause us pain and conflict.

With this in mind our writer says God has equipped us with a weapon, he writes in verse 6,

“May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double – edged sword in their hands”.

David Guzik reminded me here of the famous American soldier saying that says,

“Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition”

In Old Testament terms this would mean literally that as God’s people faced enemies who sought to over run them they would have to fight but God wants them to fight with praise for him from their mouths and as they wield their weapons which could have been a doubled edged sword which is simply a sword with a sharp edge on both sides which the Romans where known to wield to both pierce and strike their opponents.

In the New Testament Paul speaks of us being involved in a spiritual war in Ephesians 6: 12 and God provides for us a sword to wield which is his word, Ephesians 6: 17 and this sword interestingly is described not just as a two- edged sword but a doubled edged sword, Hebrews 4: 12,

I like David Guzik’s application of this verse when he writes,

“The combination of these two – the high praises of God and the two-edged sword spiritually speaks to every leader among God’s people. The gatherings of God’s people should excel in both praise and the preaching of God’s word. We should always press to have excellent praises of God and a right, sharp handling ofthe sword of the Spirit”.

Some Christians in the past have used these final verses of this Psalm to justify going to war in the name of Jesus. However, Jesus made it clear we are not to wield human weapons like swords in his name in Matthew 26: 52,

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword”.

Jesus knew the battle all true believers will be involved in is a spiritual battle that needs spiritual weapons as Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 10: 4 – 5,

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”.

The old new song of the Gospel of Christ is also the weapon we wield to both win hearts and lives for God and defeat the enemies of God as well.

2 (7- 9) The old new song of God’s ultimate victory over his enemies

We come then to the final three verses of this Psalm which strike the note of God’s vengeance or judgment on the nations, all people that oppose him. As David Guzik points out,

“The Psalm strikes a note which many ears feel to be discordant”.

This note of vengeance or judgement is made clear by verses 7 which simply says,

“To inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples”

The discordant note Guzik speaks of might be well expressed in the often-asked question of,

If God is a God of love why does the bible speak of him also being a God of vengeance?

I believe we need to have a more balanced biblical view of God and when we do we will be able to appreciate a deeper and more amazing appreciation of God’s love.

This judgment of the Nations our praise of God and spiritual warfare for God will help bring about is in the context of the terrible devastating opposition to God by the Nations of the world well stated by Psalm 2 verses 1 – 3,

“Why do the nations conspireand the peoples plot in vain? ²The kings of the earth rise up

and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, ³“Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”

In Psalm 2 David is calling himself the Lords anointed king but the great anointed king of God is the Lord Jesus Christ and this kingly title of Jesus and the nations waging war against him is well spoken of in Revelation 17: 14,

“They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

The fact is we are all part of the nations of the world in rebellion to God and at war with his rule in our lives and therefore all deserve God’s vengeance or judgment to come upon us. But God is such a wonderful God of love he provides a way out of his judgment through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and this message of salvation I have been speaking about all through this Psalm talk is the Old new story which William Fischer inspired by Katherine Hankey speaks of in in the last part of his second verse of his famous hymn, “I love to tell the Story”,

“I love to tell the story for some have never heard

The message of salvation from God’s own holy word”.

No one is exempt from both the vengeance of God and the need to hear the Old new message of God’s salvation as the next verse makes clear, verse 8,

“To bind kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron”,

David in Psalm 2 returns to addressing the kings of the Nations who oppose the Lord’s anointed King who I have made clear is in fact the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives them this warning from God which also, I think offers them hope in the face of God’s certain coming judgment, Psalm 2: 10 – 12,

“Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.¹¹Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.¹²Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.Blessed are all who take refuge in him”.

God is a God of love but that love is set in the context of his Holiness or Righteousness that demands payment for our sins of rebellion. A good friend told me recently his mother in law continues to reject the Gospel message with the words, “The death of Jesus was not fair”.

The fact is in a sense she is right it simply is not fair but that was the price God had to pay for our great and many sins. The perfect Son of God had to die on the cross for our sins and only his death could pay the massive debt those sins demand. As Paul puts it in 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”.

Or as Paul put it in Galatians 3: 13,

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole”.

Yes, that simply is not fair but it is a wonderful expression of the Vengeance or Judgment of God and the love of God for us. It is a wonderful expression of the Old new story William Fischer describes this way,

“I love to tell the story of unseen things above

Of Jesus and his glory of Jesus and his love”.

The last verse of this this Psalm speaks directly how we as God’s faithful people will play a part in God’s act of judgment on the rebellious nations of this world, verse 9 says,

“To carry out the sentence written against them – this is the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the Lord”.

In Old Testament terms God called on his faithful people to inflict his judgement on other rebellious anti – God of the bible nations like the nations in the land of Canaan that God told Israel to drive out of the land and destroy. This seems harsh to modern ears even excessive but in Deuteronomy 9: 4 – 6 tells us that God would help them do this because of their generations of wickedness which God must judge.

“After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. ⁵It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ⁶Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people”.

In- fact God does not command such an extreme act of Judgement to happen unto an extreme state of wickedness has been reached as we see in what God tells Abraham in Genesis 15: 16,

“In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

In the New Testament Jesus commands his followers to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute you and of course as I mentioned earlier not to take up the sword a symbol of any weapon of war against those who oppose us, Matthew 26: 52. The concept of a Holy war is not found in any form in the New Testament and is only a Muslim concept found in their Holy Book the Koran.

As I also mentioned before the New Testament teaches that we are all involved in a spiritual war, Ephesians 6: 12,

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”.

We use as our weapon in this battle the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. But how does Psalm 149 verse 9 relate to the spiritual battle we are involved in?

I have what I believe a unique answer to this question and it comes from my understanding of the John 3: 16 – 21,

“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. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever 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. ¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹But 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”.

This passage is telling us that the Gospel message is a message of salvation to those who believe it but for those who refuse to believe it, it is a message of judgement. It works like this as Christians we preach or proclaim the Gospel to everyone who is a sinner under the judgment of God and if some of our hearers turn to God through Jesus they are save but if after hearing the message of light of the Gospel the hearers remain in the darkness of sin and then they remain under the judgement of God.

This means that when verse 9 of Psalm 149 says,

“To carry out the sentence written against them”

We are God’s instruments of judgment in carry out or proclaiming to those who refuse to turn to the Light of Christ and his Gospel the message that they one day will face the judgment of God.

Also, many commentators refer to Pauls words in 1 Corinthians 6: 12,

“Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?”

I could add what Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2: 12,

“If we endure, we will also reign with him”

I am not clear yet myself what judging and ruling with Christ actually means but one thought I had was that because we have received salvation from God through believing in the Old New Story or Gospel message in judgment we have passed from death to life and now are one with Christ in heaven seeing his judgment on those who have rejected the message of the Gospel in this life.

To be with Jesus in heaven will be as Psalm 149 verse 9 says,

“The glory of all his faithful people”

This glory in heaven of the Old New Message of Salvation or Judgement is beautifully expressed yet again in the chorus of William Fischer hymn “I Love to Tell the Story”,

“I love to tell the story twill be my theme in glory

To tell the Old, Old story of Jesus and his love”.

To all this our writer of Psalm 149 has only one thing to say, Hallelujah or “Praise the Lord.

I close as usual with my own original poem / song and a final word of prayer,

SING A NEW SONG TO THE LORD

(Based on Psalm 149)

Chorus:

Sing a new song to the Lord

Praise him in his church on earth

Raise now your voices in praise to the Lord

For he has given us the gift of new birth.

Let God’s people rejoice in their great maker

May their praise be in the Lord Jesus their king

Let them dance and always make music

For his death has paid the price of their sin.

Chorus:

Sing a new song to the Lord

Praise him in his church on earth

Raise now your voices in praise to the Lord

For he has given us the gift of new birth.

Because the Lord takes great delight in his people

He crowns them with glory they don’t deserve

Let them rejoice in this great honour

And let them all praise the name of the God they now serve.

Chorus:

Sing a new song to the Lord

Praise him in his church on earth

Raise now your voices in praise to the Lord

For he has given us the gift of new birth.

May the mouths of God’s people now praise the Lord

Carrying God’s word a doubled edged sword

May Jesus one day return as God’s great judge

May many be saved from judgment by hearing his word.

Chorus:

Sing a new song to the Lord

Praise him in his church on earth

Raise now your voices in praise to the Lord

For he has given us the gift of new birth.

By: Jim Wenman

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven I thank you for the old story of your love for the world an old story because you sent your Son into this world long ago to provide a way back to you through his death on the cross. His resurrection I know guarantee’s that sin has been paid for and that you have given me new life that is eternal. However, I thank you that this wonderful old story is a new story for me today as you have made it clear and real to me today transforming my life by it and causing me to join with others in your church in praise and worship to you and your Son as our God and king. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

PSALM 148 TALK: PRAISE OF THE CREATED

Posted on May 14, 2019 by jimwenman

PSALM 148 TALK: PRAISE OF THE CREATED

(This is the third of the last five Psalms of the book of Psalms often called The Hallelujah Psalms and this Psalm features a call for all of creation in heaven and on earth to praise God because he is the magnificent creator and preserver of everything and everyone.)

INTRODUCTION

My wife and I have been to Europe on sightseeing trips twice and of course both times we have had a look at some of the great churches and cathedrals there but I’m afraid they simply left me thinking what is all the fuss about to me they are simply enormous structures built by man in an attempt to glorify God.

However, what really impressed me on those trips was the magnificent scenery in so many places particularly in Norway where I stood high up on majestic high mountains overlooking below breath taking Fjords. I have always had a great sense of the beauty of nature demonstrating the splendour and wonder of God as David writes in Psalm 19 verse 1,

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

I grew up in my younger days with the phrase “works of his hands” being translated in older versions of the bible as “Handiwork” and the logic of David is that if God made everything than everything declares how glorious and powerful or great God must be as we can see his handiwork in the many wonders of nature.

My often-poetic imagination ever since my early twenties inspired me to write many poems under the general heading of “Prayers of the Created” and these poems run into dozens of poems where the scene of nature that inspires me seems to speak or inspire in me a prayer or praise of the God who made it.

Like my “Prayers of the Created Poem” called “The healing Light”

Floating into nothingness the morning mist now breaks

And out of darkness comes the light our lowly form remakes.

His light is like the rays of Sun which bear a warming glow

And in our soul’s, it reaches deep to give our lives a glow.

The darkness sometimes reaches back to block his living rays

But light reforms and kills the night to bring us brilliant days.

We walk in light for God is light his glow is all so warm

And darkness though it be around in light is transformed.

Floating into nothingness our fears and pains will go

For Jesus is a healing light his blood has cleansed like snow.

Here nights and mornings speaks to me about God’s gift of light and the cleansing he ultimately has given us in the death of his Son Jesus Christ to cleanse and remake us.

Psalm 148 to me is not just a Prayer of the Created but it is a Praise of the Created a call to Praise the God of the bible by all that is in heaven and earth because this God deserves our praise because he is its creator and he sustains his creation every day and hour.

The Psalm like the previous two seem to fit into the post Babylonian exile period for its time of composition especially when we read these words in Nehemiah 9: 5 – 6,

“And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.“Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. ⁶You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you”.

Another clue to post exile in Babylon time of writing is the reference in the last verse, 14 to God raising up for his people a horn which many commentators believe is a reference to God raising up King Cyrus the Persian King to free the people of God from their powerless position in Babylonian captivity. This is because the symbol of the horn is used in two ways in the Old Testament, one a symbol of strength and the other a symbol of some kind of king or powerful ruler who brings salvation to Israel.

So, in this Psalm talk I will treat it as a “Praise of the Created” and even from time from time share when applicable not only New Testament insights but quotes from one of my many Prayers of the Created poems.

My outline then for this Psalm talk is:

(1 – 6) PRAISE GOD CREATED HEAVENS

(1 – 4) Praise God created heavens high and low
(5 – 6) Why created heavens high and low should praise God

2. (7 – 12) PRAISE GOD CREATED EARTH

(7 – 10) Praise God created sea, land and animals
(11 – 12) Praise God created humanity high and low

3. (13 – 14) PRAISE GOD CREATED PEOPLE OF GOD

(vs. 13) Praise by the created for the name and splendour of God
(vs. 14) Praise by the created and saved people of God

Let’s then have a closer look at this amazing Psalm of praise with these headings in mind.

1. (1 – 6) PRAISE GOD CREATED HEAVENS

(1 – 4) Praise God created heavens high and low

Like all of these final five Psalms in the book of Psalm it starts with the Jewish call for praise, “Hallelujah” which we translate in our English bibles with the words “Praise the Lord” it of course should literally read, “Praise Yahweh”.

Yahweh, we know is that special covenantal name for God that has far reaching and deep meaning and carries with it the major concept of the eternal nature of God.

As God told Moses his name is “I am who I am” which in Hebrew is something like “Yahweh” as the Jews only wrote this name down with its consonants and not also it Hebrew vows as they thought the name was so special and Holy it could only be spoken in a Holy way usually by the Levites and Priests in Old Testament times.

The point I would like to make here is the answer to the often- asked question of if God made everything who made God?

The answer to that is no one made God because he is God and particularly “Yahweh” or the God who was, is and will be forever more. This eternal nature of God makes God, God and you have only two choices you either believe in eternal matter or an eternal God because nothing comes out of nothing.

Then in verse 1 we have the first of twelve uses of the Hebrew word for praise which is the same Hebrew word for praise each time which Allan Harman says is “halal” and he goes on to explain this word for praise and the wording of this first verse and the second verse as well is similar to the last two verses of Psalm 103, which says,

“Praise the Lord all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord all his works everywhere in his domain.”

Psalm 148 verse 1 says,

“Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above”.

The second verse of Psalm 148 then goes on to call the angels in heaven and then refer to heavenly hosts to praise God again similar to those last two verses of Psalm 103.

Psalm 148 verse 2 reads this way,

“Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts”.

The question arising out of this is what are Heavenly hosts?

This phrase is either another way of describing Angels or heavenly hosts like the sun moon and stars which verse 3 directly refers to.

I believe because of parallelism which I call rhyming thought heavenly host in verse 2 is another term for God’s many angels in heaven who are always seen in the bible as spiritual beings who constantly praise God like Revelation 7: 11 – 12,

^“All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹²saying:

“Amen!Praise and gloryand wisdom and thanks and honourand power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.Amen!”

So, in highest heaven or as verse 1 puts it “the heights above” praise is constantly given to the Great God of heaven and earth.

Then in verses 3 and 4 the heavens of the natural world are called on to join in this great chorus of praise to the great God of heaven and earth.

First the great cosmic bodies of the sun, moon and stars in verse 3,

“Praise him, sun and moon; praise him all you shinning stars”

In Old Testament times a person could see in the night sky a vast domain of shinning stars along with the great sun in the day and the moon at night but we as modern men and women know that the stars are so much more vast and amazing with the aid of telescopes. This means that if one great God made and controls all of the heavens above how incredibly great and powerful he must be.

I find the thought of one great God making everything that is so vast and beautiful mind blowing but so often our view of God is so limited but the God of the bible is as we will see the closing words of verse 13 of this Psalm states,

“His splendour is above the earth and the heavens”

I now believe the greatness and splendour of God actually cannot be fully grasped by our finite puny brains but by faith we can only imagine how great God is as that old hymn puts it,

“O Lord my God,
When I in awesome wonder
Consider all
The works Thy Hand hath made,
I see the stars,
I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy pow’r throughout
The universe displayed

Then sings my soul,
My Saviour 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!”

I would like to also comment on the intriguing aspect of this Psalm that the writer calls on innate objects like sun, moon and stars to praise God and I like David Guzik comments on this that says,

“Though they have neither speech nor language, and want the tongue of men, yet their splendour and magnificence, their motions and their influences, all regulated and exerted according to the ordinance of their Maker, do, in a very intelligible and striking manner, declare the glory of God”.

As I mentioned in my introduction David recognised this and declared it in Psalm 19: 1,

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

Truly the created praise God by simply being created by God and by showing what the handiwork of that God can produce and maintain. Just as an artist demonstrates his talent by his paintings so God demonstrates his amazing power, splendour and might by his creation of the high and low heavens.

Finally, in verse 4 our calls on the waters above the sky to praise God,

“Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies”.

What is the writer referring to here when he speaks of the waters above the skies?

It is obvious here that ancient people like the Hebrews believed that above the sky and clouds lay a vast vault of water from which came the rain. In modern times, we know how rain is made through the process of precipitation but this does not take away from what Tremper Longman 111 says this verse is saying when he writes,

“Even weather should join the chorus of praise”.

The big difference between the ancient Israelites and all other ancient people is how they were called by God to worship or give praise to him. These great natural objects God created like sun, moon, stars, weather where not to be worshipped. This is because these great and wonderful objects of nature rather than being objects of worship are according to this Psalm objects of praise and worship of the God who made them so wonderfully.

As Paul pin – points in Romans 1: 21 – 23,

“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. ²²Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles”.

These verses from Romans become even more appropriate in the next section of the Psalm as Paul picks out particularly how the false God’s of rebellious mankind made where made to look like created animals and even human beings that are called on to praise God in verses 7 – 12.

In my prayers of the created set of poems I have this following poem of praise for God through the inspiration of the sun and the new day God gives us through the rising of the sun. The poem also features the love I believe God has given to me through my beautiful wife of many years.

NEW EVERYDAY

New every day a flower blooms

To rise towards the sun,

New every day our love grows strong

Because God has made us one.

Alpha and Omega Lord

You fill our cup with joy

And by God’s fountain of new life

Our thirst God does destroy.

New every day the sun does rise

To freshen up the air

New every day our Lord renews

The love we have to share.

O Lord you give us life and hope

Which by your grace is won

And now we know you as our God

And you declare us sons.

New every day we know God’s love

So, wonderful to share

New every day we realise

His love we must declare.

(5 – 6) Why created heavens high and low should praise God

The next two verses actually say why the created heavens high and low should praise God,

“Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at his command they were created, and established them for ever and ever – he issued a decree that will never pass away”.

I see these two verses telling us why all created things should praise God and they are threefold:

God brought them into being by his powerful word
God established them or maintains them always
God makes them possible and maintains them by his laws of nature

Let me now flesh out these three reasons why all created beings and things should praise the God who made them.

God brought them into being by his powerful word

The writer of Psalm 148 speaks of how everything was made by God as the first reason for them praising him, he writes,

“For at his command they were created”.

This is a clear echo of the first chapter in the bible Genesis 1 where ten times we read the words,

“Then God said”

How then did God create everything?

According to verse 5 of Psalm 148 and Genesis 1 God simply spoke and his word was so powerful and effective that what he commanded to be was. This means the very word of God is both all-powerful and effective and this is the significance of Jesus stilling the storm in a passage like Mark 4: 35 – 41.

In this passage Jesus is on a fishing boat and is awakened by his disciples during a violent storm and Jesus stands up and simply commands the storm,

“Quiet! Be still!”

Then verse 39, Mark goes on to report,

“Then the wind died down and it was completely calm”

The significance of what happened that day on that fishing boat on Lake Galilee was not lost on the disciples as Mark records in verse 41,

“They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waters obey him”.

God created all that is created so he alone deserves to be praised and he created it all by his powerful word. What then is the bible?

It simply is the expressed word of God to us described in the book of Hebrews this way, Hebrews 4: 12,

“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”.

God established them or maintains them always

In verse 6a we read these words,

“And he established them for ever and ever”

Albert Barnes sums up well what these words both mean and imply when he writes,

“He (God) has made them firm, stable, enduring. That they may be eternal is possible; that they will not be, no one can prove. Matter, when created, has no necessary tendency to decay or annihilation; and the universe – the stars, and suns, and systems – which have endured so many million of ages may continue to exist any number of million of ages to come. Of course, however, all this is dependent on the will of God”.

So, all created things and beings should praise God because he not only created them but he also sustains them according to his good will and pleasure.

Paul in Romans 8 speaks of how sin or the fall of man has caused pain and strife in the created realm of God in this world yet he goes on to point out that God has a plan for this to one day gloriously change, Romans 8: 18 – 21,

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God”.

Even though mankind’s sin has corrupted the created world God is still in control of it and has established a plan to redeem both humanity and the frustrated created world it dwells in.

So, because God established and maintains all that has been created we must praise him.

God makes them possible and maintains them by his laws of nature

The third and final reason why all that has been created should and must praise God is made clear in verse 6b, when it says,

“He issued a decree that will never pass away”.

The word decree could also be called a law and many scientists in the past and present have become believers in a God simply because they have realised that all of the natural world is governed by laws that can be mathematically described and relied upon.

Many scientists say they only believe in something they can see and prove which means if it cannot be scientifically investigated then they will not believe in it.

The problem is if the universe is just an incredible accident that came about over a very long period of time then how the hell can it be investigated by scientific investigation without laws that need someone to make them. The truth is the natural world and universe is governed by amazing laws that point not only to order and structure but an incredible designer and law maker.

Recently I read the testimony of a former atheist scientist named Francis Collins. Francis Collins is an American biologist who was the founder of The Human Genome Project and who discovered the genes associated with a number of disease’s. Collins in his study of diseases had to work with many people dying of a disease he was studying and he was struck by the way many Christians he sat with as they tragically died of this horrible disease not only had faith in God but praised him for his love and goodness to them.

This led Collins to seek an answer to the question of whether there is a God and one day a Methodist minister gave him a copy of a book written by C.S Lewis called, “Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe”. Collins discovered Lewis was a former Oxford scholar who was himself a former atheist who asked the same questions Collins was now seeking answers to. Collins says this about Lewis,

“He asked those questions who had travelled the same path from atheism to belief, kicking and screaming the whole way”.

Collins spent another two years investigating other world religions but it was Christians he had come to know and respect that helped him the most and then he wrote this,

“But I also began to appreciate that even from the area of science that I was most comfortable in, there were a lot of pointers to God,” Collins added. “It was the fact that there is something instead of nothing. … The fact that the universe seems to be fine-tuned to make complexity possible and therefore life possible. That actually, nature follows these elegant mathematical rules of second-order differential equations that I had so loved. Why should that be? Why should nature be like this?

“It seems like there should be a mathematician and a physicist behind all this. Oh my gosh, that sounds like God.”

Collins eventually gave in to the God he now knew was real and gave his life to his Son who he believed saved him from his sins and he says in his testimony that he has never changed from that day. Collins went on to write a book called “The Language of God” and help set up an organisation called “Biologos” which has a web site to help people realise that there should be no conflict between science and biblical faith.

So, all created things should praise the creator who made them and who also maintains their existence by the laws of nature which are really simply the laws of God for the natural world.

2. (7 – 12) PRAISE GOD CREATED EARTH

(7 – 10) Praise God created sea, land and animals

As I referred to in the previous section only Israel and their one and only God of the bible did not worship or in Psalm 148 terms praise an image of either a celestial body like the sun or moon or an earthly creature like animals and even a human being or combination of both like the many Egyptian God’s.

All creatures on earth and in the sea according to verse 7 and verse 10 are not to be worshiped or praised but are in fact to praise the God of the bible who created them,

Vs. 7 – “Praise the Lord from earth, you great sea creatures and all oceans depths”

And verse 10,

“Wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds”.

The anti- worship the created message of the bible is very clear in verses like Deuteronomy 4: 15 – 19,

“You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore, watch yourselves very carefully, ¹⁶so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, ¹⁷or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. ¹⁹And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven”.

This worship of God’s represented by celestial bodies or created animals was prominent in the Canaanite religion that continued in Israel in various forms throughout its history before the Jews were taken in exile in Babylon. One of the reasons God judged them so harshly was the fact that the majority of the Jews before the Babylonian exile had turned to these God’s that were no more than false God’s represented by created creatures like bulls or as verse 10 points to cattle and even birds and sea creatures.

Then in verse 8 we have the weather praising God and weather is a creation of God and it is God who controls its complicated daily operations, verse 8,

“Lightning and hail, snow and clouds stormy winds that do his bidding”.

In my “Prayers of the Created” set of poems I have this following poem devoted to the inspiration of the wind entitled, “The Thunderous Voice of God in Wind”,

“Over hill and mountain wonder

Through the trees and telegraph poles

The voice of wind is howling, growling

God is great and has no foes”.

Tossed about in stormy thunder

A tiny craft is smashed around,

Across a vast and turbulent ocean

The voice of God now shouts aloud.

Pushing down the tallest timbers

Breaking them like pencil sticks

Wind is strong and knows no conqueror

So much like God which wind depicts.

In an open field in winter

Feel the force of a mighty gale

Becomes me to seek out shelter

Man is weak and very frail.

Howling, storming, mighty blowing

Pushing all around like leaves

Now declaring God is glorious

For God is there behind the breeze”.

This poem speaks of how even the wind can and does glorify or praise God when we realise he created it and controls it day after day.

Finally, in this first part of the second section of Psalm 148 we have verse 9 which speaks of mountains, hills, fruit trees and cedars praising God,

“You mountains and all hills, fruit trees and cedars”.

Israel is set in a landscape that hills and mountains dominate the landscape either the people of Israel lived in the mountains like Jerusalem or looked up to the mountains from the desert plains and therefore the Psalmist includes mountains, hills and fruit trees that would have dominated the foot hills of the mountains and the great Cedar trees that filled the forests of the northern mountains of Israel as created objects of praise to the God who made and sustains them.

I live in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney Australia and have lived there for over 30 years and I never get tired of appreciating the spectacular scenery of the mountains and rugged valleys all around me where I live. As I said in the introduction great cathedrals and churches don’t inspire praise in me but beautiful mountain scenery does.

This does not mean I don’t look forward to going to church but I go not for the building but for the fellowship and worship of the people who gather in that building. Paul spoke many times to the churches about praising God or giving God the glory for what he has done in us as individuals and as a church and Ephesians 3: 20 – 21 is a good example of this,

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen”.

We will look more closely at our call to praise God in the second part of the second section of this Psalm 148.

(11 – 12) Praise God created humanity high and low

In this second part of the second section of Psalm 148 the writer turns to calling humanity to praise God again because he made them and continues to uphold them. In his two verses, he uses poetic images of humanity that seek to include all humanity both high and low, he writes,

“Kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and women, old men and children”.

The writer of Psalm 148 started with Kings, princes and rulers and these are the human beings who rule and lead humanity and it has always been a trap that their powerful positions in human society has corrupted them and instead of praising and worshipping God they often end up seeking praise and worship for themselves. I like the advice Spurgeon gives to those who hold positions of power in human societies,

“Monarchs must not disdain to sing, nor must their people refrain from uniting with them.

Those who lead in battle and those who decide in courts must neither of them allow their vocations to keep them from reverently adoring the Chief and Judge of all. All people, and all judges, must praise the Lord of all”.

Paul makes it clear that the people who rule over us are only in such a position because God has put them there, Romans 13: 1,

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God”.

This does not mean all people in authority are righteous or always do the right thing for they like all of us are sinners and need to be saved and this is why Paul instructs the church through Timothy for us to always pray for those who rule over us, 1 Timothy 2: 1 – 4,

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— ²for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ³This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, ⁴who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”.

Note Paul says God wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth and this all people of course includes Kings, Princes and Rulers.

Then in verse 12 the lowlier people in human society are called on to praise God,

“Young men and women, old men and children”

These terms represent all humanity young and old alike and we all must praise and worship God alone because he made us and sustains us daily. Christians often give thanks for the food they are about to eat as a way of acknowledging God’s good provisions for their daily needs.

Jesus in his model prayer includes asking for God to give us our daily need of food, Matthew 6: 11,

“Give us today our daily bread”.

We need to praise God for all he has given us in this life and particularly for the salvation and forgiveness we have in Christ as Peter exhorts us to do in 1 Peter 1: 3 – 5,

“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, ⁴and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,⁵who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time”.

I close this second section of Psalm 148 with my Prayers for the Created poem called,

“God’s Alive”

This world is full of mystery there is much we do not know,

Like why does a mother love her child

And what causes winds to blow?

And yet I seem surrounded by arrogance supreme,

They tell me that they know it all

And God is but a dream.

Then tell me who has made this world

With order and contrast?

Who and why decided what, life should come to pass?

Just take the tiny caterpillar

Who starts life so small

And changes to a butterfly to fly the skies so tall.

We only believe in things we see and yet we rely each day

On electricity and the air, we breathe

And the hidden tidal sway.

So, think again when you say God is surely dead

For without his help the world would stop

And non- one would be fed.

Yes, God’s alive and must be feared

His word does clearly proclaim

For through his love he sent his Son

To save our lives through sacrificial pain.

So, look to God and know his love

And glorify his name.

3. (13 – 14) PRAISE GOD CREATED PEOPLE OF GOD

(vs. 13) Praise by the created for the name and splendour of God

The writer brings his short but amazing Psalm to a close with two verses that achieve two important things:

He states again the central reason why all of the created should praise God (vs. 13)
He calls on God’s special people / his faithful saved ones to praise God (vs. 14)

I will deal with the first of these final important things in this section namely:

He states again the central reason why all of the created should praise God (vs. 13)

Verse 13 contains similar information about why all of the created universe should praise God as we read back in verses 5 and 6 for verse 13 says,

“Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendour is above the earth and the heavens”.

These wonderful facts about God spoken here in verse 13 relate to the praise of his special people for it is God’s word or revelation to them that makes them the ones who know the three things this verse speaks of namely:

The name of God
His exalted position in all things
His splendour that is above the earth and heavens

I will now seek to explain what each of these three wonderful facts about God actually are:

The name of God

I said that only God’s special people known as Israel in the bible know what verse 13 is speaking about and this is because God chose to create a special people.

Through God’s special people God made himself known to the world and his name is all that he is that he made known to them.

We see this clearly in God’s words to Moses on Mount Sinai when God set down his covenant of love in Exodus 19: 5 – 6,

“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, ⁶youwill be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”.

You see a priest is a go between and here God will make himself known to Moses and the people he represented. Israel was to take the message of who God is and what he wants the world to know about him to the world. They would be God’s go between or priests.

Isaiah understood perfectly what this Kingdom of priests really meant in Isaiah 43: 10 – 13 where he speaks of how God would reveal his name, who he really is to Israel and they would be his witnesses to the world,

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe meand understand that I am he.Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.¹¹I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no saviour.¹²I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you.You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.¹³Yes, and from ancient days I am he.No one can deliver out of my hand.When I act, who can reverse it?”

We of course now know who God really is and what he is really like because Israel at least for filled this part of their calling and of course through Israel God made himself even more clearly known through the Lord Jesus Christ who established the new covenant and called us to be his priests or witnesses to the world.

We see this in two important New Testament references, Hebrews 1: 1 – 3,

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ²but 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. ³The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven”.

Then 1 Peter 2: 9 – 10, speaking of how we are now God’s priests, special nation and witnesses to the world,

“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. ¹⁰Once 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”.

His exalted position in all things

The second important reason in verse 13 why all of the created must praise God is expressed in the words,

“For his name alone is exalted”

Albert Barnes gave me the cross reference of Psalm 8 verse 1, which says,

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

Barnes comments on this verse points out that God’s majestic name could actually be translated excellent or exalted and he then goes on to make this comment,

“Name being often used to denote the person. The idea is,” How glorious art thou in thy manifested excellence or character.”

So, God is the exalted one and as creations creator he has set his glorious character or attributes in the heavens and of course the earth as well. This means we and all of creation must praise God and God alone.

Paul boldly presents Jesus as the image of the invisible God who is this great creator God who deserves our praise and worship in Colossians 1: 15 – 20,

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For 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. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross”.

His splendour that is above the earth and heavens

This expression then above the heavens makes God’s majesty, power and glory the highest and most supreme thing there is in any sense. David made it plain the heavens declare God’s glory or splendour and he himself sits above all that he has made in holy splendour or glory which Isaiah got a glimpse of which he recorded in Isaiah 6: 1 – 3,

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another:“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

The apostle John also saw a vision of the glory and splendour of God in highest heaven which he records in Revelation 4: 1 – 8,

“After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ²At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. ³And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. ⁴Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spiritsof God. ⁶Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.In the centre, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. ⁷The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.

⁸Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’who was, and is, and is to come.”

David Guzik sums up well what this term “his splendour is above the earth and the heavens” and how that applies to us when he writes,

“Yahweh deserves such praise from all things on earth because He is immeasurably greater and more glorious than anything on earth. We should reserve our praise for only that which is truly greater and more glorious, not for the lesser things (such as the idols of men’s hands)”.

The idols of today are so puny and pathetic when compared to great and glorious God of Heaven and earth. Idols like money, fame ad even worship of the human body itself such things are so shallow and useless in satisfying us in this life let alone the life to come.

Paul calls the Colossian Christians to turn away from the false God’s of our age and set their hearts on The Lord Jesus Christ, he says this in Colossians 3: 1 – 3,

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”.

The setting our hearts on the things above involve our praise and worship of the God who sits above earth and heaven as verse 13 of Psalm 148 states clearly.

“Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendour is above the earth and the heavens”.

(vs. 14) Praise by the created and saved people of God

The writer of Psalm 148 then addresses the special chosen people of God, Israel directly and states three wonderful realities about them that should inspire their praise and worship joined to the general praise of all created things:

They are a people that have been miraculously saved by God
They are a people that should faithful serve their God
They are a people that are close to the heart of God.

I will now seek to explain what each of these three wonderful realities of God’s special chosen people are and how they apply to us in The Lord Jesus Christ:

They are a people that have been miraculously saved by God

The reality of God’s special chosen people is expressed in a curious controversial phrase that reads this way at the start of verse 14,

“And he has raised up for his people a horn”

To understand what this phrase meant at the time of writing, after the return from Babylonian exile we need to understand what the image of “a horn” means in the Old Testament. In my study of this term I was led to two key Old Testament verses:

1 Samuel 2: 1,

Then Hannah prayed and said:“My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high.My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.

And Psalm 133: 17 – 18,

“Here I will make a horngrow for David and set up a lamp for my anointed one.¹⁸I will clothe his enemies with shame, but his head will be adorned with a radiant crown.”

The horn then denotes strength and power particularly for the powerless as Hannah prayed saying God saved Israel when they were weak and powerless like a horn who lifted them high.

Then Psalm 133: 17 speaks of David and his descendants being a horn making God’s people victorious over their enemies.

Putting this in the context of the Jews return from exile in captivity in Babylon Leopold writes,

“Israel had almost completely deprived of strength during the captivity”.

Then after 70 years God raised up a horn in the pagan king Cyrus who acts as a Saviour by defeating the Babylonians and then making Israel strong by restoring or making it possible for them to be restored to the promised land of Israel.

The second reference of David and his descendants being God’s horn or God’s instrument of making the weak strong by saving them and raising them up is a beautiful prophecy of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who is David’s greater son who saves us from our weakness of our sins and raises us up to eternal life a greater salvation than from captivity and slavery.

As Peter explained to the crowd in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2: 29 – 36,

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. ³⁰But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. ³²God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. ³³Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. ³⁴For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,“‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand³⁵until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’³⁶“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

Jesus then is the promised Messiah a great descendant of David who is God’s horn or saving strength that lifts us up from the captivity or slavery of sin. Paul speaks of this great rising up of us from the captivity or slavery of sin this way in Ephesians 2: 1 – 7,

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our fleshand following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus”.

Through Christ and what he has done for us we become God’s chosen people or the special people of God which is what Paul goes on to declare in Ephesians 2: 11 – 13,

“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— ¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ”.

Paul makes this even more clearer in what he says in verses 19 – 22,

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit”.

David Guzik makes the connection of this miraculous salvation of God’s chosen people to the overall theme of “Praise of the Created” with these words,

“Yahweh deserves such praise from all things on earth because He has rescued and established his people”.

This means the work of The Lord Jesus Christ miraculously rescuing us from our weak and powerless state of sin has cosmic consequences and is in fact the ultimate plan of God for all of creation as Paul makes clear in Romans 8: 18 – 21,

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God”.

They are a people that should faithful serve their God

The second description of God’s people that should inspire them to praise and worship their God which should join with the praise of all created things is expressed this way in verse 14,

“The praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel”

This term “faithful servants” many commentators point out is the Hebrew word for “Saints” which carries with it the idea of being set apart also a Hebrew word similar to “being holy” but of course the people of Israel where only made holy and where made separate by God for his service by his covenant of love which in Old Testament symbolized the need for a sacrifice for their sins by animals.

This need for a sacrifice for the payment of our sins was only made possible by the coming of The Lord Jesus Christ who even John the Baptist knew was the perfect sacrifice for our sins when he declared in John 1: 29,

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”

The writer to the Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus is the mediator of a New Covenant through his death for our sins on the cross 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”.

So, because of what God did for his people Israel through the Old covenant they are his saints or as translated in the NIV translation, “his faithful servants” and because they can be called this through the miraculous workings of God they joined by all created things should praise and worship this great saving God.

We have even more reasons to join this great chorus of praise because we are made God’s “Saints” or “Faithful Servants” through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for us winning for us forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life as Paul made clear so many times in his letters to the churches like these words in Colossians 2: 13 – 15,

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made youalive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross”.

Paul calls the church in Corinth those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be his holy people or “Saints” as this term can be translated as in 1 Corinthians 1: 2,

“To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours”.

So, all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are “Saints” not some special super Christians like the Roman Catholic church teaches.

They are a people that are close to the heart of God.

The final reality of God’s special chosen people that should lead to their praise and worship of their God is expressed this way by the writer of Psalm 148 at the end of verse 14 and his Psalm,

“The people close to his heart”.

This last term is miraculous because it presents the amazing idea that God’s chosen people have a special relationship to the God who made and controls the entire universe, Spurgeon writes,

“Those who are children of privilege should be children of praise. A people near unto him, near by kin, and near by care; near as to manifestation and near as to affection. This is a highly honourable description of the beloved race; and it is true even more emphatically of the spiritual Israel, the believing seed”.

Spurgeon’s expression “the spiritual Israel, the believing seed”, is a beautiful description of those who have come close to the heart of God through Christ who Paul describes this way in Ephesians 2: 13,

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ”.

We must praise our wonderful God because we have been brought near to him through the work of Christ for us on the cross and through Jesus death and resurrection Paul goes on to say in verses 17 and 18 of Ephesians 2,

“He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit”.

We come to then to the end of Psalm 148 which started with the popular term for praise in the Psalms, “Hallelujah” or Praise to Yahweh and then concludes with a “Hallelujah”.

All of the created things of this world and universe has been called upon to praise their creator and sustaining God and we especially as God’s chosen people must lead this praise not only with our lips but also with our lives as Paul exhorts us to do in Romans 12: 1,

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship”.

I close as usual with an original poem / song a new “Prayers of the Created Poem” or for this Psalm “A Praise of the Created poem and a final word of prayer:

LET US PRAISE THE NAME OF THE LORD

(Based on Psalm 148)

Praise the Lord

From the heavens above

Praise him all you angels

Praise him for his love

Praise him sun and moon

Praise him shinning stars

Praise him highest heavens

For all God’s wonders above the skies.

Chorus:

Let us praise the name of the Lord

For at his command he created all

He established it by his powerful word

That will surely live for evermore.

Praise the Lord

Praise him earth and sea

Praise him ocean depths

Praise him now for me.

Praise him wind and storms

Praise him mountains and plains

Praise him creature’s great and small

Praise the Lord who always reigns.

Chorus:

Let us praise the name of the Lord

For at his command he created all

He established it by his powerful word

That will surely live for ever more.

Praise the Lord

Praise him nations and kings

Praise him all mankind

For he alone made everything

Praise him for his splendour

seen on earth and heaven above

Praise him all faithful servants

Who have responded to his love.

Chorus:

Let us praise the name of the Lord

For at his command he created all

He established it by his powerful word

That will surely live for evermore.

By: Jim Wenman

PRAYER:

We join with all of creation in praise to you Father of Heaven and earth, Lord and creator of all things. We thank you for your wonderful creation, we thank you for your continual maintaining of this world, we thank you for your bountiful provisions of our daily needs. But above all we thank you for your love in sending your Son Jesus Christ to this world to die on the cross for our sins so that we can be forgiven to be one with you in Praise and service both now and for evermore, In Jesus Name we pray this, Amen.

PSALM 147 TALK: WHY PRAISE GOD?

Posted on April 21, 2019 by jimwenman

PSALM 147 TALK: WHY PRAISE GOD?

(This is the second of the last five Psalms of the book of Psalms often called The Hallelujah Psalms and this Psalm features a detailed answer to the all- important question of why we should praise God and God alone.)

INTRODUCTION

In 2009 an author named Cooper Lawrence had a book published called “Cult of Celebrity: What Our Fascination with The Stars Reveals About Us” and I read this opening Amazon reviewers description of the book that said,

“America’s fast-growing religion is—let’s face it—celebrity worship. From gossip magazines to entertainment TV, from blogs to ads featuring famous faces, the stars are our new gods and goddesses. But why are we so quick to put them on pedestals? Why are we even more spellbound when they topple back down to earth?”

What this reviewer said about this book coupled with its title reveals how in our present day we are so easily caught up in praising some kind of celebrity whether he or she be in sport, film, politics or some other field of human endeavour but do they really deserve our praise and adoration?

I believe like the writer of Psalm 147, that God alone deserves our adoration and praise which he clearly states in his opening verse,

“Praise the Lord, how good is it to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him”.

Unlike human celebrities who come and go, rise and fall and worse still go out of fashion God remains the same yesterday today and forever, he alone has the power and many good reasons for our praise and worship. Psalm 147 sets down many of these good reasons why God alone deserves our praise and worship.

I want to take you through this second Hallelujah Psalm in the final five Psalms of the book of Psalms to show you the answer to that question “Why Praise God”?

However, before we delve into this Psalm I want to answer the question of when it was written and for this Psalm I can even come up with a possible date that it was first sung and that date is 444 BC. This is the date that historians give to the dedication of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem recorded in the bible in Nehemiah 12: 27 – 43.

Many believe this is the time this Psalm was first sung on that great day of celebrations in Jerusalem because of two verses in the Psalm namely verses 2 and 13.

Verse 2 says,

“The Lord builds up Jerusalem, he gathers the exiles of Israel”

We will see that the exiles of Israel in this Psalm are those who returned from Babylonian captivity not long before the walls of that ancient city where rebuilt under the leadership of Nehemiah.

Verse 13 says,

“He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you.”

This is a direct reference to the rebuilt gates on the walls of Jerusalem that along with the wall was celebrated and dedicated in 444BC and more than likely this Psalm took centre stage in the praise and worship of the great God of the Bible who made that day possible.

Another piece of evidence for this Psalm being written and used for the dedication of the newly built walls of Jerusalem in 444BC is the fact that the Septuagint, The Syriac versions of the Old Testament ascribe this Psalm along with the previous Psalm to the two prophets of the time of Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah. Albert Barnes sites the actual wording of the Syriac version of the Old Testament that reads like this,

“A Psalm of Haggai and Zechariah, when they urged the completion of the Temple in Jerusalem”.

This took place around the time of the dedication of the newly built Jerusalem walls around 444BC that had happened 60 years or so after the dedication of the Temple around 515BC.

Interestingly Zechariah gets a mention as one of the priests and Levites around the time of the building and dedication of the walls of Jerusalem in Nehemiah 12: 16:

“Of Iddo’s, Zechariah of Ginnethon’s, Meshullan”

With the theme of the answer to the question of why we should praise God my outline for this Psalm is:

(1 – 6) PRAISE GOD BECAUSE HE IS OUR GREAT SAVIOR

(vs. 1) Praise God because he alone deserves it
(2 – 6) Praise God because he saves the lost

2 (7 – 11) PRAISE GOD BECAUSE HE IS THE GREAT

PROVIDER

(7 – 9) Praise God because he provides food for all
(10- 11) Praise God because he delights in those who

put their hope in his love

3 (12 – 20) PRAISE GOD BECAUSE HE IS BLESSES HIS

PEOPLE

(12 – 14) Praise God because he blesses his people with

peace and security

(15 – 18) Praise God because he controls this world
(19 – 20) Praise God because he gave us his word

Let’s have a closer look at this Psalm then using this outline:

(1 – 6) PRAISE GOD BECAUSE HE IS OUR GREAT SAVIOUR

(vs. 1) Praise God because he alone deserves it

As all of the closing five Psalms in the book of Psalms do this Psalm starts and finishes with the special ancient Hebrew word for praise, “Hallelujah” which is translated in English as “Praise the Lord”. Hallelujah literally means “Praise Yah” or more specifically, “Praise Yahweh” and “Yahweh” is the special covenant name of the God of the bible.

This covenant name carried with it many wonderful truths about God like his eternal and loving nature and once this opening “Hallelujah” is spoken the psalmist goes on to state his first reason for praising this great God of the universe and covenant, he writes,

“How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him”.

The writer here spells out three reasons for why we should praise this great eternal and loving God of the bible who alone deserves our praise:

1. It is good

2. It is pleasant

3. It is fitting

Alan Harman says:

“There is a cumulative impact created by these adjectives”

But even though these three reasons for why we praise God have a cumulative impact individually they have much to tell us about why God alone deserves our praise so I will give you some of my insights into these three reasons for why we should praise God alone.

1. It is good

Alfred Barnes quotes another use of this term Psalm 92: 1,

“It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High”

Barnes goes on to make some great comments but I like this one the best,

“it is good as it is due to God. For all his favour, we should be thankful – and all that we enjoy is his gift”.

David makes this clear in his own beautifully poetic way in Psalm 34: 8,

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him”.

So, praising God because he is good brings blessing because that act of faith when we acknowledge God’s goodness opens up God’s blessed help and protection.

As Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4: 4 – 5,

For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, ⁵because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

It is pleasant

I like H.C Leopold’s comment on this when he writes,

“The idea is first reinforced praise itself is a pleasant and most delightful occupation”.

All through the bible praise and worship is not a drudge or dull thing to do but is a very pleasant and joyful activity as we see in the first two verses of Psalm 95,

“Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
²Let us come before him with thanksgivingand extol him with music and song”.

Even Paul speaks of and encourages the churches to engage in joyful and pleasant praise and worship as we read in Colossians 3: 16,

^“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts”.

Finally, heaven itself will be a very pleasant, joyful place of worship because it will be focussed on a God who loves and cares for us so much as we read in Revelation 19: 6 – 10,

“Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.⁷Let us rejoice and be gladand give him glory!For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his

bride has made herself ready.⁸Fine linen, bright and clean,was given her to wear.”

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)⁹Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”¹⁰At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”

Then in chapter 21 of Revelation heaven is presented as a very pleasant place of praise and worship as it will be the place where there is no more death, mourning, crying or pain for we will be with God forever, Revelation 21: 1 – 8.

3. It is fitting

Praising God is fitting because as Tremper Longman 111 says,

“Praising God is what we were created for”.

Often in my Psalm talks I have quoted the first question and answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism and that first question goes like this:

“What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever”.

To glorify God is to enjoy God and likewise to enjoy God is to glorify or praise God as Paul points out to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 – 17,

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

It is God’s will because we were made to be in a special relationship with God but sin separated us from God and that special relationship he design us for but praise God through the Lord Jesus Christ death on the cross our sin has been paid for.

Because our sins have been paid for we can come through Jesus and his death for us back to God as Paul so triumphantly speaks of in Romans 5: 1 – 8,

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through 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. ³Not only so, but glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And 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.

⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

This passage alone should bring us to our knees in adoration and praise because it demonstrates how fitting and right God through The Lord Jesus Christ deserves our praise and worship.

(2 – 6) Praise God because he saves the lost

Even the writer of Psalm 147 writing over 400 years before the coming of Christ, we believe knew that the God of the bible deserved our praise because he is a loving saving God of those who are lost.

He speaks of this in the way he and the people of his time knew the great truth of the amazing love of God in the historical story of how God brought back his people from their desperate state of captivity in Babylon to rebuild the ruins of Jerusalem particularly represented by the rebuilding of its fallen smashed walls and this is what I believe the writer is speaking of in verse 2 – 3,

“The Lord builds up Jerusalem: he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds”.

I believe this Psalm was first written to celebrate with praise the dedication of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah. God laid on Nehemiah’s heart the broken spirits of his people back in Jerusalem after they had returned from exile to find the devastation of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem still very obvious in that place.

We read of this in Nehemiah 1: 1 – 4,

“The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, ²Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

³They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

⁴When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven”.

Nehemiah goes on to pray to God for the restoration of his homeland based on the promise God gave Moses long ago recorded in Deuteronomy 30: 4 – 10 which involved Israel confessing their sins, which Nehemiah does on their behalf and receiving from God his redemption out of his love for them which would lead to God’s full and wonderful restoration, see Nehemiah 1: 5 – 11.

His final words in his prayer asks God to give him success in granting him favour to obviously help his people achieve this restoration of their ancient capital of Jerusalem.

Nehemiah was certainly in a great position to find help for his people as he held the privileged position of cupbearer to the great Persian King Artaxerxes a position of great trust and a position that gave Nehemiah direct access to the king’s ear. However, if Nehemiah spoke up for his people in the king’s presence he could have lost his life as such behaviour was forbidden in those times.

God used Nehemiah’s broken-hearted state to prompt King Artaxerxes to ask why he looked so sad and this gave Nehemiah the opportunity to tell the king about the terrible state of his people which still was a dangerous thing to do but God blessed Nehemiah and gave him the answer to his prayer. The king gave Nehemiah official leave and permission to return to Jerusalem to organise the re-building of the city walls.

This is what I believe verses 2 and 3 is speaking about as another great reason for the people of God in Nehemiah’s time to praise God,

“The Lord builds up Jerusalem: he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds”.

What is the New Testament or Christian application of these two verses?

To me when I read of Jerusalem in the Psalms I think of the place of God’s special presence with his people which is particularly symbolic in the ancient building called in the bible the Temple on the hill in Jerusalem called Zion.

Jesus in his ministry on earth predicted the destruction of the Temple which happened historically in AD 70 less than 40 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus so what has replaced the Temple in New Testament thought?

The surprising answer to this is found a couple of times in the writings of Paul like 1 Corinthians 6: 19 – 20,

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies”.

So, God’s special presence is now in every true believer of Christ and I have said before that we are like walking Temples of God or walking presence’s of God in our world and in fact when we meet together as the church of God on earth Jesus promises this in Matthew 18: 20,

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

The writer to the Hebrews speaks of the church as one day being the Heavenly Jerusalem or Heavenly Zion, Hebrews 12: 22 – 24,

“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel”.

We as individual members of the New Jerusalem called into being from the lowly state of sinners under the judgment of God which fits well with the wording of verse 2 of Psalm 147,

“He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds”.

This should always be a wonderful reason for us to praise God alone as Paul does in 2 Corinthians 4: 15,

“All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God”.

Then surprisingly the writer of Psalm 147 seems to jump from personal salvation of his people speaking about God’s saving word to God’s cosmic power and might in creation, he writes in verses 4,

“He determines the number of the stars and calls them by name”.

Why does he do this?

I think this writer does this all through this Psalm to demonstrate the power and majesty of the God he is praising who as I have been saying all through this Psalm talk alone deserves our praise and worship.

I heard a bible teacher many years ago make a very wise and informative statement, he said something like if you want a big faith in God you need to get a big view of God. This is what this writer of Psalm 147 is seeking to give us a bigger view of God to inspire bigger praise of this mighty wonderful and powerful God.

This is the God who he has just claimed in verse 3 heals the broken hearted and now the same God who created the billion upon billion of stars in the universe and who not only created them but knows them all so well he has named them so he controls them for to name them means he is in control of them.

The God of the bible is just what the next verse says about him,

“Great is the Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit”.

Allan Harman explains,

“Encouragement comes to the people with the thought that the restorer of Israel is none other than the God of creation. Even the stars are his and he knows them individually because he controls and knows them all”.

Modern science and astrology only makes this fact even more mind blowing as we now know the incredible vastness of the universe so this God of the bible is truly both great and powerful and therefore he alone deserves our praise and worship.

However, the writer of Psalm 147 wants us to realise why he has just spoken about how great and powerful this God of the bible is for us and that is again made clear in verse 6 which simply says,

“The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground”

God wants us all to come to him in praise and worship but we can only do that by humbling ourselves before God and he will give us his grace or undeserved favour as Peter speaks of when addressing younger people submitting to their elders, 1 Peter 5: 5 – 7,

“In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,“God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.”⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you”.

The opposite thing to humbling ourselves before God is to remain proud and self-reliant which in Old Testament terms is to stay wicked and the writer of Psalm 147 says that the fate of the wicked is to be cast to the ground which is a picture of judgment also spoken of in the New Testament like John 15: 6,

“If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned”.

2 (7 – 11) PRAISE GOD BECAUSE HE IS THE GREAT

PROVIDER

(7 – 9) Praise God because he provides food for all

This Psalm has three clear sections and each section starts with a call to praise God expressed in a different way each time and this section puts the call to praise this way in verse 7,

“Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp”.

Allan Harman points out that the Hebrew word for sing literally means respond but the reference to a musical a compliment in the rest of verse 7 makes singing the way this writer wants us to respond to what we will see is the God who provides food here in verses 8 and 9 to all his creatures, he writes in verses 8 and 9,

“He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call”.

So, the writer goes for the bigger picture of God to inspire a bigger praise for God here again and God is the controller of the weather and even what modern science calls the water cycle of clouds producing rain that helps makes things grow and then this food provides the grass and crops that feed the animals, here cattle and birds.

This is similar to what we read in Psalm 104: 13 – 14,

“He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.¹⁴He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate—bringing forth food from the earth”.

Why does the writer pick out the raven to represent the feeding of birds?

I Like David Guzik’s who quotes a commentator named Poole to answer this,

“Young Ravens” Which he mentions, partly, because they were most contemptible, especially to the Jews, to whom they were unclean and forbidden for food; partly, because they are greedy and voracious; and partly, because they are not only neglected by men, but also forsaken by their dams as soon as ever they can fly, and so are wholly left to the care and keeping of Divine Providence.”

God even cares for the downcast birds of nature which man and other creatures despises such is his love for the unlovely.

Here again we have yet another reason to praise the God of the bible. God is merciful and so should we be like him if we truly seek to live a life of praise to him as Jesus simply states in Luke 6: 36,

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”.

2. (10- 11) Praise God because he delights in those we put

their hope in his love

In my introduction, I referred to the cult of the celebrity or the worship of human personalities and here in verse 10 is an Old Testament or ancient Israelite example of this kind of false worship for 10 says,

“His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior”.

You see in ancient time what men thought was great and important particularly for their security and prosperity was the soldier and his strong horse. Maybe today a lot of people put their trust in their counties military might, planes, missiles and well equipped and well- trained soldiers but God sees no value in these so called human powers and abilities as Allan Harman says,

“Human strength, even military might, is no substitute for divine power”.

We might not care much for military power but our faith or adoration for some famous celebrity or maybe Politian is misplaced and misguided for these people are human just like we are and so often these so called great ones fall and fail causing us a great sense of disappointment and pain but we should have the same adoration and faith as the next verse, verse 11 expresses so well,

“The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love”.

This is a round- about way of saying don’t trust in so called human strength and ability but trust or hope in the God of Heaven and earth, the God of the bible for he alone deserves our praise because he is the God of unfailing love.

Note it says “unfailing” which means God and his love is constant and therefore will not let us down like obviously human forces or celebrities will let us down. As John writes in 1 John 4: 16,

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them”.

Verse 11 speaks of fearing God which is another way of saying revere and praise God which is the basis of all true worship and we praise God according to these verses by hoping or trusting in the unfailing love of God which we show by who we really serve in our lives.

In the New Testament Paul speaks of the basis of true worship now that we have the love or mercy of God shown to us in Christ in Romans 12: 1

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship”.

3 (12 – 20) PRAISE GOD BECAUSE HE IS BLESSES HIS

PEOPLE

(12 – 14) Praise God because he blesses his people with

peace and security

We come then to the third call to praise at the start of the third and final section of this Psalm 147 that we have seen has been telling us in some detail the answer to the question of Why praise God.

Before we look at the final reasons of why we should praise God I will make couple of comments on this third call to praise, which reads this way in verse 12,

“Extol the Lord, Jerusalem praise your God, Zion”.

The Hebrew word for extol apparently to Hebrew scholars is another word for praise and Albert Barnes points out,

“In addition to this general praise in which all may unite, there are special reasons why Jerusalem and its inhabitants should praise God”.

As I said in my introduction I believe this Psalm was at least adapted if not written for the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem as recorded in Nehemiah 12: 27 – 47 in which two large choirs plus large musical performers went to the top of two of the main gates on the newly built walls around Jerusalem.

Here the choirs, musicians, leaders and people below are called upon to extol or praise the Lord and the reasons for praise here include the peace and security God has given them. This is evident in a physical way by the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and re-building or the Temple a few years before the walls were rebuilt.

This becomes clearer by what we read in verse 13,

“He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you”.

Note how the wording of this verse has both a physical and spiritual aspect to them for the gates on their own do not guarantee peace and security but God strengthens the bars of the gates and he blesses the people within them.

The people are not being called on to praise the physical strength of the gates and walls but rather the strength of the God who made them possible as it was only God’s divine and providential leading and prompting of Nehemiah that led to his return with the authority and resources of their Persian overlords to organise the re-building of these gates and walls.

This blessing by God of peace and security is made even clearer by the next verse, 14 which says,

“He grants peace to the borders and satisfies you with the finest wheat”.

Here the physical blessings of God for his people who praise Him and as we read in verse 11, put their hope in his unfailing love mirror the spiritual blessings we have in and through The Lord Jesus Christ as Paul speaks about God giving us peace in difficult times in Philippians 4: 7 after turning to God in faith and prayer:

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

This peace God gives us what I call peace to cope not the cessation of conflict and this peace to cope is yet another reason why we should praise God.

(15 – 18) Praise God because he controls this world

As this Psalmist has done twice already in verses 15 – 18 he turns to the bigger picture of God’s control and power seen in nature. As I said before he wants his readers or even those who use this Psalm in worship to get a bigger view of God which leads to bigger praise and bigger faith in the hearts and lives of those who read, speak or sing this Psalms.

He speaks of God doing four incredible acts in nature that all should inspire and strengthen our faith in God:

God’s swiftly answered commands (vs. 15)
The spreading of snow (vs. 16)
The hurling down of hail (vs. 17)
The melting of ice and snow by his word (vs. 18)

I will now make a brief comment on each of these four acts of God in nature.

God’s swiftly answered commands (vs. 15)

As I said in my last Psalm talk the God of the bible is the Real Deal as this verse indicates how God operates in our day to day natural world, verse 15 says,

“He sends his command to earth; his word runs quickly”.

This is reminiscent of the often- repeated term in Genesis 1,

“And God said”

God simply speaks or here commands and things happen such is the power of the word of God. Things happen so quickly and wonderfully when God speaks or commands that the writer describes it with the phrase,

“His word runs swiftly”

John in the opening of his Gospel calls the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ “The word” and describes his creating work this way in John 1: 1 – 5,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcomeit”.

Paul goes even further in describing the Lord Jesus Christ as the creating word and force of everything including our salvation, Colossians 1: 15 – 20,

^“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For 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.

¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross”.

This gives us a much bigger view of God and his Son the Lord Jesus Christ and should lead us to a bigger praise of him.

The spreading of snow (vs. 16)

The second reason for praising God that uses God working through the natural world is the phenomenon of snow and frost, verse 16,

“He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes”.

I had not realised that snow fell in ancient or modern Palestine even more so Jerusalem but I read this interesting comment in the Pulpit commentary on this Psalm and this verse that says,

“Snow, though rare in Palestine, does occasionally fall, and is said to “cover the streets of Jerusalem two winters out of three. It generally comes in small quantities; but there are sometimes very snowy winters.” In 1879, for instance, snow lay in Jerusalem to a depth of seventeen inches”.

Our writer must have witnessed one of these rare Palatine winters and described vividly the spreading of snow being like probably fluffy wool. Frost in winter in Palestine is not as rare as snow and frost both come from the hand of God and this indicates that the swift commands or word of God in creation is still happening daily in our weather winter, Spring summer or autumn.

This also is a reason to praise God although these reasons and the next of hail stones could be seen by some as a reason not to praise God owing to their discomfort and possible danger. However, God has the weather under his control and he has his good reasons for their workings so we must join with Paul and by faith claim the truth of what Paul says in Romans 8: 28,

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

The hurling down of hail (vs. 17)

Verse 17 speaks of a natural phenomenon that God can send down on the earth not only in winter as it is the natural phenomenon of hail, verse 17,

“He hurls down his hail like pebble. Who can withstand his icy blast?

Where I live in Australia big thunder storms that send down often massive size hail causing much damage at times is in the height of summer not winter although we can get the occasional thunder storm in winter as well.

As I said in the last natural phenomena that the Psalmist uses as a reason to praise God namely hail some might see as a destructive power and a reason not to praise God. However, as I said by faith we can join Paul and believe in God’s sovereign good will in all things that seem to us both good and bad.

As I have been advocating if we have a big view of God we can have a big faith in God and take him at his word that he works all things together for good for those who love him and have been called according to his purposes. Spurgeon makes this insightful comment about the words at the end verse 17 that says,

“Who can withstand his icy blast?”

“That which God sends, whether it be heat or cold, no man can defy with impunity, but he is happy who bows before it with childlike submission”.

This is the nature of true biblical praise that we put into practice the words of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 – 18,

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

The melting of ice and snow by his word (vs. 18)

The last natural phenomena that is presented as a reason why we should praise God is the melting of snow and ice again by his word as we read in verse 18,

“He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and waters flow”.

So, God might send down snow, frost and even destructive hail but they end or stop when he decides by his word or command as verse 15 told us so God is sovereign over nature and everything.

God’s word is powerful and achieves exactly what he wants it to do as Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 55: 11,

“So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it”.

Or as the writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 4: 12,

The question I would like to ask is that if God’s word can melt snow, frost or hail can it also melt the cold unbelieving hearts of man?

The answer to that I believe is he certainly can as we just read in Hebrews 4: 12 that God’s word can penetrate,

“even to dividing soul and spirit”.

I spoke with some good friends recently who sadly as a couple had to leave their church they faithfully attended for many years because the word of God was now downgraded and even made to be irrelevant and of little use in our modern world. That church was losing the life changing heart melting power and force of God’s word and is now doomed to die as a result.

God in nature melts the snow, frost and hail by stirring up a breeze, no doubt a warm breeze and the ice and snow melt and become water.

Jesus speaks of the power of his spirit which we receive by faith in his word as a powerful force of water in John 7: 38,

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

This is yet another wonderful reason why we should praise God alone.

(19 – 20) Praise God because he gave us his word

The writer of Psalm 147 has called three times on the people of God to praise the Lord and has given us many reasons why we should praise him.

He started with how good, pleasant and fitting it is to praise the God (vs. 1) who made heaven and earth and then moved on to what God had done recently for the re-building of Jerusalem (vs. 2, 13 and 14). He then speaks of how this rebuilding of the broken nation of Israel through his unfailing love is yet even more reasons why me should praise God (vs’s 3 – 6 and 11).

Throughout the Psalm he has pointed us to the cosmic and natural hand of God’s control and provision as yet another reason why we should praise God (vs’s 4 – 5, 8 – 9 and 15 – 18).

However, all these reasons why we should praise the Lord of heaven and earth cannot match the final great reason why we should praise God and God alone and that is how he has revealed himself to us through his word, through initially the ancient nation of Israel and then through the The Lord Jesus Christ.

We read of God’s revelation of himself as a reason why we should praise him in verses 19 and 20, that says,

“He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the Lord.

We know from this revelation of God we call the bible that because mankind has turned its back on God we are all in the dark especially when it comes to knowing God as he is.

I like the way the apostle John explains this reality of how people are in the dark, spiritually and actually it seems John suggests we naturally like the darkness so much we shun the light or revelation of God when it shines on us, John 3: 19 – 21,

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹But 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”.

Many years ago, when I worked as a church Youth worker I taught scripture classes in three high schools where there were hundreds of young people who had no contact with Christians and the Christian Gospel message. I was often asked the question:

Why did God, if he exists at all have to speak to us through a book called the bible, why doesn’t he simply just speak directly to us?

When I was first asked this question I simply could not think of an answer and then it came to me. Imagine what it would be like if the students got what they were asking for and when I explained my answer to them I would curl up a piece of paper to look like a megaphone and then yelled at the top of my voice,

“Hey all you people down there I am God listen to me”

Even in a school class room this was a very unpleasant experience and I pointed out that big voices in the sky still would not be believed as many people would say how do we know that the voice is the sky is God speaking to us.

I would also point out that God is spirit and is great and awesome so he chose the best way possible to reveal himself which was through the story and history of a special nation he called into being and then through that nation he made himself known more fully as a person just like you and me yet also he was still God and this is of course is The Lord Jesus Christ who the apostle John speaks of this way 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 writer of Psalm 147 speaks of God revealing his word to Jacob who was one of the founding fathers of the nation of Israel God chose to reveal himself to and then eventually the world.

The name Jacob reveals that God spoke to a sinful fallen man as Jacob in Hebrew means supplanter and Jacob through most of his life was a self- serving devious man who sort to bring down his older twin brothers birth right to advance himself.

Jacob later in his life had a special encounter with God recorded in Genesis 32: 22 – 32 and after wrestling with God, through an Angel of God Jacob is humbled with a permanent injury to his hip causing him to limp and God gives him a new name which is Israel that means “Struggles with God and prevails” and that is the name of the Nation he helps to bring into being.

The writer of Psalm 147 then speaks of the special revelation of God to the Nation of Israel with these words in verse 19,

“His laws and decrees to Israel”

This is a direct reference to the covenant agreement God made with the ancient nation of Israel a covenant that speaks of God choosing to love and bless a nation called Israel and they are as their part of this covenant or binding agreement to keep his laws.

The story of Israel and the bible is that by and large Israel failed to keep God’s laws so God had to fulfil the covenant agreement another way and that was by providing the perfect sacrifice for our sins in the person of his Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what the writer to the Hebrews is speaking about in Hebrews 9: 14 – 15,

“How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

¹⁵For 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”.

The last verse of this Psalm speaks of the unique position Israel as a nation holds in world history as God chose only one nation on earth through which he made himself known,

“He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws”.

One commentator I read spoke of how the truth of this would have been clear to the Jews who had just come from the Babylonian captivity as living in Babylon they would have felt first- hand how nations without the revelation of God and his laws were so much in the dark and how this meant they had no idea about the One True God as they lived in total spiritual darkness not knowing or understanding who he is and what he requires of them.

As Christians, we are called to be The New Israel of God as Paul calls the church in passages like Galatians 6: 16 and implied by Galatians 3: 26 – 29. This means we also are in a unique position in the world we live in as Peter speaks so powerfully of in 1 Peter 2: 9 – 10,

So, we can join in the writer of Psalm 147 call to praise the God of the bible for his special revelation of himself that has called us as Peter declares in verse 9,

“Out of darkness into his wonderful light”.

This is the last and greatest reason why we can join the writer of Psalm 147 and say or sing,

“Hallelujah” or “Praise the Lord”.

I close as usual with an original poem / song and a final word of prayer:

IT IS GOOD TO PRAISE THE LORD

(Based on Psalm 147)

Praise the Lord

For it is good to sing praises to the Lord

Praise the Lord

How fitting and pleasant it is to praise the Lord

For he builds up his church

As he gathers them together as one

For he heals the broken hearted

Through the selfless giving of his only Son.

Chorus:

It is good to praise the Lord

For he’s done so much us

And he longs to bless us now

But we must turn around and trust.

Praise the Lord

For he made the stars up above

Praise the Lord

For he now controls the universe with love

And great with mighty power

Is our God who’s understanding has no end

And he sustains those who fall

And who seek his kingdom to extend.

Chorus:

Praise the Lord

Who takes no pleasure the strength of a horse

Praise the Lord

Who does not delight in human fighting force

But his delight is in those

Who trust and hope in his amazing love

For he sent his son to die

So that one day we could all rise up above.

Chorus:

Praise the Lord

For his wonderful provisions for the earth

Praise the Lord

Who makes the rain that gives our world new birth

And his revealed himself to us

Through his people called Israel who lived long ago

And through them he sent his son

So that message of his love to the world could now go.

Chorus:

It is good to praise the Lord

For he’s done so much us

And he longs to bless us now

But we must turn around and trust.

By: Jim Wenman

PRAYER:

We praise you Lord, Father in heaven above who made the universe and still keeps it going with your mighty power and your love. We praise you because you alone deserve our praise for all the wonderful loving things you have done for us and continue to do for us. Above all we praise and thank you for how you sent your Son to both reveal yourself to us and to die for our sins on the cross so that we could be forgiven of all our sins and come out of our darkness into your glorious eternal light. In Jesus name we pray this, Amen.

PSALM 146 TALK: CHOOSE THIS DAY WHO YOU WILL PRAISE

Posted on March 31, 2019 by jimwenman

PSALM 146 TALK: CHOOSE THIS DAY WHO YOU WILL PRAISE

(This is the first of the last five Psalms of the book of Psalms often called The Hallelujah Psalms and this Psalm features the theme of choosing to praise the Lord rather than mankind or any other God substitute. It offers wonderful reasons why we should praise God alone.)

INTRODUCTION

Ever since my late teenage years I have loved character studies of people in the bible. I was introduced to this by an assistant minister of the church I attended in my late teenage years who often led us through bible character studies at a bible study he ran for young people before evening church on a Sunday night. He often said the bible presents these characters “warts and all” meaning the bible revealed their strong Godly characteristics and their human failings as well.

One bible character I have always loved is Joshua and I believe he had very big shoes to fill as he had to take over the leadership of the people of Israel from the mighty Godly leader Moses. Joshua also had to lead Israel in many battles against the far more humanly powerful and numerous Canaanites. He did this by trusting in God alone and his strong and God focussed faith led Israel to possess and occupy the Promised Land.

Some of the words of Joshua to his people, made at the end of his life recorded in Joshua chapter 24 came to my mind as I read Psalm 146. Joshua issued a challenge to Israel before he passed on to be with God in heaven that goes like this, according to Joshua 24: 14 – 15,

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵But 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.”

These words came to me to my remembrance after I read these words in Psalm 146: 3 – 5,

“Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.⁴When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;on that very day their plans come to nothing.⁵Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,whose hope is in the Lord their God”.

Who we really serve ends up who we praise as we usually serve or follow the example of the person or thing we desire and admire the most in this life.

I often hear or read of people sometimes even Christians promoting a politician or political party or political ideal as the answer to the problems of our world today and in doing so they show their faith and hope is in man not the God of heaven and earth.

Not that Christians cannot hold political views and in fact Paul encourages us as true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ to pray for those in authority, 1 Timothy 2: 1 -4,

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—

²for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ³This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, ⁴who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

For many years now I have decided to pay respect to all political leaders and to pray for them no matter what party they belong to that God will lead them to the truth about his saving love in Christ and that they might be led to govern our country in such a way that everyone, including Christians can lead a peaceful life in godliness and holiness.

What I speak about shows who or what I think is worthy of praise and Psalm 146 makes this very clear. It seems its writer might have fallen himself into the trap of putting his faith and hope in earthly leaders of his day but when God reminded him of who he really is and what he has done for us as fallen sinful people in great need of Salvation he resolved to praise the Lord with his whole being or soul verse 1 and entire life verse 2.

This Psalm 146 became one of the final five Psalms in the book of Psalms that start and end with the Hebrew term, Hallelujah or as we translate it, “Praise the Lord” or more accurately praise Yahweh, Yahweh is the special covenant of love name for God who is, has been and will be forever more be as Moses was told at the burning bush by God recorded in Exodus 3: 14,

“God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

The name “I am who I am” is believed to be, “Yahweh” in Hebrew but others say it should be Jehovah but we are not sure because the Jews held the name in such a holy high way they would not write down vowels and only wrote down the four consonants YHWH.

So, these last five Psalms in the book of Psalms became known as “The Hallelujah Psalms” different from the other Hallelujah Psalms in book 5, 113 – 118 which are, “The Egyptian Hallelujah Psalms” as they praise God from a “Passover Preparation” perspective which is the celebration of God delivering Israel out of slavery in Egypt.

So, it seems the editors of this final book of Psalms placed Psalm 146 at the start of this final collection of Hallelujah Psalms as it makes it clear who we should be praising.

With the theme of the challenge of choosing who we will praise and serve, namely the God of Heaven and earth and not human beings or any other God substitute my outline is:

(1 – 2) THE WRITERS COMMITMENT TO PRAISE THE LORD

(vs. 1) May my whole being praise the Lord
(vs. 2) May my whole life praise the Lord

2 (3 – 5) THE CHALLENGE OF CHOOSING WHO YOU WILL PRAISE

(3 -4) Do not choose to praise and serve man
(vs 5) Choose to praise the God of the bible

3. 6 – 10) THE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE TO PRAISE GOD

(vs 6) Choose to praise God because he made everything
(7– 9b) Choose to praise God because he cares for lost humanity
(vs 9) Choose to praise God and not a God substitute or face frustration
(vs 10) Choose to praise God because he is the eternal King

(1 – 2) THE WRITERS COMMITMENT TO PRAISE THE LORD

(vs. 1) May my whole being praise the Lord

The writer of Psalm 146 opens with the ancient Hebrew term all of these last five Psalms of the book of Psalms open and close with,

“Hallelujah”

Or as our English versions translate,

“Praise the Lord”

As I have already stated, “Hallelujah” is literally, “Praise Yahweh” and Yahweh if you were an ancient Hebrew spoke of the great and powerful God of heaven and earth who has always existed and always will who made himself known to his chosen people and who established with them a special relationship of love.

As Christians, we know that this same God has made himself known to us in his saving acts of grace in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Yahweh worked through the Old Covenant to establish the new covenant of love as the writer to the Hebrews speaks of in Hebrews 9: 15,

The wonderful message of the whole bible is that the one true God of heaven and earth is in fact a God of love as the famous New Testament verse, John 3: 16 clearly states,

“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”.

The writer of Psalm 146 therefore adds to his “Praise Yahweh” or “Hallelujah” a second “Praise the Lord” and follows it with a commitment to praise this great God of love with his soul which in Hebrew means his whole being. The second part of verse 1 of Psalm 146 should read,

“Praise Yahweh with my whole being”

This God, he believes deserves his total all out praise and service and we will learn from the rest of the Psalm why this is so.

(vs. 2) May my whole life praise the Lord

Just to make sure we get what he has already stated he says much the same thing in verse 2 when he writes,

“I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live”.

This man is totally committed to praising the God of heaven and earth who is “Yahweh” the one true eternal God who has made himself known to us through the Nation of Israel and more specifically through the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as we as Christians know now.

This verse and the verse it follows is a commitment to serve and praise the God of the bible who deserves our praise as we will see from the rest of this Psalm. This is a life- long commitment as he uses life- long terms,

“all my life” and “as long as I live”

Stephen J. Cole writes,

“Praising God every day as long as you live won’t happen naturally or because you have a cheery disposition. It requires a God – ward focus, where you see every blessing and trial coming from his loving hand”.

Paul gave us a deep and thorough God – ward focus to continually praise and serve the Lord in some of his opening words of his letter to the Ephesians and I will quote just 6 of these verses here in this Psalm talk to help inspire us to praise the Lord all our lives, 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. ⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵hepredestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹hemade known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ”.

Whenever I feel tempted to turn from praising the Lord I like to read these words or even the first couple of chapters of Paul’s amazing letter to the Ephesians and my God ward focus of praise for the Lord returns in bucket loads.

2. (3 – 5) THE CHALLENGE OF CHOOSING WHO YOU WILL PRAISE

(3 -4) Do not choose to praise man

Surprisingly the writer of Psalm 146 after he has declared his commitment to praise the Lord with his whole being and throughout his entire life then speaks in negative terms about not putting trust and praise in human leaders called in his day, “Princes”. He write in verse 3,

“Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings who cannot save”.

Why does the writer of Psalm 146 turn from talking about total commitment to serving and praising God to a negative statement about not serving or using his words trusting in princes or human beings?

One commentator I consulted named Leopold suggested that this might have come about because our writer wrote this Psalm after he had learnt the bitter lesson of being caught up in trusting and praising human leaders rather than God.

I must tell you that the Hebrew word for “Princes” is “Nadib” which Richard Neil Donovan says represents,

“People in high places – people who wield authority – wealthy people”.

I can relate to this temptation because I know I live in a fallen world I feel surrounded by powerful human voices vying for my attention and allegiance. Powerful people can wield authority and even attractive messages and tempt us to gain our support and allegiance.

We can easily get sucked in to start trusting in a charismatic leader or person and in doing so forget that only God can be trusted and only God deserves our trust and praise.

Stephen J. Cole says,

“You will praise the one whom you trust if he helps you”.

However, the writer of Psalm 146 makes it clear that no matter how much a human person helps us he or she,

“Cannot Save”

They prove that they cannot save us because verse 4 says,

“When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that day their plans come to nothing”.

In other words, if you trust in a human being you will be eventually let down for the hope they offer will end in disappointment and even disaster.

I mentioned in my introduction I referred to Joshua’s call to serve the Lord in Joshua 24 verses 14 – 15,

In Joshua’s day the great temptation for his people was to return to serving the false God’s of Egypt or the God’s of the people of Canaan they had just conquered who would have got there powerful message blasted into the minds and lives as they lived in a culture totally devoted to them.

We have no problems turning to the ancient God’s of Egypt or Canaan but other alternative God’s or anti – God of the bible philosophies have a dominate voice in our world and tempt us to follow them. I live a secular often Godless western country that is dominated by a non-God of the bible philosophy like materialism or worship of self-interest which shouts its message at me daily seeking to win my elegance.

I also pointed out how Joshua mentioned the God’s of the people they are now living amongst as another form of non-God of the bible alternative and it was those God’s that Israel did by and large turn to causing great strife and pain for Israel and leading to God’s judgement like the fall of Israel in the North to the Assyrians and the fall of Judah in the south to the Babylonians followed by seventy years of Captivity in Babylon.

We all face the great temptation of not serving and praising God as the devil uses the world around us to shout a non-God allegiance message at us to subtly draw us into non- God of the bible thought and action.

James has this advice for us as we face and come under the influence of the Devil and his evil schemes to draw us away from serving and praising the Lord in James 4: 7 – 10,

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up”.

We must then be aware of the temptation of trusting in “princes” or powerful leaders of our world who cannot save us and praise the God of the bible who through the Lord Jesus Christ has saved us and given us the wonderful gift of eternal life as Paul declares so often in his letters to the churches and people like Timothy like 1 Timothy 1: 15 – 16,

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life”.

(vs 5) Choose to praise the God of the bible

So, the writer of Psalm 146 has warned us about falling into the trap of trusting in and praising “Princes” powerful human leaders who cannot save us and so in verse 5 he now says who we should trust in and praise he writes,

“Blessed are those whose help is in the God of Jacob, whose hope is the Lord their God”.

In other Psalm talks have I pointed out that the word “Blessed” actually means something like “Happiness” but not the kind of happiness our current world seeks but true deep spiritual happiness that Paul speaks of as peace with God as he 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”.

So, this happiness or peace that transcends all understanding is finding help and hope in the God of Jacob. This term “God of Jacob” has come up in many Psalms and I have pointed out before that Jacob is the other name of the patriarch who was later in his life named by God as Israel which became the name of the nation that descended from him.

I believe this use of the other name of Israel is no accident as Jacob up to the day he became known by God as Israel lived up to his former names ancient Hebrew meaning of “the supplanter” or the one sought to pull others down to advance himself. This is a good description of the life of Jacob up to his close encounter with God (Genesis 32: 27 – 31) and God touched Jacobs hip as he wrestled with his angel causing Jacob to have a permanent limp which made Jacob a person who stopped seeking to advance himself to become Israel which means, “May God Prevail” or “He struggled with God and God prevailed”.

“The God of Jacob” then is the God of sinners who submit their rebellious wills to the God described in the next verse as,

The maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them”.

This God then, as verse 5 says,

“Is the Lord their God”

This God then, alone deserves our “Hallelujah” or “Praise” as we read so often in the book of Revelation like 14: 6 – 7,

“Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. ⁷He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

3. (6 – 10) THE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE TO PRAISE GOD

(vs 6) Choose to praise God because he made everything

The final five verses of this Psalm 146 spell out many reasons why this God of Jacob or God of rebellious sinners who turn to God as the Lord deserves our praise.

The first of these reasons why the God of Jacob deserves our praise is in verse 6,

“He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them – he remains faithful forever.”

This concept of God being a powerful God who deserves our praise because he made everything has come up many times in the book of Psalms like Psalm 115: 15,

“May you be blessed by the Lord, the maker of Heaven and earth”

or Psalm 121: 2,

“My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth”.

Spurgeon aptly says,

“This God who still makes the world by keeping it in existence is assuredly able to keep us to his eternal kingdom and glory. The making of the worlds is the standing proof of the power and wisdom of that great God in whom we trust”.

The fact God is the one who made this world and keeps it going as Spurgeon has just suggested alone deserves our trust and praise especially compared to any other God substitute like so called powerful leaders we read about in the previous verses.

This great creator God who has made himself known in his Son Jesus Christ Paul tells us does a work of new creation in us through Christ as Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 2: 17,

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!”

The concept of God being the maker or creator of everything led our writer of Psalm 146 to then declare at the end of verse 6,

“He remains faithful forever”

Spurgeon says this about these words,

This is a second and most forcible justification of our trust: the Lord will never permit his promise to fail.

He is true to his own nature, true to the relationships which he has assumed, true to his covenant, true to his Word, true to his Son. He keeps true, and is the keeper of all that is true. Immutable fidelity is the character of Jehovah’s procedure. None can charge him with falsehood or vacillation”.

This reminds me of Paul words in 2 Thessalonians 3: 3,

“But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one”.

Again, God alone deserves our trust and praise who is faithful and will never let us down unlike human alternatives who cannot be trusted as they will as fallen people let us down as the writer of Psalm 146 said at the end of verse 4,

“Their plans come to nothing”

I might add the so- called help and hope they offer comes to nothing.

(7– 9) Choose to praise God because he cares for lost humanity

Just the realisation that the God of the bible made everything should give us ample reasons to praise God alone but the writer of Psalm 146 speaks of even more reasons other than God being the creator of heaven and earth as reasons for choosing each day to praise him with our whole soul and life.

Verses 7 to 9 list six other reasons why the God of the bible deserves our praise daily and they are:

(vs. 7a) Upholds the Oppressed
(vs. 7b) Gives food to the hungry
(vs. 8a) Gives sight to the blind
(vs. 8b) Lifts up those who are bowed down
(vs. 9a) Watches over the foreigner
(vs. 9b) Sustains the fatherless and the window

Before we look at each one of these in a bit more detail I want to try and answer the question are all these six ways God shows that he deserves our praise to be read as physical or spiritual things?

I have decided that I think they are both physical and spiritual. I like the way David Guzil speaks of them when he writes,

“The Psalmist here began a marvellous description of Yahweh as a God of power, care, justice and compassion”.

David adds:

“The Psalmist seems delighted to describe Yahweh in His great works of love and power”.

The Jewish law speaks literally about God’s people having obligations of upholding the oppressed (Exodus 23: 6 – 7), obligations under the law to look after the poor (Deuteronomy 15: 7) and also obligations to care for the foreigner, orphaned and widowed (Deuteronomy 24: 19 – 22).

God placed these obligations in his law to the oppressed, poor, foreigner, orphaned and widow for his people because that is who he cares for and he wants his people to intimate him as God declares to his people in Deuteronomy 10: 17 – 19,

“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. ¹⁸He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. ¹⁹And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt”.

Note how the motivation God offers his people Israel to care for the poor, oppressed and particularly foreigners are that they were foreigners and of course oppressed and poor people in Egypt when God saved or delivered them out of Egypt.

Even though I believe we can rightly interpret these 6 ways God cares for us as literal reasons for reasons for us to praise him alone I think the book of Isaiah and the New Testament particularly the teachings of Jesus can be applied equally well as spiritual reasons for giving God praise and I will now seek to interpret these six reasons as spiritual reasons for giving God alone praise.

(vs. 7a) Upholds the Oppressed

“He upholds the cause of the oppressed” (vs. 7a)

As I have just said Isaiah speaks of God upholding the spiritual oppressed in a verse like Isaiah 61: 1,

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoner”.

In Luke 4: 16 – 20 Jesus applies this prophecy to himself,

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,because he has anointed meto proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisonersand recovery of sight for the blind,to set the oppressed free,¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.²⁰Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him”.

Jesus mission was to set the oppressed free who are oppressed by their sins and he achieved this by his death and resurrection as Paul proclaimed in the Synagogue in Antioch in Acts 13: 38 – 39,

“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. ³⁹Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses”.

So, the freedom Christ won for us from the oppression of our sins is another wonderful reason why should give God our praise all the days of our lives.

(vs. 7b) Gives food to the hungry

“And gives food to the hungry”

Isaiah speaking, I think about spiritual food and nourishment says this in Isaiah 55: 1 – 2,

“Come, all you who are thirsty,come to the waters;and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.²Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare”.

The spiritual link is made clear by the next verse that says,

“Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live, I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David”.

Jesus promises to give us this spiritual food or nourishment if we but believe in him in John 6: 35,

“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”.

So, the spiritual food or nourishment Jesus gives us when we believe in him is another wonderful reason why should give God our praise all the days of our lives.

(vs. 8a) Gives sight to the blind

“The Lord gives sight to the blind” (vs. 8a)

Isaiah spoke a lot about God giving blind people sight like Isaiah 35: 5 – 7,

“Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.⁶Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.Water will gush forth in the Wilderness and streams in the desert”.

Jesus gave physical sight to blind people but also offers far more valuable spiritual sight to anyone who comes to him in faith as we read in Acts 26: 15 – 18 which is part of Pauls defence before King Agrippa when he refers to his conversion and call to ministry when he had a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ,

“Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?

“ I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ¹⁶‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. ¹⁷I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them ¹⁸to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

Paul prays this for the Ephesians in Ephesians 1: 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”.

So, spiritual sight to our spiritually blind eyes Jesus gives us when we believe in him is another wonderful reason why should give God our praise all the days of our lives.

(vs. 8b) Lifts up those who are bowed down

“The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down”.

Albert Barnes writes,

“The reference is to those who are bent and bowed under the duties, the cares, the trials of life; who go bowed down under those burdens. God is able to strengthen them so that they can bear those burdens without being crushed under them”.

Sin crushes us and causes us to carry many burdens in this life but the help and hope of the Lord the writer of Psalm 146 spoke of in verse 5 now brings the fourth reason for praise namely the Lord lifting up those who are bowed down but bowed down before the Lord as the last part of this says,

“The Lord loves the righteous”

James tells us in James 4: 10,

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up”.

So, lifting us up from the crushing effects of sin that the Lord gives us when we bow down before him with Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is another wonderful reason why should give God our praise all the days of our lives.

(vs. 9a) Watches over the foreigner

“The Lord watches over the foreigner”

I quoted earlier from Deuteronomy 10: 17 – 19 which contains God’s law for his special people to care and love fatherless, widow and in other parts of the law the poor etc. and verse 19 says,

“And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt”.

Note how the motivation God gives his people to care and love the foreigner is the fact that they once were foreigners in Egypt before God saved them out of their slavery and oppression to eventually give them a homeland in what was called The Promised land.

Spiritually before we came to Christ we were slaves to sin and spiritually foreigners to the family of God but now we are members of the family of God as Paul speaks of in Galatians 3: 23 – 29,

“Before the coming of this faith,we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

²⁶So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”.

Peter speaks of this as well in 1 Peter 2: 9 – 10,

Interestingly Peter goes on to say in the next verse that we are like foreigners in this world owing to the fact that we have been called out of the darkness of this world to be part of God’s chosen people or royal priesthood that is his holy nation on earth,

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

So, being loved as foreigners who through Christ death on the cross for our sins are now considered by God as part of his chosen Holy nation on earth is another wonderful reason why we should give God our praise all the days of our lives.

(vs. 9b) Sustains the fatherless and the window

“And sustains the fatherless and the widow” (vs. 9b)

God made specific commands for his chosen people to love and care for the fatherless and widows in his law as we saw earlier in Deuteronomy 10: 18,

¹⁸He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing”.

In Old Testament ancient times to become a widow and loose the support of a father would have been both devastating both socially and physically as only the man could grow the crops or earn a wage for the services he provided for the community unlike today because we have social services and widow pensions to help provide some form of financial support for women without a husband and children without a Father.

God wants then his people to care for those who are suffering and live at a disadvantage in this life and this has a spiritual application in that before we came to God through Christ we were like orphans or even foreigners to God but God’s love sent Jesus into the world to shine his light upon us and through his death on the cross he forgive our many sins that separated us from him and now by faith in what he has done for us he has brought us into the family of God.

This is what we saw Peter said before in 1 Peter 2: 10,

¹⁰Once 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”.

This also is yet another wonderful reason for us to praise God all the days of our lives.

(vs 9) Choose to praise God and not a God substitute or face frustration

The end of verse 9 says this,

“But he frustrates the ways of the wicked”

The end of verse 9 speaks briefly then of the fate of those who refuse to praise the God of heaven and earth and instead praise some other God substitute.

The writer of this Psalm has already stated that trusting in someone or something other than God will lead to frustration as he says in verses 3 and 4,

“Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.⁴When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing”.

You can see the element of frustration in the words at the end of verse 4,

“Their plans come to nothing”

Only when we turn to the One true God of heaven and earth and praise and serve him can we experience the truth of the words of verse 5 which says,

“Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,whose hope is in the Lord their God”.

Not praising God leads then to a life of frustration as we have seen the end of verse 9 says,

“But he frustrates the ways of the wicked”

The New Testament makes this fact even more clearly like Pauls words of advice to the Church in Ephesus when he advises them not to let those who have not turned to the Lord turn them back to the frustrating Godless life they once lived, Ephesians 5: 6 – 11,

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷Therefore do not be partners with them.⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them”.

What pleases the Lord could be summed up in putting into practice the main theme of this Psalm namely seeking to praise and serve the Lord all the days of our lives.

(vs 10) Choose to praise God because he is the eternal King

The Psalm ends with a final reason why we should praise the God who made heaven and earth alone all our lives and a final word of praise namely a final “Hallelujah” or Praise the Lord.

First, I will comment on the final reason for praising the God who made heaven and earth all the days of our lives which the writer of Psalm 146 states clearly at the start of verse 10,

“The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations”.

Which is a clear reference to Exodus 15: 8 spoken by Moses in his special song he wrote after God opened up the red sea for Israel to cross and closed it to drown the army of Pharaoh who had sought to pursue them to destroy them. Here God showed he reigns over nature and mankind and also that this fact is a point of wonder and source of reasons to praise this God who helped and gave hope to his special people called in Psalm 146 verse 10,

“O Zion”

Zion is a special name in the bible for God’s people along with a word used to describe God’s special place on earth in Old Testament times where he is said to dwell with his people, namely the Temple that stood on top of the hill in Jerusalem called Zion.

Hebrews 12: 22 – 24 gives us the New Testament meaning of the word Zion,

So, we are to praise God according to Psalm 146 verse 10 and Hebrews 12: 22 – 24 as the Lord or God who reigns forever in and through his church called in Hebrews 12: 22 – 23,

“Thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven”.

Reigning forever with God is the last reason for our praise and is in direct contrast to praising and trusting in human Princes in verse 3 who according to verse 4 leads only to frustration as they cannot save us or live forever.

This then lead our writer to make his praise and worship known in a final,

“Hallelujah” or “Praise the Lord”

I conclude then with an original poem or song based on what I have learnt from this Psalm 146 and a final word of prayer.

I WILL PRAISE THE GOD OF HEAVEN ALL MY LIFE

(Based on Psalm 146)

I will praise the God of Heaven all my life

I will praise the God heaven all my life

I will sing of his glory

And seek to tell his story

I will praise the God of Heaven all my life.

I will not trust in human leaders of this world

For they cannot save me

They will simply die and leave me

I will not trust in human leaders of this world.

Blessed are those whose help is in the Lord

For he gives them hope for living

For he is always giving

Blessed are those whose help is in the Lord.

Praise the God who’s the maker of heaven and earth

He’s a faithful God forever.

And I will praise him as my treasure

Praise the God who’s the maker of heaven and earth.

I will be a poor man’s brother like my Lord

For he helps the blind to see

And sets the prisoners free

I will be a poor man’s brother like my Lord

I will praise the God who reigns for evermore

I will praise the God who reigns for ever more

I will sing of his glory

And seek to tell his story

I will praise the God who reigns for evermore.

By: Jim Wenman

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven maker of heaven and earth I long to praise you all my life because you are such a faithful loving God. Help me not to trust in and praise human leaders or any other false God substitutes who will only lead me to frustration and death. Help me to praise you Lord always because you care for the lost and give sight to the blind and you have saved me through the death and resurrection of your dear Son Jesus Christ in whose name I pray, Amen.

PSALM 145 TALK: UNIVERSAL PRAISE FOR A UNIVERSAL GOD

Posted on February 20, 2019 by jimwenman

PSALM 145 TALK: UNIVERSAL PRAISE FOR A UNIVERSAL GOD

(This is the eighth and final Psalm of a collection of eight Psalms attributed to King David in the fifth and final book of Psalms. This Psalm features the idea that the God of the bible is the one great universal God and is the creator of everything so he deserves universal praise. Also, this universal God is a God of love and justice and cares for those who turn to him in reverence and love but will destroy those who oppose him.)

INTRODUCTION

I am not a universalist and Wikipedia defines Christian Universalism as,

“A doctrine stating that every human soul will ultimately be reconciled to God because of divine love and mercy”.

However, if I believe the teaching of Psalm 145 I must believe in a God who is universal and who deserves and I believe receives universal praise. This Psalm ends with these words,

“My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord, let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever”.

The Psalm also has the word, “all” 12 times in it in 9 verses, 9, 10, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18 and 20 and it presents the God of the bible as the king of everything and everything is called “Your Kingdom” in verse 11 and 12 and “an everlasting kingdom” in verse 13.

The Christian faith is a universal faith as it is based on the Gospel of The Lord Jesus Christ he commanded his disciples in Mark 16: 15 to,

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”.

However, there are people who the universal God will reject if they continue to oppose and not believe the Gospel of Christ as John declares 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”.

Even David speaks of this in Psalm 145 verse 20b,

“But all the wicked he will destroy”

For many years now I have had the privilege of joining with Christians from many different parts of the world and have been united in Christ and in the message of his Gospel. Through this unity in Christ I have joined with them in wonderful universal praise to the God of the bible.

Psalm 145 then has this wonderful theme of “Universal Praise for a universal God” and it is the final Psalm the book of Psalm attributes to David but it is also the first of the final six Psalms of the book of Psalms that feature the concept of “Praising God”.

We have no idea when David wrote this Psalm but it certainly is a Psalm of David as it has his fingerprints all over it.

The Psalm is the last acrostic Psalm and there are six others and H.C. Leupold explains well what an acrostic Psalm is with these words,

“Each successive verse begins with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet”.

Although for some reason one letter of the Hebrew alphabet is missing and I could not find a convincing argument to why this is the case. However, I do believe this involved style of writing was used for the purpose of being an aid to memorisation as ancient people had no books to carry around and scripture had to be committed to memory.

David was a Jew but his God was very big and as someone once said to me, “If you want to have big faith then you must get a big view of God”. David’s God was not just the local God of Israel but as he said at the start of his Psalm he is,

“God the King”

and his kingdom is as verse 13 says is,

“An everlasting kingdom, and your domain endures through all generations”

All this reminds me of what we pray at the end of the Lord’s prayer:

“For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen”.

So, in this Psalm talk I want to promote a big faith in God by presenting a big view of an amazing universal God of love and my headings for the breakdown of this Psalm reflect this:

(1 – 7) A CALL FOR PRAISE OF A UNIVERSAL GOD

(1 – 2) I will praise God the king of everything
(3 – 7 God’s greatness and worthiness praised and proclaimed

2 (8 – 13a) THE UNIVERSAL GOD OF LOVE

(8 – 9) The God of universal love
(10-13a) Universal praise of God the king of everything

3 (13b- 20) THE UNIVERSAL GOD WHO CARES FOR HIS UNIVERSE

(13b -16) The universal God looks after all creatures
(17 – 20) The universal God is faithful to those who love him

4 (vs. 21) A CALL FOR UNIVERSAL PRAISE

With these headings in mind lets then look closely at this incredible last Psalm of David in the book of Psalms:

(1 – 7) A CALL FOR PRAISE OF A UNIVERSAL GOD

(1 – 2) I will praise God the king of everything

The Psalm starts with an amazing call to praise and in two verses David uses three words to describe his longing to worship his God he calls king and those three words are:

“Exalt”, “Praise” and “Extol”

These two verses read’s this way,

“I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever”.

Each of the three worship words mean much the same thing and David’s desire is to practice praise filled worship forever Albert Barnes describes this desire to praise this way,

“I will lift up thy name and praise, so that it may be heard afar. I will bless or praise thee. I will do it in all the future. I will do it in time; I will do it in eternity”.

What is your picture of heaven?

Most of us as sinful fallen creatures still have a self- based view of heaven like an eternal relaxing holiday in paradise but the bible and particularly the book of Revelation has a very different view of heaven as a place yes of peace and wonder but a place filled with endless days of enormous unified praise as we see in a passage like Revelation 19: 1 – 8,

After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:“Hallelujah!Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,² for true and just are his judgments.He has condemned the great prostitutewho corrupted the earth by her adulteries.He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

³And again they shouted:“Hallelujah!The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”⁴The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:“Amen, Hallelujah!”

⁵Then a voice came from the throne, saying:“Praise our God, all you his servants,you who fear him,both great and small!”⁶Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.⁷Let us rejoice and be gladand give him glory!For the wedding of the Lamb has come,and his bride has made herself ready.⁸Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

If you don’t like joining together with other believers in praise and worship in this life then you won’t be looking forward to heaven as heaven according to Revelation 19 is a place of multitudes of creatures great and small praising God forever.

Even in this life praise and thanks is the prime activity God wants us to be involved in according to 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 – 18,

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

Note Pauls words, “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” so praise and thanks should be at the heart of all we do in the Christian life.

Finally, David twice in these opening verses of Psalm 145 speaks of praising God’s name,

“I will praise your name forever and ever”and “I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever”

So, what does it mean to praise God’s name?

God’s name in the bible is his very character and therefore involves all we know about him. In this Psalm David will declare much of God’s character or who God really is and in the opening verse he describes God as,

“The King”

David is a king but his kingship comes from God and is limited to a small part of the world called Israel but God is a far greater and worthy king than David as he is the king of everything. God therefore is a greater king of any king before or since David.

Earthly kings throughout history have seen themselves as so great and powerful that they have thought of themselves as divine and we have examples of this in the bible like King Nebuchadnezzar and in the times of the Roman Empire where kings of Rome known as Caesar’s like Augustus declared themselves as God and demanded their subjects fall down and worship them.

All these earthly kings had a time of powerful reign but all of them died and there so called divine power and might dyed with them.

Only the God of heaven and earth reigns supreme forever and his name or character alone deserves our praise and worship. As Paul declares in Roman 11: 36,

“For from him and through him and for him are all things.To him be the glory forever! Amen”.

We will learn more about God’s character in the rest of this Psalm that should encourage and inspire our eternal praise and gratitude.

2. (3 – 7) God’s greatness and worthiness praised and proclaimed

David continues to build up a great picture of the character of God and therefore his worthiness of praise in these next four verses, which I have broken down this way:

God’s greatness no-one can fathom (vs. 3)
The message of God’s greatness each generation declares (vs. 4)
The message of God’s greatness each generation declares spelt out (5 – 7)

Let’s then have a closer look at these three aspects of God’s greatness each generation declares:

God’s greatness no-on can fathom (vs. 3)

In verse 3 David speaks of the greatness and worthiness of God to be praised as unfathomable,

“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom”.

David speaks of the greatness and unfathomable nature of the God of the bible this way in Psalm 40 verse 5,

“Many, Lord my God,are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.”

Paul in his doxology in Romans 11 which I previously quoted from with verse 36 says this in the verses leading up to that verse, verses 33 – 35,

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom andknowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments,and his paths beyond tracing out!³⁴“Who has known the mind of the Lord?Or who has been his counsellor?”³⁵“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”

I always try to keep in mind in my study on the Psalms that I can come to a reasonable understanding of them with careful and prayerful study of them but I can never believe I can totally plumb the depths of their teaching and this is why Christians can study the bible all their lives and still keep finding new understandings of what God is saying to us through it.

The message of God’s greatness each generation declares (vs. 4)

David then raises a very important issue of how God wants each generation to pass on the great message of the great works and character of God, he writes this in verse 4,

“One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts”.

Some commentators believe David is referring to God’s command to believing parents in the book of Deuteronomy to teach their children the deeds and knowledge of God, like Deuteronomy 6: 1 – 3,

“These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ²so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. ³Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you”.

Then in verses 20 – 25 of that same chapter we read,

“In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” ²¹tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²²Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household.²³But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. ²⁴The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. ²⁵And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”

Paul speaks of this teaching or passing on the message of God to the next generation in his advice to Timothy when he first reminds Timothy of how he came to be a believer himself in 2 Timothy 1: 5,

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also”.

Then he commands Timothy to do the same sort of thing in his ministry for the Lord in 2 Timothy 2: 1 – 2,

“You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ²And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”

I came to faith and my understanding of God’s word through the faithful ministries of many Christian believers of the previous generation to mine passing on the message of the Gospel to me and for many years I was involved in children and youth ministry passing the message of the Gospel on to my next generation and it encourages me greatly to see them doing the same today to their next generation.

Even today my work on the Psalms is published in an attempt to pass on to my current generation God given insights to his word and hopefully future generations as well.

The message of God’s greatness each generation declares spelt out (5 – 7)

We have in these three verses some of those wonderful characteristics I spoke of earlier as some of the decrees or teaching each generation should and indeed must pass on. I read the other day of what the writer of the articles called the failure of the eighteenth century American generation of the great evangelical revival often called the 18^thcentury awaking for not passing on effectively their great insights of God and his word to the next generation.

This article, I believe did pick up some aspects of what happened then but failed to acknowledge the great push and expansion of missionary work this revival did produce organisations like The Baptist Missionary Society in 1792 in America through men like William Carey and The Church Missionary Society in England around 1799.

However, each generation we have just seen must engage in preaching and teaching and disciplining new converts and Psalm 145 verses 5 – 7 in summary spells out the sorts of things that should be passed on through preaching, teaching and disciplining and I see six things hear in these verses:

Speak of God’s splendour and majesty (vs. 5a)
Meditate on God’s wonderful works (vs. 5b)
Tell of God’s powerful and awesome works (vs. 6a)
Proclaim God’s great deeds (vs. 6b)
Celebrate God’s abundance goodness (7a)
Joyfully sing of God’s righteousness (7b)

Let me comment briefly on each of these 6 things these verses tell us we should do for the next generation:

Speak of God’s splendour and majesty (vs. 5a)

We read these words in verse 5a,

“They speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty”

We see God’s splendour and majesty through God’s acts or deeds in creation and salvation. David referred to this often in his Psalms like God’s glory and splendour in his acts of creation in Psalm 19: 1,

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

or even better Psalm 8: 1,

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

So far as God’s acts of Salvation showing his splendour and majesty we have the Sons of Korah speaking plainly of this in Psalm 45: 4 – 5,

“In your majesty ride forth victoriously: in the cause of truth, humility and justice; let your right hand achieve awesome deeds.⁵Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s

enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet”.

Then David speaks of how God gave him glory through his victories or salvation over his enemies which revealed his splendour and majesty in Psalm 21: 5,

“Through the victories you gave, his glory is great; you have bestowed on him splendour and majesty”.

In the New Testament, the glory of God is seen in Christ, the word become flesh for our salvation 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”.

And how the glory and majesty of God is seen through the death and resurrection of Christ enabling our salvation by grace alone which Paul speaks of so beautifully in Ephesians 1: 6 – 8,

“To the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding”.

So, we should speak to our generation and the next of God’s acts of splendour and majesty in Christ.

Meditate on God’s wonderful works (vs. 5b)

This followers on from speaking of God’s glorious splendour and majesty encouraging us to mediate on Gods wonderful acts,

“And I will meditate on your wonderful works”.

Remember God’s works are seen in creation and salvation and we mediate or prayerfully think on them, seeking to inwardly digest the message of his creation and salvation through what we read of them in his revealed word we call the bible.

In Psalm 19 David speaks of God’s message of creation in verses 1 – 6 and then moves onto the message of what he calls the law of the Lord, another name for the word of God in verses 7 to 11,

“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.⁸The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.The commands of the Lord are radiant,giving light to the eyes.⁹The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.¹⁰They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.¹¹By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward”.

Paul speaks of the role and place of the bible in the Christian life in 2 Timothy 3: 16 – 17,

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

So well speak and now mediate on God’s mighty works in creation and salvation while we are alive in this generation and we should seek to pass it on to the next as well.

Tell of God’s powerful and awesome works (vs. 6a)

A similar expression of what we should pass on to the next generation appears in the start of verse 6,

“They tell of the power of your awesome works”.

I have a detailed explanation of this biblical word “awesome” in my Psalm talk for Psalm 66 which features it. I speak there of how modern youth culture has devalued the meaning of the word, “awesome” and today it simply means something is good or exciting but awesome here in Psalm 145 and particularly Psalm 66 means that what God has done in the past to save us is unbelievably great and wonderful, unbelievably “AWESOME”.

The writer of Psalm 66 who could be David and certainly David hear in Psalm 145 probably has God’s great work of saving his people out of Egypt as his awesome works. Listen to what the writer of Psalm 66 says in verses 5 – 7,

“Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind!⁶He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot— come, let us rejoice in him.⁷He rules forever by his power; his eyes watch the nations— let not the rebellious rise up against him”.

This is an obvious reference to God’s acts of salvation in the Exodus when he dried up the waters of the sea for his people to safely cross and then closed those waters on the Egyptians destroying their enemies who because they opposed God and his people were God’s enemies under God’s judgment.

In the New Testament we have the awesome act of God in the sending of his Son to die on the cross for our sins making a way for us through the dark waters of death into the loving arms of God in heaven as we read in a passage like Hebrews 2: 9 – 11,

“But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

¹⁰In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. ¹¹Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters”.

This is an “AWESOME” message we should be inspired to tell this generation and the next.

Proclaim God’s great deeds (vs. 6b)

Verse 6 concludes with,

“And I will proclaim your great deeds”.

David was keen on proclaiming what he knew about God and what God had done for him and spoke about it often in his Psalms like Psalm 26: 6 – 7,

I wash my hands in innocence,and go about your altar, Lord,⁷proclaiming aloud your praise

and telling of all your wonderful deeds”

Or Psalm 40: 9,

“I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly;I do not seal my lips, Lord,as you know”.

David uses another word for proclaim in his Psalms which is declare and his Psalm 96 verse 3 shows us that he not only spoke of proclaiming God’s deeds to Israel when they gathered to worship God but he also desired to proclaim or declare God’s deeds to the nations or the world as we see in Psalm 96: 3,

“Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all people’s”

So, even David had a universal vision for the message of the one great saving God who is described this way in 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”.

And as I said in my introduction to this Psalm Jesus had a universal vision and command to proclaim his Gospel message to all of creation as we see in Mark 16: 15 to,

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”.

Preach is another word for proclaim or declare and every generation needs to hear the message of the Gospel to be saved.

Celebrate God’s abundance goodness (7a)

Verse 7 speaks of another activity each generation should be involved in and that is celebrations. We read these words in verse 7a,

“They celebrate your abundant goodness”.

The Jewish faith and tradition was full of celebrations most of which we as Christians do not practice as they relate to the Old Testament sacrificial system which has be superseded by the coming of Christ and the establishment of the New Covenant through his death on the cross and his rising from the dead on the third day after his death,

Jesus instituted a new way of remembering and celebrating his death and resurrection which is called by a variety of names like The Lord’s Supper or Communion but the New Testament shows particularly 1 Corinthians 10: 14 – 23 and 11: 17 – 34 that the church celebrated regularly together the coming of Christ and his death and resurrection with a form of Lord’s supper.

I had a lengthy discussion with a close relative recently about a church his son was attending that totally banned the celebration of Christmas. This turned out to be a much more complex question than I first thought but I agreed that the commercial and secular style of Christmas has big issues Christians should avoid.

However, I believe there is a Christian way to celebrate Christ coming to earth through his birth and Christmas provides us a great opportunity for Christians to proclaim why Jesus came and who he really is. My Church last Christmas held a wonderful outdoor carols service that many members of the public attended and the Gospel was proclaimed in a wonderful way at that event.

Easter celebrations is not so controversial among Christians except for the pagan and secular elements of Easter Eggs and Easter Bunnies but again Easter has both a Christian way of being celebrated and also provides Christians with the opportunity of proclaiming generation after generation why Christ came and what he has achieved for us through his death and resurrection.

Joyfully sing of God’s righteousness (7b)

I spoke before of David’s great desire to proclaim or declare God’s wonderful deeds throughout the book of Psalms but he also longed to do this through song or music. We see this in the last part of verse 7 of this Psalm which says,

“And joyfully sing of your righteousness”.

God’s righteousness is another great aspect or characteristic of the God of the bible and David spoke a lot about that as well like Psalm 36: 6,

“Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals”.

God is holy and totally true and reliable and out of his righteousness comes his love as in the New Testament Jesus had to give his life as a sacrifice for our sins to secure our righteousness before God as Spurgeon puts it,

“Jesus died as our substitute, righteousness requires and secures the salvation of all the redeemed”.

David knew that he needed God’s forgiveness and trusted in the righteous loving God for it. David and many of the Psalm writers seek to proclaim both the righteousness of God and his salvation and love of God though song as we read of in Psalm 98: 1 – 3,

“Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things;his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.²The Lord has made his salvation knownand revealed his righteousness to the nations.³He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen, the salvation of our God”.

Music has been and still is a powerful medium for proclaiming the message of the word of God and particularly the Gospel to our world and even Paul spoke of it twice in his letters in Ephesians 5: 19 – 21 and Colossians 3: 15 – 17.

I like the Colossians passage as here Paul speaks of communicating the message of Christ and using song or music as a way of doing this,

2 (8 – 13a) THE UNIVERSAL GOD OF LOVE

(8 – 9) The God of universal love

We now come to the first of many verses that use the word “all’ and it starts with verse 9. The term “all” makes this Psalm clearly a universal message or a message for every man women and child on the face on the earth no matter what nation, tribe or tongue they come from.

David makes a dual statement about this universal God in verses 8 and 9 which states another characteristic of the God of the bible that is unique when compared to what other religions or faiths proclaim about God. That uniqueness is:

Gracious and compassionate and rich in love (vs. 8)
Good and compassionate (vs. 9)

Let’s then have a close look at each of these wonderful attributes of God that David speaks of in verses 8 and 9.

Gracious and compassionate and rich in love (vs. 8)

This universal God of the bible has made himself known in a variety of ways over a long period of time and what David draws on or is at least thinking about in verses 8 and 9 is God’s amazing revelation of himself when he met with Moses on the top of Mount Sinai when he gave his people his covenant of love to Moses and his people Israel.

We read these words in Exodus 34: 6 – 7a,

“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, ⁷maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin”.

With this in mind then David writes in verse 8,

“The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love”.

All other religions apart from the Jewish / Christian faiths present a different picture of God as usually an avenging God of judgment. We have today extreme Muslim believers who act on God’s behalf showing no mercy and love as they literally slaughter non-Muslim believers and even Muslim believers who don’t agree with their views of God who they call Allah and his supposed holy book called the Koran.

Christians take the love and compassion of God to an even higher level as they believe in the Christian Gospel so wonderfully expressed in the words of 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”.

This giving of God’s Son in death on the cross is the supreme act of gracious compassion and love and demonstrates that God is indeed slow to anger which is the complete opposite of the extreme Muslims who are quick to judge and in their God’s name inflict terrible judgment on non- believers who will not turn to their view of God and his unmerciful ways.

Paul makes it clear that even though the God of the bible will judge and even must judge sin he has provided a universal answer to our sin problem and the judgment it deserves and he loves us or shows mercy or grace to us not after we have cleaned ourselves up and become good people but as Paul says in Romans 5: 8,

^“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

Paul goes on to explain how Christ great act of love for us on the cross saves us from God’s judgment or wrath and gives us the gift of reconciliation or being made right with God, Romans 5: 9- 11,

^“9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation”.

This great love of God should inspire us to give our lives in universal praise, a praise we can do with people from all over the globe as we are all one in Christ as Paul declares in Galatians 3: 28.

Good and compassionate (vs. 9)

I believe with Exodus 34: 6 – 7b still in mind David makes a great universal statement of the love and goodness of the God of the bible with the first uses of the word or term, “all” in verse 9, he writes,

“The Lord is good to all, he has compassion on allhe has made”.

Jesus states clearly the universal goodness of God on every man women and child in what he says in Matthew 5: 45,

“He (God) causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”.

This statement of Jesus comes in the middle of Jesus instructions on how we should treat those who oppose us and even persecute us, Matthew 5: 43 – 48,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbourand hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”.

Luke records similar teaching of Jesus in Luke chapter 6 but adds one important point to why we should love our enemies in verse 36,

^“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”.

So, we must always remember that God showed mercy to us in forgiving our sins on the cross of Christ and so we are not saved by our own good deeds but by the loving good deeds of God through Christ.

This means we rely on the great mercy and goodness of God and therefore we must show that same kind of mercy and love to others even to our enemies.

I mentioned before about how today many Christian believers are being ruthlessly persecuted by extreme Muslims and I have read of countless stories of Christians showing their unmerciful persecutors love even at the point of death and many on lookers have been so impressed by these acts of showing love to their persecutors that they have sought out Christians to know more about the God they believe in and in some cases, some of them have become followers of Christ themselves.

The church in China has been recently caught up in further attempts by the atheistic antigod government to destroy them only to find that instead of killing off people following Christ they have only caused more people to turn to Christ owing to the brave and loving reaction of believers to the harsh persecution they have suffered.

This great goodness and love or compassion of God should lead us to universal praise like Paul speaks of in Romans 8: 37 – 39,

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither 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”.

2 (10-13a) Universal praise of God the king of everything

This second section of Psalm 145 moves from the love and mercy of God to the great works or acts of God that his love and mercy makes possible and we have in verses 10 – 13 four further reasons for universal praise.

The four reasons for universal praise I see in these three and a half verses are:

God’s works (vs. 10)
God’s glory and might (vs. 11)
God’s mighty acts (vs. 12)
God’s everlasting kingdom (vs. 13b)

I will comment on each these four reasons for universal praise:

God’s works (vs. 10)

In verse 10 we read,

“All your works praise you, Lord; your faithful people extol you”

Note how this verse seems to suggest that God’s actual works themselves praise him which is beautifully expressed by David in Psalm 19: 1,

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

David is saying creation itself praises God by just being there and being so amazingly beautiful. I can imagine David as a young shepherd out in the fields at night looking up at the stars filling the sky and being inspired to write and sing the words of Psalm 8: 1,

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

Some commentators say that Psalm 19: 1 is David looking into the daylight sky and praising God while Psalm 8: 1 is David looking into the night time sky and praising God.

However, the works of God are not just the day and night time skies but all of creation as Spurgeon speaks of in these words,

“The skill, kindness, and power manifested in the formation of each living thing is in itself to the praise of God, and when observed by an intelligent mind the Lord is honoured thereby”.

However, God’s great works are not just what we see in creation but are especially seen in the works of God for his people as we read in the second half of verse 10,

“Your faithful people extol you”.

The saving works of God in saving David is extolled or praised by David in Psalm 57: 3,

“He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me – God sends forth his love and his faithfulness”.

God’s works for his faithful people in The New Testament is seen primarily in God sending from heaven his only son to die on the cross for our sins something we as his people or those who believe in him should always praise him for. Paul gives thanks for God’s acts of love and grace for him and the faithful followers of Christ in the Corinthian church at the start of his first letter to the Corinthians chapter 1 verses 4 and 5,

“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.⁵For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge”.

God’s glory and might (vs. 11)

The next reason for universal praise is the glory and might of God’s domain called here God’s kingdom,

“They tell of the glory of your Kingdom and speak of your might”.

So, the objects of God’s creation called God’s ‘works” in the previous verse, verse 10 joined with God’s faithful people to praise him for his glory and might. This glory is the glory of God’s domain here called his kingdom and Spurgeon explains,

“Those who bless God from their hearts rejoice to see God enthroned, glorified, and magnified in power”.

It is like the final words of the Lord’s prayer I quoted in my introduction that says,

“For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen”.

If God is our God and he alone, we believe deserves our universal praise then we should be always ready to tell or speak of the glory of God and his kingdom.

As Jude so comprehensively speaks of in verses 24 – 25,

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— ²⁵to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen”.

God’s mighty acts (vs. 12)

The purpose of this universal praise is now spelt out in verse 12 that says,

“So that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendour of your kingdom”.

The message of what God has done both in creation and salvation is both praised and now made known or as David said in verse 6 proclaimed to everyone in the universe. John 3: 16 says that God loves the world not just the Jews or any other one group of people.

Sadly, the way some Christians think and act God doesn’t love the world only a certain part of it or a certain race or tribe within it but as I alluded to earlier Paul says in Galatians 3: 28

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.

The impact of this verse really hit me the first time I attended a large Christian convention which was at Katoomba 2 hors drive from Sydney. As I entered the large metal building conventions are held in there I saw a large sign that sits above the speaker’s dais there that reads, “All One in Christ”.

I was there with Christians and God seekers from all kinds of Christian denominations and places all over Australia and maybe from other countries as well but in Christ if we are in him we are all one.

We are also one in the knowledge of God’s mighty acts particularly in Christ and we are all one in the glory of God’s splendour of his universal kingdom. Certainly,

“Thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen”.

I have also attended since that first Christian convention in Katoomba a number of missionary focused conventions held by The Church Missionary society and it is the mighty acts of God particularly in Christ and the glory and splendour of his kingdom that has inspired me and others to take the message of his kingdom, the Gospel to the ends of the earth as Jesus commanded us to in Mark 16: 15 to,

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”.

God’s everlasting kingdom (vs. 13b)

David closes with the fourth reason for universal praise which is the eternal nature of his kingdom which verse 13b calls and everlasting kingdom, David writes,

“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your domain endures through all generations”.

So, God’s kingdom is not only universal in scope but eternal in time and Albert Barnes explains what this means with these words,

“The meaning is, that the reign of God will continue forever and ever. It will never pass away as other dominions do; it will not change as dynasties do among people; it will not be overthrown as they are; its great principles will stand firm forever and ever”.

Paul speaks of God as the King and of his glory, honour and everlastingness in this way in 1 Timothy 1: 17,

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen”.

I spoke in my introduction of how we can have a big faith in God and I said to get this we must get a big view of God you cannot get any bigger view of God than God being the glorious King of a universal kingdom that will last forever.

3 (13b- 20) THE UNIVERSAL GOD WHO CARES FOR HIS UNIVERSE

(13b -16) The universal God looks after all creatures

The third section gives even more reasons why we should offer the God the bible universal praise. The reasons for praise given in this section are of an earthlier practical nature and my breakdown for this third section is:

God’s promises are trustworthy (vs. 13b)
The Lord upholds the fallen (vs. 14)
Those who look to God are given food (vs. 15)

God satisfies the desires of every living thing (vs. 16)

Let’s then have a closer look at each of these four earthlier practical reasons for giving God universal praise:

God’s promises are trustworthy (vs. 13b)

The bible is filled with the promises of God and one web page I looked at on the net said there are 5,467 promises in the bible so it is not surprising that the first earthlier and practical reason for giving God universal praise is his trustworthy promises as verse 13b says,

“The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does”.

The MSG version translates this verse as,

“God always does what he says, and is gracious in everything he does”.

I like the old him called “Standing on the Promises” by Allan Jackson which says,

Standing on the promises of Christ my King
Through eternal ages let his praises ring
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing
Standing on the promises of God.

Chorus:

Standing, standing
Standing on the promises of God my Saviour
Standing, standing
I’m standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises, I cannot fall
Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call
Resting in my Saviour as my all in all
Standing on the promises of God.

Chorus:

Standing, standing
Standing on the promises of Christ my Savior
Standing, standing
I’m standing on the promises of God.

So, we can take God at his word and stand or trust in his promises knowing that he is a faithful God which means you can trust that he will keep his promises to us. Paul had confidence in the promises of God for he said this about them in 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”.

Note how Paul saw Jesus Christ as the “Yes” of all God’s promises because he made the way back to God and through him we have access to God as the writer to the Hebrews puts it in Hebrews 4: 14 – 16,

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”.

So, we can offer universal praise to God for his promises are many and trustworthy because he is a faithful God in all that he does.

The Lord upholds the fallen (vs. 14)

The word about God’s promises being a reason for universal praise because God keeps them is followed by an actual promise that says,

“The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down”.

All of God’s promises in the bible contain some kind of condition attached to them and this one is no different as God upholds the fallen but the fallen must bow down before him. Bowing down before the Lord is another way of saying looking to the Lord and trusting in him.

There are many promises of God that speak of God lifting up the lowly if they but look to him and I like this promise in the book of James when James says in James 4: 8 – 10,

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

Note how James alludes to a number of conditions of God keeping this promise.

James speaks of coming near to God, repenting of your sins which is pictured by washing your hands and purifying your hearts and finally changing your selfish sinful attitudes of seeking worldly pleasure represented by changing your laughter and joy to mourning and gloom.

Finally James says we must humble ourselves before the Lord which is like bowing down before the Lord in Psalm 145 verse 14.

2. Those who look to God are given food (vs. 15)

Following the promise of the Lord lifting up those who have fallen who look to him or bow to him we have the very practical promise of God providing food of all who look to him, verse 15 says,

“The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time”.

When you think about it wherever can any creature look for food than the great universal God who is the maker and provider for everyone.

Sadly many men and women today do not acknowledge the God of the universe and do not look to him and yet mostly they also receive the food they need to eat each day as I mentioned before Jesus said in Matthew 5: 45,

“He (God) causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”.

Because we live in a fallen sinful world sometimes God does stop or hinder the provision of food through drought or famine but this I believe is to send a practical message to our sinful rebellious world that they need God’s hand of loving provision for even their daily need of food.

God deserves universal praise then for his provision of food daily and this is why many Christians practice saying grace before a meal as a way of offering that kind of praise or thanks to God.

3. God satisfies the desires of every living thing (vs. 16)

Verse 16 speaks of the natural order of all living creatures again making the scope of the message truly universal and so David writes,

“You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing”.

God has set up intricate environmental systems for all living creatures satisfying all they need to survive. David gives an illustration of this natural order in action in Psalm 104: verses 21 – 22,

“The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.²²The sun rises, and they steal away;they return and lie down in their dens”.

However, we all know this natural order has been disrupted and its disruption is a result of the sin and rebellion of mankind. Mankind’s sinful actions has not only disrupted God’s natural order but in some cases, we have destroyed environmental ecologies and Paul speaks of this in Romans 8: 18 – 21,

“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹thatthe creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God”.

God’s natural order has not gone away as it is still operating even though sinful human activity has damaged it. God brings about,

“Satisfying the desires of every living things”

By his salvation action plan which Paul goes on to speak about in Romans 8: 22 – 25,

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³Not 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. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently”.

Paul spells out this hope or God’s rescue plan for us and our world in other places in his letter to the Romans and there is no better example of this than Romans 5: 1 – 5,

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And weboast in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but wealso glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And 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.

That is the hope we have and then Paul makes clear God’s action plan to save us in verses 6 – 8,

God’s universal action plan or salvation plan should or must be shared to the entire universe and will lead to universal praise.

(17 – 20) The universal God is faithful to those who love him

The practical side of the reasons for universal praise continues but in this section part of the third section of this Psalm the reasons for universal praise get far more personal or personally specific.

I have broken these practical more personal reasons for universal praise into the following

The Lord is righteous and faithful in all he does (vs. 17)
The Lord is near to all who call upon him (vs. 18)
The Lord fulfils the desires of those who fear him and call on him (vs. 19)
The Lord watches over all who love him (vs. 20)

Let me now make a few comments about each of these four more practical and more personal reasons for universal praise.

The Lord is righteous and faithful in all he does (vs. 17)

Allan Harman writes,

“In the manner in which God operates he always deals in accordance with the norms he has set”.

This is what verse 17 is saying,

“The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does”.

The God of the bible is constantly pictured in that book as a righteous or Holy God but he is also pictured or proclaimed as a loving and faithful God. Psalm 116 verse 5 spells out the complete nature of God when it says,

“The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion”.

The extreme Muslim engaged in supposed vengeance for a God of judgment has somehow got a lopsided view of God and lopsided views of God can lead to very wrong and dangerous actions by those who have them.

The universal God of the bible is righteous but he is also faithful and loving so much so that he was willing to send his only Son into the world to become sin for us even though he knew no sin so that we might have the righteousness of God as Paul states clearly in 1 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”.

This non – lopsided full and correct view of God leads to deeds of merciful love rather than deeds of bloody vengeance and of course inspires us to universal praise for a universal God.

2. The Lord is near to all who call upon him (vs. 18)

I said earlier that this third and final section of Psalm145 contains personal and more practical reasons for us to engage in universal praise for a universal God and verse 18 is a wonderful example of that for it says,

“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth”.

I have heard people say that they tried out prayer and it did not work for them and I think it did not work because it is not supposed to work in the sense that you ask God for something and he gives it to you.

No, prayer is not simply asking God for things but is more like a conversation with a good friend, sure in conversations with good friends we ask for things sometimes but real friendship is not based on how much we can get out of someone but how we can help each other and have deeper fellowship together.

Verse 18 does not say,

“The Lord gives you what you want when you call on him”

It says,

“The Lord is near to all who call on him”

In verse 17 we learnt that God is righteous, faithful and loving and we know he is the universal king who is great and powerful so if he is near to us we have a powerful friend who promises things like Paul speaks of in Romans 8: 28,

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

The second half of the verse 18 is like the condition of the promise that the Lord is near to those who call on him for it says,

“To all who call on him in truth”.

Another reason a person might say, I tried prayer and it did not work for me is because they did it in the wrong way. The second half of the verse says we must call on him in truth. Jesus makes it clear what that means in John 8: 31 – 32,

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

The teachings of Jesus are what the New Testament is all about for even the letters of Paul, John and Peter and other disciples of Christ are the teachings of Jesus explained so to hold to Jesus teaching is to trust and obey his word.

The words of King David in the Old Testament are the truth of God pointing us to the reality of Jesus. It’s been said that the Old Testament is understood by the New Testament but the New Testament is fleshed out and fully understood by the Old Testament.

So, universal praise is inspired by the presence of the King of the universe coming near to us as we call on him in and through the truth of his word.

3. The Lord fulfils the desires and answers the prays of those fear and call on him (vs. 19)

If we call on God in truth or according to his word which is the truth about God and God is near then David says in verse 19,

“He fulfils the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them”.

If we go to God only asking him for things we want like some kind of God like Santa Clause then our desires will be more than often sinful but if we go to God in faith trusting in him as the mighty universal God we now know through his word the bible then what we ask for is right and true.

This is what fearing God is really all about, it is acknowledging God as the great and powerful universal God who deserves our thanks and praise. If we really fear God or reverence him then our desires will be pure and true and of course according to this verse and many others God will fulfil them.

Listen to what David said about his God in Psalm 34: 8,

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him”.

Or what Jesus said in Matthew 7: 7,

“Ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you”.

Paul speaks a lot about the value of real sincere God’s word focussed prayer in his many letters and says this in Philippians 4: 7 – 8,

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

In the second half of this verse David says,

“He (God) hears their cry and saves them”

So, what David’s desire is for salvation probably in the sense of deliverance from his many enemies but in the New Testament Salvation is usually in the spiritual sense of being saved from our sins and if we call on the name of the Lord Jesus and believe in him our desire for salvation will be fulfilled by God according to verses like Romans 10: 13,

“For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

This again should be grounds for universal praise for this faithful loving universal God.

4. The Lord watches over all who love him (vs. 20)

This last practical and personal reason for universal praise has actually two distinct parts:

The Lord watching over those who love him
The Lord destroying the wicked

Let’s then have a look at these two parts and see how they both relate to a reason for universal praise.

The Lord watching over those who love him

The first part continues the previous two points and actually sums them up. We have learnt so far from this third and final section that The Lord, the God of the bible is a righteous and faithful loving God who is near to those who call on him and who call on him in truth or through what he has revealed in his word. He therefore promises to fulfil their Godly desires particularly their deep and real desire for salvation from the consequences of their sins.

Now David sums all this up with the words,

“The Lord watches over all who love him”.

Jesus promises not only to watch over us or even be near to us but rather be with us as he says as part of the great commission to take the Gospel to the world 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, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Our God is a universal God who deserves universal praise but he has given us a universal message that he wants us to take to the whole world and as we do this he is with us every step of the way and that includes going to be with him when our earthly path or road is complete as Jesus declares 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”.

The Lord destroying the wicked

However, verse 20 has a second part which shows that even though the God of the Bible is a universal God and everyone should offer him universal praise for he has given us a universal message of salvation this does not mean everyone will be saved as verse 20b says,

“But all the wicked he will destroy”.

I said at the start that even though I believe in a universal God who deserves universal praise I am not a Universalist as they believe everyone will be saved but the bible does not teach that.

I like the explanation of this found in John chapter 3 starting with the famous verse about the universal God loving this world by sending his only son to everyone who believes in him and that faith in him saves us from perishing and gives us eternal life but listen to what John goes on to say in verses 17 – 18,

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever 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”.

If we reject then the free and wonderful gift of God’s forgiveness we will then face the judgment of God and its consequences which is death or in Psalm 145 verse 20 terms, being destroyed by God.

How does this inspire universal praise?

To me it inspires universal praise because the sending of Jesus God’s only son to die on the cross for our sins marries perfectly together the idea of a Righteous, just God and a loving God as Jesus paid for our sins that must be paid for and he did this because he loves us and does not want us to face the judgment we deserve.

However, if we reject his offer of forgiveness we will be destroyed in the judgment along with all creatures spiritual and earthly who oppose the universal God who deserves universal praise.

4 (vs. 21) A CALL FOR UNIVERSAL PRAISE

The climax of Psalm 145 is a clear call for universal praise for a universal God as it says,

“My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord, Let, every creature praise his holy name for every and ever”.

David has stated over 14 reasons why the God of the bible deserves universal praise and they include:

He is God the king
He is great and worthy of praise
He is glorious and majestic
He performs great and wonderful works
He is abundantly good
He is compassionate and loving
His kingdom is great and glorious
He is trustworthy and faithful
He lifts up the lowly who look to him
He supplies every creature the food they need to eat
He is near to those who call on him
He fulfils the desires of those who fear him
He watches over all who love him
He will destroy all who oppose him

David then with all this in mind first of all personally declares he will use his mouth to praise this great universal God,

“My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord”.

Then he calls on every creature in the universe to join him in universal praise for a universal God,

“Let every creature praise his holy name for every and ever”.

Paul predicts that a day is coming when universal praise will happen and that will be when The Lord Jesus Christ will return, he says this in Philippians 2: 9 – 11,

“Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and

under the earth,¹¹and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.

I close as usual with and original poem / song and a final word of prayer:

LET EVERY CREATURE SING AND PRAISE

(Based on Psalm 145)

Let every creature praise God’s holy name

And may my mouth speak and proclaim

That God is the King

For he made everything

So now praise and sing.

Let every creature praise God’s holy name

And may my mouth speak and proclaim

That great is the Lord

For generations, we have heard

Of God’s mighty deeds in his word.

Refrain 1.

Speak of God’s majesty and splendour

Mediate on his wonderful works

His power is awesome to see

I will celebrate what his done for me

For by his love he has surely set me free.

Let every creature praise God’s holy name

And may my mouth speak and proclaim

That God’s goodness will not be swayed

For he has compassion for all his made

And he longs for praise to be prayed.

Let every creature praise God’s holy name

And may my mouth speak and proclaim

That God’s Kingdom is a glorious thing

For God’s great deeds are every flowing

And God’s kingdom is now building.

Refrain 2.

The Lord is trustworthy in all his promises

He is faithful in all that he does.

God upholds all those who fall

And lifts up all who answer his call

So, look up and give God your all.

Let every creature praise God’s holy name

And may my mouth speak and proclaim

That the Lord is righteous in all his ways

And he’s near to us all our days

So, let every creature sing and praise

By: Jim Wenman

PRAYER:

We praise you God of the universe for you deserve our thanks and praise for all you have done for us. We thank you for your creation so wonderfully made which speaks day after day of your majesty and power. We thank you for your salvation through the sending of your Son, Jesus Christ into this fallen world to rescue us from death and judgment through his death on the cross for our sins. Help us Lord to take your universal message of salvation to the whole world so that every man women and child can join every creature in praise and worship of the great universal God of love we know you are, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.

PSALM 144 TALK: BATTLE HYMN FOR TRUE BELIEVERS

Posted on February 5, 2019 by jimwenman

PSALM 144 TALK: BATTLE HYMN FOR TRUE BELIEVERS

(This is the seventh Psalm of a collection of eight Psalms attributed to King David in the fifth and final book of Psalms. This Psalm features the idea of God being our protector and deliverer in the many battles of this life for all true believer in the God of the bible).

INTRODUCTION

One of my current ministries at my local church at this time is to help lead the singing during the church service I attend. The service I attend is a more traditional form of worship and we often sing manly older hymns mixed with some new ones and one day to my surprise the organist for the day chose the famous American civil war hymn, “Battle Hymn of the Republic”.

I knew this hymn but had never sung it in church before but I’m sure if I was an American Christian I would have sung this famous hymn many times in church in America. I enjoyed singing the hymn and so did most of the congregation that day and when I went home I looked up both the words and the story behind this famous American hymn.

The words of Battle Hymn of the Republic were written by a lady named Julie Ward Howe in 1861. Julie Ward Howe was an abolitionist who after visiting union or Northern troop camps in and around Washington DC wrote the words of this famous hymn to the tune of a song she heard many union soldiers singing called, “John Browns Body”.

John Browns body was a song about a famous radical abolitionist who attempted to start a slave rebellion in the south of America but failed and was later executed. Julie Ward Howe must have had the distinctive tune of the original song swimming around in her brain because she woke up in the middle of the night in her Washington Hotel room and wrote down very quickly her words to this hymn that read like this,

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps,
His day is marching on.

I have read His fiery gospel writ in rows of burnished steel!
“As ye deal with my condemners, so with you My grace shall deal!
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, ”
Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him; be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free!
While God is marching on.

The song like many parts of the bible use military imagery to speak of the great spiritual battle we are all caught up in which Paul makes plain with these words from Ephesians 6: 12,

Wars and rumours of wars Jesus predicted would feature the last days of this world before he comes again to do away with sin, tribulation and the Devil and take all true believers to heaven as the first line of Julie Ward Howe hymn speaks of,

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”

It is said that these were the last public words spoken by the great American civil rights leader Martin Luther King as the next day after he spoke them he was assassinated.

Battle Hymn of the Republic is a rallying call for all true believers to fight on in the day to day battles with sin, the world and devil a fight not fought with guns and bombs but a spiritual war where we use the spiritual weapons Paul speaks of in the verses that follow Ephesians 6: 12.

God does not leave us alone in the battlefields of life but rather he is our protector and deliverer as Paul states clearly in Ephesians 6: 10 – 11,

^“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”.

Psalm 144 is David’s Battle Hymn for True Believers and seems to be very closely linked with an earlier Psalm, Psalm 18. Many of the images and even words and terms used in Psalm 144 are found throughout Psalm 18.

I like Tremper Longman 111 explanation of the possible connections between these two wonderful Psalms,

“Psalm 18 thanks God for saving him, while Psalm 144 requests God to save him”.

Maybe David wrote Psalm 144 first when he first became king of Israel and faced many external threats from Nations around him like the Philistines who had just soundly defeated the former king of Israel, King Saul.

Psalm 144 then was David praying for protection and deliverance from these fierce and powerful enemies and then when God answered David with many great remarkable victories over nations like the Philistines as recorded in 2 Samuel 8 he wrote Psalm 18.

Psalm 18 was modelled on Psalm 144 and is a much fuller praise of the protection and deliverance God gave David over his enemies.

Psalm 18 could well be David’s fulfilment of the promise he made in verses 9 and 10 of Psalm 144,

“I will sing a new song to you, my God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,
¹⁰to the One who gives victory to kings, who delivers his servant David”.

Maybe the original collectors and editors of David’s Psalms of the first book of Psalm left out Psalm 144 because it was now superseded by Psalm 18 or they simply did not know of David’s first composition asking for God’s protection and deliverance from his many enemies. However, the later collectors and editors of book 5 somehow found David’s original Psalm 144 and decided to include it in this final collection of Psalms written by David.

So, in this Psalm talk I will use David’s war and battle images as metaphors for the war or battle we are involved in spiritually with the world, the flesh and the devil and also so the very real connection of David’s words of praise for God’s protection and deliverance in Psalm 18. Hopefully I will produce for you a true “Battle Hymn for all true Believers” and so with this in mind my headings for this Psalm are:

1. (1 – 8) GOD MY PROTECTOR

(1 – 4)God the protector of the unworthy
(5 – 8)Powerful protector active in history

2 (9 – 11) GOD MY DELIVERER

(9 – 10) A new song of deliverance promised
(vs.11) A prayer for deliverance

3. (12 – 15) GOD MY PROVIDER

(12 – 14) God’s blessings of his protection and deliverance
(vs. 15) Blessings, protection, deliverance only for true believers

Using these headings, let’s now have a closer look at this “Battle Hymn for true Believers”:

1. (1 – 8) GOD MY PROTECTOR

1. (1 – 4) God the protector of the unworthy

As I said in my introduction this Psalm contains a lot of images and even phrases used in Psalm 18 and also other Psalms of David and some bible scalars have criticised this Psalm as some later writers attempt to compose a Psalm of David piecing together bits and pieces of previous Psalms of David particularly Psalm 18.

I like the explanation and quote H.C. Leopold gives in his commentary on this issue,

“In place of the idea that this Psalm is an inferior piece of patchwork it might be well to consider the possibility that Schmidt suggests that we have here, ‘an original work of art’”

The opening verse of this Psalm is a praise of God David made for how God is the source of his protection and even battle skills in the fierce battles he had already faced,

“Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle”.

David often called God his rock something that features in my Psalm talk on Psalm 28 which commences with the words,

“To you Lord I call; you are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me”

Then in Psalm 18, which we believe was written after God answered the battle prayer of this Psalm David writes in verse 46,

“The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Saviour”

David wrote or prayed in Psalm 61 verse 2,

“From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I”.

Over and over again throughout the life of David God protected him like a rock which he could hide behind and even when he was forced into physical battle God was a rock for him as he gave him the skill or ability to fight as he says in the second part of verse 1,

“Who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle”.

Sometimes I watch action movies that contain very sure and even conceited men who act like they are invincible, dogging bullets and winning physical battles against lots of enemies who attack them and I often think it would only take one slip or false move and a bullet would simply bring them down.

However, Hollywood would suggest that true heroes possess unbelievable luck to doge the may bullets that come at them. In reality, there is no such thing as luck or all powerful human beings who are invincible but rather there is only an all- powerful and all- knowing God in whose hands is our destiny as David makes clear by what he suggests in the second part of verse 1 of Psalm 144 and makes clear by what he says in Psalm 18: 35,

“You make your saving help my shield,and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great”.

This verse in Psalm 18 also reflects what David, I believe originally prayed for in Psalm 144 which I have proposed was David’s prayer for protection and deliverance soon after he became king of Israel.

This reflection of Psalm 18: 35 and verse 2 of that same Psalm is what David is speaking about in his Psalm 144 verse 2 version of these concepts,

“He is my loving God and my fortress,my stronghold and my deliverer,my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoplesunder me”.

The big additive in verse 2 of Psalm 144 is the wonderful concept of God’s love expressed in the opening words of verse 2,

“He is my loving God”

Which is an Old testament reference to the Covenant of Love David and other writers of the Psalms knew and often referred to. This covenant of love is expressed in 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. ⁸But 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. ⁹Know 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”.

David trusted completely in this God of covenant love and God protected him from his enemies on many occasions like a fortress, stronghold, shield and deliverer. This means that David did not believe he had some kind of right to the protection and deliverance of God but rather that God only gave it to him because he was a great God of love who is always faithful to his promises.

This aspect of God’s underserved love for us is made even clearer in the New Testament in so many places like what Paul says about our spiritual deliverance or salvation in Romans 8: 6 – 8,

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

God helped David not only by protecting him from his enemies but also God delivered him from many of them expressed so well in the words at the end of verse 2 that simply says,

“Who subdues peoples under me”.

In the past, some Christians have gone to war literally with their enemies expecting a kind of Old Testament victory over them but they failed to realise that we are not fighting a physical war or battle but a spiritual one and our weapons of war in these battles are spiritual ones as Paul states clearly in 2 Corinthians 10: 3 – 5,

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”.

Our battle hymn is that we are weak and defenceless against the mighty forces of evil but as Paul states clearly in Ephesians 6: 10 – 11, we are strong because we trust in a strong and loving God,

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”.

This volubility and weakness to protect and defend ourselves is made even clearer by what David states in verses 3 and 4 of Psalm 144,

“Lord, what are human beings that you care for them,mere mortals that you think of them?
⁴They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow”.

The question David proposes in verse 3 is very similar to the question he proposes in Psalm 8: 3 – 4,

“When I consider your heavens,the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars,which you have set in place,⁴what is mankind that you are mindful of them,human beings that you care for them?”

Albert Barnes makes it clear what David is saying in Psalm 144 verse 3 and Psalm 8 verse 4 with these words,

“The idea is, it is amazing that a being so insignificant as man should be an object of interest to God, or that One so great should pay any attention to him and to his affairs”.

This is then both a statement of the insignificance and weakness of mankind and the great love of God in that he not only is interested in us but as we shall see is willing to get involved in our world and with us in a most costly way to deliver or save us.

Our volubility in the battles of life against powerful spiritual forces is made even clearer again by David’s description of us in verse 4,

“They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow”.

Allan Harman points out our volubility and its corresponding needs in these words,

“It means man’s existence is of such a fleeting nature, then how much does he need the Lord’s help”.

David needed the Lord’s help and protection so much but as we have seen in the previous verses he acknowledged that God had given it to him in the following three ways, God was his,

Rock – fortress or stronghold
Fighting equipper
Deliverer

We have the same promise of rock, equipper and deliverer or saviour in the words of that great doxology at the end of Jude – verses 24 – 25,

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— ²⁵to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

So, our Battle Hymn for true believers clearly states that even though we are weak and spiritually powerless the Lord makes the difference in our lives by him making us strong against all the forces we are in battle with.

2. (5 – 8) Powerful protector active in history

There are many people in the past and even today who say they believe in God or an active first force but he or that force is not still active in our world, rather he or the force set the world up like a clock that was started ticking and then left it ticking away and it takes it’s natural course according to the general laws of nature this so called absent God or force set down.

This belief in God is called Deism and it is believed this is the kind of God Albert Einstein believed in.

I believe verses 5 – 7 of this Psalm 144 put down the idea of God being absent from this world after he created it for David prays,

“Part your heavens, Lord, and come down;touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
⁶Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy; shoot your arrows and rout them.⁷Reach down your hand from on high;deliver me and rescue mefrom the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners”.

David is asking for God to personally intervene into his day and protect him from his powerful enemies. Which David later thanked God for in Psalm 18: 6 – 15.

How could David come to pray such a prayer as this?

The simple reason is that David was not a Deist but as I am and I believe all true believers are a theist who believes in the God of the bible. David knew from the bible and his own personal experience of this God that God does get involved in our world and always has.

What David is asking for sounds very much like what happened in the book of Exodus when his ancestors where at Mount Sinai as we read in Exodus 20: 18 – 19,

“When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance ¹⁹and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

I don’t think David literally wants God to do a Mt Sinai as I believe verses 5 and 6 are a poetic image of God reaching down in power and might to protect and deliver David from his enemies. He puts this intervention of God another way in a Psalm like Psalm 57: 3,

“He sends from heaven and saves me,rebuking those who hotly pursue me- God sends forth his love and his faithfulness”.

I stated before that David believed in a God who actively intervenes in the lives of those who put their trust in him because of his faith in God’s word the bible and his own experience. He is speaking in Psalm 57 of his experience of God’s intervention in his life to save and protect him in Psalm 57 and later in that Psalm states it again this way in verse 10,

“For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;your faithfulness reaches to the skies”.

The heading for Psalm 57 is that David wrote this Psalm or came to the idea of it from his experience of being trapped in a cave when on the run from King Saul who sought to kill him.

David actually survived twice from being trapped in a cave and both times sceptics could say that was not God who saved David but good luck but David did not believe in luck in the battles of his life, a battle he described as being rescued from mighty waters (vs. 7) another direct reference to Psalm 18 for in verses 16 and 17 we read,

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me;he drew me out of deep waters.

¹⁷He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me”.

So, again what David asked God to do for him in this Psalm 144 he actually did for David, it seems because of what have just read in Psalm 18 verses 16 – 17.

We know the hot water or rather mighty waters was the attack of foreign enemies as we read at the end of verse 7,

“From the hands of foreigners”

Foreigners like the Philistines who God helped David totally defeat according to 2 Samuel 8:1. Other foreign nations are mentioned in 2 Samuel 8 like Moabites, the king of Zobah, Arammeans and many others. After these many victories, I believe David probably wrote Psalm 18 and in verse 3 of that Psalm David boldly says this,

“I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies”.

In a far greater way we have been saved by the God of the bible who wonderfully got involved in history when he,

“Reached down his hand from on high” (verse 7)

This is when God sent his Son into the world who took flesh to save us from our sins as John boldly 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”.

Or as John says in chapter 3 verse 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”.

I also believe in a God who intervenes into the lives of men even today as I have seen answers to my prayers that could be also explained away as good luck but over and over again I see them as God helping me in my daily life to protect and guide me in the many battles of life.

Lastly in this second part of the first section of this Psalm 144 David speaks of the nature of his enemies he needs God’s intervention to protect and save him from in these words,

“Whose mouth are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful”.

In our spiritual battles of life, we like David are up against the Devil who Jesus called both a liar and the father of lies, John 8: 44,

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies”.

If David is speaking about foreign enemies he is possibly speaking of the often deceitful and false alliances and promises his enemies made but David knew their real intentions as he expressed in Psalm 2: 1 – 3,

“Why do the nations conspireand the peoples plot in vain?²The kings of the earth rise up

and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,³“Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”

Again, in the battles of life as in any conflict the wise course of action is know your enemy and also know your bible so as true believer’s our best preparation in the battles of life is know and put into practice the advice James states in James 4: 7 – 10,

In the life’s battles the hymn should sing is of the great God of heaven and earth who is willing to intervene into our daily lives for all true believers if they but call on him turning away from the devil and his lies and humbling ourselves before our loving saving God.

2 (9 – 11) GOD MY DELIVERER

(9 – 10) A new song of deliverance promised

On four other occasions David uses this expression “a new song”, Psalm 33:3, 40: 3, 96: 1 and 98: 1 and we also find the same expression in Isaiah 42: 10.

Here in verse 9 of Psalm 144 David is promising to sing a new song to the Lord on a special instrument he played called, “ten string lyre”. It seems the normal instrument David played was a 5-string lyre but he also had a larger and fuller sounding 10 string lyre and Leopold suggests why David refers to his new song of praise being played on a ten- string lyre rather than 5 string lyre as,

“to allow for full toned music and thus suggest that an effort to match the greatness of the mercy received is going to be made”.

What does David and Isaiah mean by the expression “sing a new song”?

I have had two attempts to explain this phrase before and will share with you now my two attempts to explain this phrase:

Psalm 33: 3,

“For David writing new songs was not a strange experience as we have over 73 original works of David in the book of Psalms alone. But Leupold points out there is three possible interpretations of this concept of a new song:

1. Singing the old hymn with deeper understanding

2. Fresh colour to and old hymn

3. The composition of a song entirely new”.

Whatever David is referring to in this verse his deliverance experience caused him to sing. Music has been described by many as “The expression of the emotions of the heart” and when we sing with meaning or from the heart we are expressing our true understanding of what God has done for us in delivering us from the power of sin and death.”.

Psalm 98: 1,

To sing a new song to God does not necessarily mean that we are to compose new songs all the time and not sing old songs.

The Hebrew meaning for “New Song” is apparently, “made or become fresh.” This means that old songs we know and love can be “New Songs”, when we sing them from a fresh or renewed understanding of God and his word.

I know sometimes I sing in church old songs and I fail to really connect in my heart to the wonderful truths of its words. However more than often I sing something in church or at a special Christian meeting that I have sang many times before but God’s spirit moves in my heart with a fresh appreciation of what it is saying to me about God and his word, then it is truly a “New Song”.

If Psalm 144 is the request for God to deliver or save him from his many enemies and Psalm 18 is that request answered and praised then Psalm 18 could well be David’s new song he promises to compose here.

As a singer, musician and even song writer myself I can identify with David and his obvious enthusiasm to use his music to praise and glorify God and I must stress as David did that he saw the main value of music as a vehicle to glorify God as he makes plain by what he goes on to say in verse 10,

“To the One who gives victory to kings, who delivers his servant David”.

He promises to give credit to the one who credit is due namely his God who gives him victories in the battles of his life. Victories for David, verse 10 indicates are victories for his people as he is their king but note David does not want any glory for his unique privileged position as King as he then calls himself God’s servant.

Even the Lord Jesus spoke of himself as God’s servant who had a great mission to save us as we read in Mark 10: 45,

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Paul makes it clear we are to be like the Lord Jesus and serve one another, Galatians 5: 13.

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love”.

Peter also makes a similar point in 1 Peter 4: 10,

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms”.

So, David promises as God’s king and servant to sing a new song to the Lord, which could be an old song sung with new understanding and meaning once God has delivered him from his current battle with his enemies. We to should always be ready to praise our God for his deliverance or salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ in our daily battles of life as Paul encourages the Colossians to do in Colossians 3: 15 – 17,

2 (vs.11) A prayer for deliverance

We come then to the end of verse 10 and verse 11 which is like a refrain as the words in verse 11 are almost identical to the words David used in verses 7 and 8. David writes in verse 10b and verse 11,

“From the deadly sword deliver me; rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful”.

David is obviously facing very difficult times at the hands of his enemies and again makes it clear to God in prayer the heavy burden he bares which is, I think, made even more clearer by David using these words as a kind of refrain or poetic summary of the main point of his Psalm.

In David’s time the principle weapon of destruction was the sword which he calls in the hands of his foreign enemies who are lying and deceitful a deadly sword.

Note again that David is not just saying he faces just physical force but he also faced verbal abuse as his enemies use their tongues and mouths to destroy him.

A missionary on home leave who serves with his wife and family in India spoke in our church today and referred to what he called “Hate crimes” by those who oppose Christians there at the moment. They falsely accuse Christians of all sorts of made up charges and have them thrown in jail awaiting a court appearance. He said usually after a couple of months in jail awaiting trial they are freed as the charges are dismissed by the courts as being false.

The devil has and will use lies and deceit to bring down and destroy true believers as a proven battle tactic but we must always find courage in the words of Paul in Romans 8: 37 – 39,

3. (12 – 15) GOD MY PROVIDER

1. (12 – 14) God’s blessings of his protection and deliverance

Some bible scalars argue that the final four verses did not belong to the original Psalm of David and because of the reference to breaching walls and captivity in verse 14 these verses were made up and added to this Psalm after the return from Babylonian captivity.

However, there is another logical conclusion to this problem and that is that David has moved by faith from his desperate need for protection and deliverance to what he sees as the possible outcomes he and his nation would have when they had victory over their enemies.

Victory over his enemies he argues will lead to God’s blessings of a strong and vital nation, prosperous and free of the possibility of being overrun by powerful and vicious Godless foreigners.

So, I believe David presents three main forms of national blessings if God protects and delivers his people from battle or war with his many enemies and these are presented in what I call Old Testament material benefits:

A strong and vital future for the nation and its people (vs. 12)
A materially prosperous nation (vs. 13)
A sense of national security and peace (vs. 14)

Let’s then have a closer look at these three Old Testament style blessings God’s protection and deliverance will bring to David and his people:

A strong and vital future for the nation and its people (vs. 12)

Each of the three forms of blessing are not only spoken of in Old Testament realities but are also presented in poetic imagery as well.

The first of these Old Testament blessings is what I have called a strong and vital future for the nation and its people and verse 12 reads this way,

“Then our sons in their youth will be like well- nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace”.

I like Albert Barnes explanation of this verse when he writes,

“That our sons – not called forth to the hardships of the tent and the field, the perils and the exposures of war – may grow up under the culture of home, of the family, in quiet scenes, as plants carefully cultivated and flourishing”.

This concept of the Children of Israel being blessed by God because of the protection and deliverance God would give his faithful true believers is stated in his covenant agreement with his people Israel as we see in Deuteronomy 28: 1 – 4,

“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. ²All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country 3 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks”.

The second half of verse 12 speaks of not only sons flourishing in a secure blessed nation delivered from the battles of war but the nation’s daughters as well,

“And our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace”.

Apparently, many ancient Palaces and Temples featured statues of sleek and healthy young females on their walls and pillars. This image would be a vital and real one for the people of Old Testament times and again represents healthy vital young people who David believed would thrive once the threat and turmoil of foreign invasion had passed.

So, in Old Testament, Old Covenant sense the blessing of children living in a safe and prosperous land is what I believe David has in mind,

However, what does God promise us in the New Covenant as his blessings for being his faithful true believers?

Here are three important New Testament, New Covenant promises we have in Christ:

1. Eternal Inheritance through Christ – 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”.

Every Spiritual blessing in Christ – Ephesians 1: 3,

“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”.

God’s blessing of the Holy Spirit – Romans 8: 26 – 27,

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Finally, Paul declares in the next verse of Romans 8, verse 28 that he works everything for Good for those who are faithful true believers,

²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose.

A materially prosperous nation (vs. 13)

The next verse, verse 13 and the start of verse 14 along with other Old Testament verses like it have been miss – quoted by many Christians to imply that God promises all faithful true believers material blessing in this life as it says,

“Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands by tens of thousands in our fields; our oxen will draw heavy loads”.

This is a miss quote or wrong interpretation as this is again Old Testament, Old Covenant promises like the one before concerning prosperous families. I refer back to Deuteronomy 28: 1 – 4,

As I said in connection with the last verse this promise of material blessing to God’s faithful people has been superseded by the greater and far more reaching promises of the New Covenant.

However, I am not advocating that God does not bless Christians with strong stable families and even material blessings. I have seen over all my years in the church how often the turning to Christ by a husband and wife leads to a far more stable, happy family and often brings material benefits but material benefits in this life is not a guarantee for those who turn to Christ as God is not concerned primarily for our earthly happiness but his concern is for our eternal holiness or sanctification which will lead to us glorifying his wonderful name as Paul make clear by Romans 5: 1 – 5,

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, wehave peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And weboast in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but wealso glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And 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”.

We must realise we live in sinful fallen world, that even as Christians our bodies suffer the consequences of sin which is decay and death and on top of thiat we are caught up as God’s faithful true believers in a constant and great spiritual battle. Like David we should pray for protection and deliverance from all this but total victory in this great battle will not come unto The Lord Jesus Christ returns and all evil and those associated with it is done away with as predicted in passages like Revelation 20: 11 – 15.

Following this passage in Revelation we have the wonderful description of the New Heaven and the New Earth that results from the final judgment and its cleansing processes and in Revelation 21: 1 – 4 we read of the great hope all faithful true believers can look forward to,

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ²I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³And 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. ⁴‘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.”

Up to that great day God does not leave us all alone in the battles of life but he through the Lord Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit stands with us to comfort, protect and even fight for us in every difficulty the battle of life can bring upon us Paul confidently told the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 3: 3,

“But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one”

A sense of national security and peace (vs. 14)

The final outcome and blessing David predicts will come to him and his people if God protects and delivers them from their enemies is what I call a sense of national security and peace expressed in the words and poetic images of verse 14,

“There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets”.

We must always try to come to terms with the words and images used in the Psalms in the context of the ancient world they were written in and here in verse 14 we have a great example of this.

The people lived in the ancient world lived under the constant threat of being conquered and over run by other nations. Ancient history is littered with stories of peace loving and often materially successful nations being conquered and overrun by an enemy. The miracles of the history of Israel and the Jews is that even as a tiny in worldly terms insignificant nation or race of people they survived so long throughout history when far more powerful nations perished.

The conquering of a nation in ancient times involved invasion and usually the sieging of cities that always had large walls around them to protect them from invading armies. This is why David says that if God protects them and delivers them from their enemies that would experience,

“No breaching of walls”.

Once a wall of a city was breached the conquered population was often taken into captivity as happened to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722BC by the Assyrians and then nearly 200 hundred years later the Southern Kingdom of Judah was overrun and taken into captivity by the Babylonians in 587BC and Jerusalem’s walls were breached and its people were taken in captivity,

2 (vs. 15) Blessings, protection, deliverance only for true believers

I have many non-believing friends and family who I seek to be a witness to but they often seem so entrenched in ignoring God and even considering that faith God has any value and purpose. I know many of my non-believing friends and family even find me to be an irritant to their so called Godless existence. I often wish them well on their birthdays and other special times but deep inside I know that without turning to God in faith and obedience there is no real blessing from God for them because all the promises of God are for faithful true believers.

David makes this clear in the closing verse of his Psalm 144,

“Blessed is the people of whom this is true, blessed is the people whose God is the Lord”.

Certainly, God does bless both the righteous and the unrighteous in this life as Jesus makes clear from what he said in Matthew 5: 45,

“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”.

The context of Jesus words here is his call for us to love our enemies and be like his father our God in heaven who believe sent his son The Lord Jesus Christ into the world and has made us his children. So wishing non-believers well is acting like our Father in heaven and his Son, The Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus put his words into action about loving our enemies even when he was being crucified he prayed for the forgiveness of those who were nailing him to the cross.

However, David is correct, the best and only way for people to have a guarantee of God’s blessing in their lives is by people having a true and genuine faith in the God of the bible who David calls,

“God the Lord”

I like Albert Barnes comments on this verse when he writes,

“Prosperity and peace, such as are referred to in the previous verses, are, and must be, the result of pure religion. Peace, order, abundance, attend it everywhere, and the best security for a nation‘s prosperity is the worship of God; that which is most certain to make a nation happy and blessed, is to acknowledge God and to keep his laws”.

All through this Psalm I have referred to two unique aspects of this Psalm, which are:

The images of ancient battle and war which I have applied to the spiritual battle we as true believers are always caught up in.

2. The obvious connection of this Psalm, 144 to David’s Psalm 18, which I have advocated is that Psalm 144 is the prayer for protection and deliverance from his enemies and Psalm 18 is a praise for that protection and deliverance from those enemies.

So, if I am correct somewhere in Psalm 18 I should find evidence of both of these two unique aspects and I believe verses 25 – 29 is proof of my theory,

“To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
²⁶to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.

²⁷You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.²⁸You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;my God turns my darkness into light.²⁹With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall”.

These are great words of praise of a faithful true believer of the God of the bible who has experienced the blessing of God for himself and his people in the form of protection and deliverance from their many enemies.

As Christians, I have advocated in this Psalm talk and many others that being a true believer in the God of the bible does not mean we will not face hardship and difficulty as we are always caught up in a great spiritual battle as Paul spoke of in Ephesians 6: 12.

We will not also escape the reality in this life that we are living in a fallen and often Godless world but this does not mean that God is not with us and even blessing us.

I am reminded here of the apt words of James in James 1: 2 – 8 about God’s purpose and role of facing the battles of life with God through the Lord Jesus by our side,

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,³because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do”.

Julie Ward Howe in 1861 saw first-hand the horrors that man’s rebellion to God can cause and even true believers like her could not escape the difficulties and trials the horrific war called the civil war in America brought to all people in its day but Julie Ward Howe saw the spiritual dimension to that war and the hope that only Faith in the God of the bible through the Lord Jesus Christ can bring and this hope and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is beautifully expressed in her last verse of her great hymn, “The Battle Hymn of the republic”,

“In the be beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me,

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free!

While God’s is marching on”.

I close as usual with an original poem / song and a final word of prayer:

THE CHRISTIAN BATTLE SONG

(Based on Psalm 144)

Praise to the Lord my rock who trains me for war

He guides me by his hands so that I will not fall.

Against all the forces of evil he gives me success

For my God is a loving God and fortress.

A strong hold when my life is in distress

So, praise to the Lord my deliverer who longs to bless.

O Lord what are human beings that you care so much for them.

For they are just mortal beings Oh yes, we are just mere men.

We’re like a breath of air that’s here and gone

May our world come to see that they are wrong.

Show your power against our enemies we do long

O Lord reach down your hand make our enemies be gone.

I will sing a new song to you Lord on the string instrument I play.

I will sing of the victory He gives to me each day.

Great powers of darkness now oppose our God

Many enemies stand in the path that we trod

The words they use against us are the bombs they lob

But I will sing of God’s power trusting in the word of God.

Blessed are all the people who trust in the mighty God above.

Their sons and their daughters will be blessed with love.

And spiritual riches will be theirs all of their days

For they will be free from sins curse and Satan’s ways.

For Jesus died on the cross and in victory was raised.

Blessed then are those who turn to him in faith and praise.

By: Jim Wenman

PRAYER:

I thank you Lord that you are always with me in the many battles of life. I thank you Father in heaven that you sent your son, Jesus Christ to die for my sins on the cross making a way back to you in heaven. I thank you Holy Spirit for your presence in my life making me strong against the devil’s attacks and interceding for me with the Father in heaven when I need assistance and help in my daily battles with sin the world and the devil. I look forward then to the day I will be with you in heaven when there will be no more pain, death and tears, when all true believers will experience your total blessing for all eternity, In Jesus name I pray this, Amen.

PSALM 143 TALK: THE HOPE OF FAITH

Posted on January 19, 2019 by jimwenman

PSALM 143 TALK: THE HOPE OF FAITH

(This is the sixth Psalm of a collection of eight Psalms attributed to King David in the fifth and final book of Psalms. This Psalm features the idea of how faith in God brings us hope in what might seem hopeless situations.)

INTRODUCTION

Why do people commit suicide?

In my research on the net on this subject I found a key issue that might give us at least a general answer to this question and that is the concept of hope or in the case of a person committing suicide the loss of hope.

An article in the “Irish Times’ in 2004 put it this way,

“Hope is the key factor in the research into suicide it has been identified as critical in determining how we negotiate suffering. If people believe that their suffering will end, or that some possibility of rescue is likely, they can endure incredible discomfort”.

A lady who simply calls herself Becky made a post on an internet page called “Our Side of Suicide” in January 2015 and made this telling statement about her father’s suicide and how lack of hope helped to cause it,

“The other day, I heard a survivor say their loved one “died from a loss of hope.” This is such a simple, beautifully-articulated statement. How have I not used this myself before?

As I read and studied Psalm 143 I realised three things:

David indicates throughout this Psalm that he faced what seemed a hopeless situation like verse 3,

“My enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead”.

David seems to have found hope through his faith in God, as we read in verse 8,

“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life”.

David in the midst of his hopeless situation longed to learn and do what God wanted him to learn and do like vs. 8b

“Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life”

and vs. 10b

Teach me your will, for you are my God”

In this Psalm talk I will not suggest that prayer is some kind of miraculous tool to make God take our problems and difficulties away from us but real faith in the God of the bible gives us real hope to cope as David reveals in verse 5 and 6,

“I remember the days of long ago; I mediate on all your works and consider what your hands have done”. I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land”.

Real faith in the God of the bible gives us real hope in the face of what might seem to us a hopeless situation.

This hope of faith is like what the writer to the Hebrews speaks of in Hebrews 6: 19 – 20a,

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf”.

When did David write Psalm 143?

This unfortunately the answer to this question is not clear and it was in either in his early life while on the run from king Saul or in his later life when on the run from his rebellious son Absalom. H.C. Leopold makes an interesting point about how many Psalms are not clear about when they were written when he says that many of the Psalms where written in,

“A sort of generalization so as to make the Psalm usable by people in all manner of similar situations”.

With the general theme of “The Hope of Faith” in mind my outline for this Psalm is:

(1 – 2) FAITH DESIRES HOPE

(vs. 1) A cry for hope based on faith
(vs. 2) Without God’s love there is no hope

2 (3 – 6) FAITH INSPIRES HOPE

(3 – 4) Faith in the face of hopelessness
(5 – 6) Faith in God’s word inspires hope

3 (7 – 10) THE HOPE OF FAITH

(7 – 8) The faith and hope connection
(9 – 10) The results of the hope of faith

4 (11 – 12) FAITH LEADS TO A LIFE OF HOPE

(vs.11) Faith leading to hope
(11 – 12) Faith in God’s love will give us victory

With the concept of the hope of faith in mind as seen in the outline above lets then have a close look at this amazing Psalm of David.

(1 – 2) FAITH DESIRES HOPE

(vs. 1) A cry for hope based on faith

We have been looking at a number of Psalms in this series of eight final Psalms of David that are set in very difficult times in his life. Probably in a time when David, at the time of writing it felt humanly speaking that he faced a total hopeless situation.

This can be seen in David’s two opening verses of this psalm when he is crying out to God but even verse one is what I call a desperate cry to God based on his faith in God as David writes,

“Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief”.

Firstly, this first verse indicates this is not the first time he has prayed to God for what he calls relief and we can see similar wording to this verse in two recent Psalms probably written in the context of similar difficult times, Psalm 140: 6,

“I say to the Lord, ‘You are my God”. Hear, Lord my cry for mercy”

And Psalm 141: 1,

“I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to you”.

David does not present in this Psalm that prayer is some magical set of words that always get an immediate response from God when uttered. No in fact the prayers of David in the book of Psalms are simply David calling out to God in faith for help and could represent days or even weeks of David pleading with God for help and assistance but he always even in his most desperate moments reveals faith in God in his prayers that leads to hope.

Many years ago, when I worked for an overseas mission organisation on their home staff we started each morning with staff prayers. One morning one of the older secretaries who I worked with spoke of on- gong health issues that caused her and her family much pain and anxiety. The Lord inspired me to refer to the words of Paul in Philippians 4: 6,

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”.

I told her I believe that Paul is saying to us to turn our worries or anxieties into prayer and then I quoted her Paul’s next verse, verse 7,

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

The secretary immediately thanked me for my insights and said she would now not only pray for healing in her family members but also commit to God the anxiety she felt while going through her time of trial and difficulty.

I learnt just as much from my advice as the secretary as I started to turn my worries and anxieties into prayers from that day on and even though I sometimes forget to do this from I have generally found God’s peace and hope in the many times I have faced difficulties in my life.

This is the hope of faith in action and even in David’s opening verse of Psalm 143 when he is crying out to God for relief he does so in the context of faith as he writes,

“Listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief”.

David speaks of three unique characteristics of the God of the bible here as the basis of his faith and hope,

Mercy
Faithfulness
Righteousness

Other religious faith practice prayers of some kind and the Jewish / Christian faiths are not unique in that but what is unique to a faith based in the bible is the character of the God we are praying to and these three characteristics of the God of the bible that David believed in are unique to bible believing Jews and Christians.

Let me explain:

Mercy

The word mercy means what the New Testament calls grace which is love given to someone who does not deserve it. David knew this kind of love from God and spoke of it on many occasions but the supreme example of it is when he confessed to God the sins of adultery and murder and then wrote Psalm 51 where he cries out to God for forgiveness.

On what grounds does he ask God for forgiveness for adultery and murder?

Let me quote David’s answer to this all- important question:

Psalm 51: 1

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

Even though the Old Testament, the basis of the Jewish faith does present a God of love and mercy (love we don’t deserve) it is only in the New Testament that we learn of how the forgiveness of God is possible and Paul explains clearly how God’s gift of grace, his total forgiveness is made possible in Ephesians 1: 6 – 7,

Faithfulness

Faithfulness and indeed even mercy or love we don’t deserve comes right out of the covenant God made with his people Israel through Moses that David had faith in and which obviously gave him hope as we read in Exodus 34: 6 – 7a,

“And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin”.

God does not promise one day to do something and then change his mind the next day not to do it as God is faithful and what he says he will do he does as we read so clearly stated in Deuteronomy 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”.

And even clearer in Lamentations 3: 22 – 23,

“Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed,for his compassions never fail.

²³They are new every morning;great is your faithfulness”.

Finally, in the New Testament Paul boldly speaks of the faithfulness of God to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2: 11 – 13,

”Here is a trustworthy saying:If we died with him,we will also live with him;

¹²if we endure, we will also reign with him.If we disown him,he will also disown us;

¹³if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself”.

So, we can trust in God and his promises of love and protection for our lives and this, like it was for David is the hope of faith.

Righteousness

God being righteous means that he again can be relied upon as righteousness implies holiness or the total pure and never changing rightness of God and his actions but as Albert Barnes points out,

“We, though sinners before God, may feel that our cause is a just one as toward our fellowmen, and, when wronged, we may ask God to interpose, as a righteous God, in our behalf. We cannot, however, ask him to save us on the ground of our righteousness toward him, for we have no such righteousness”.

This is why we needed the coming of Jesus Christ, God’s perfect Son who offered his life in death on the cross so that we might receive the righteousness of God as a gift as Paul speaks of in Romans 1: 17,

¹⁷For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

So, this cry of David to God might have been a desperate prayer and was prayed in the context of what seemed like a hopeless situation but it was prayed on the basis of faith in the God of the bible and this brought to David great hope.

(vs. 2) Without God’s love there is no hope

David then in verse 2 makes a clear statement that his standing before God is as a sinner which is the situation we all face in the judgment to come, David writes,

“Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you”.

David is saying that before God in judgment he could not rely on his own righteousness as he had none. Therefore, he could only rely on the mercy and faithfulness of God that he believed God had given him.

So, if our hope of going to heaven is based on our own righteousness or good deeds then we have nothing but a false hope as Paul makes it clear in Romans 3: 23,

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

I like the evangelistic question you can ask another person,

“If you died tonight and stood before God what would you say to let him to convince him he should let you into his heaven?

Our answer to this question reveals where our real faith in God lies for if we say I lived a better life than most or something like that then Pauls words of Romans 3: 23 would come down on us,

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

What then is the correct biblical answer to this all- important question?

Paul gives us the answer to this question in the next three verses

“And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.²⁵God 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— ²⁶he 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, David’s faith and the hope it brought him was based on the love and mercy of God and not his own righteousness and so should ours if we want to have the same hope of faith people like David had.

2 (3 – 6) FAITH INSPIRES HOPE

(3 – 4) Faith in the face of hopelessness

The darkest two verses of this Psalm are now found in the words of verses three and four and present a situation that humanly speaking are hopeless. David describes the situation he is in as he cries out to God,

“The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead. So, my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed”.

When David wrote this as I said in my introduction we simply cannot tell but David often found himself in this kind of hopeless situation when on the run from King Saul in his early years or when on the run from his rebellious son Absalom in his later years of life. However, both situations would have seen, humanly speaking a hopeless situation.

We often, I think do not enter into the real feelings of despair and hopelessness people like David felt when he prayed these prayers for deliverance and relief because we know that God did give David deliverance and relief on all occasions when on the run from King Saul and his rebellious son Absalom.

However, in my study of this Psalm I have tried to imagine what David was facing and the best clue to that is what he says in these two verses and I have come up with three ways David was feeling as he initially prayed the prayer of Psalm 143,

He felt a sense of certain doom and defeat
He felt a sense of darkness and death
He felt a sense of growing soul sapping dismay

Let me elaborate on these three feelings David felt as he prayed the prayer of Psalm 143:

He felt a sense of certain doom and defeat

David speaks of in verse three that his enemy pursues him and is so close he could feel their crushing blows of destruction, he writes,

“The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground”.

To David this is a statement of certain doom and defeat at the hands of his enemies in which fits both the case of King Saul and Absalom who both had large armies supporting them in hot pursuit of David. So, in this situation David felt like he was being crushed. Albert Barnes says that the Hebrew word for crushed means broken into pieces and gives us three other times this word was used in the bible, Psalm 72: 4, 89: 10 and Job 6: 9.

I like Spurgeon’s explanation and application of this feeling of being crushed that David speaks of in the opening part of verse 3 when he writes,

“The existence of David was made bitter by the cruelty of his enemy; he was as one who was hurled down and made to lie upon the ground, where he could be trampled on by his assailant. Slander has a very depressing effect upon the spirits; it is a blow which overthrows the mind as though it were knocked clown with the fist”.

As Christians, we too can feel a sense of doom and defeat when we face all kinds of attacks by the evil one that can come in the form of persecution, sickness or any other problem and difficulty we might face in the fallen sinful world we live in.

However, even in the face of what seems like certain doom and defeat the Gospel message offers us hope as Peter so boldly proclaims in 1 Peter 1: 3 – 5,

“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, ⁴and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,⁵who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time”.

This is another example of the hope of faith.

He felt a sense of darkness and death

David facing what seemed like certain defeat and death at the hands of either Saul or Absalom speaks of feeling this way in the second half of verse 3,

“He makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead”.

Peter who gave us the wonderful promise or hope of new spiritual birth in this life and eternal life with Christ in the next verse then speaks of suffering all kinds of trails and difficulties in this life in verse 6 of 1 Peter 1,

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials”.

But even these should give us hope as Peter goes on to explain in 1 Peter 1: 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 honour when Jesus Christ is revealed”.

The truth is that no matter what we face or go through, even death itself God is with us helping us go through these experiences of life teaching us things we could have only learnt through these difficulties and therefore giving us hope as Paul speaks of in Romans 15: 13,

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”.

Earlier in the book of Roams Paul speaks of the hope of faith we have and the role of the Holy Spirit of God helping us to have this hope even in difficult times in Romans 8: 22 – 27,

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God”.

So, our desperate prayers like David prayed are according to Paul the spirit helping us in our weaknesses and he will give us the hope of faith in these difficult times if we but turn to God in prayer like David did in Psalm 143.

He felt a sense of growing soul sapping dismay

Then in verse 4 David speaks of his desperate situation making him feel a great sense of dismay, David writes,

“So, my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed”.

I have been studying the book of Psalms for just on ten years now and I have been so struck by the raw and brutal honesty of man like David as they prayed to God. They held nothing back as they simply told God how they were feeling. I don’t think I have ever heard people pray like that in the church circles I have been in.

I wonder how valuable it would be if we would simply open up to God and tell him honestly how we are feeling in prayer.

David felt very low and going lower as he says his spirit is growing week within him and he now felt dismay. Jesus prayed like this when he faced his terrible death on the cross for our sins on the night he was betrayed. Jesus was really hurting inside like David and Matthew records what happened to Jesus and how he prayed in Matthew 26: 36 – 39,

“Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

³⁹Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

If we pray like David did when we feel overwhelmed by what seems a hopeless situation we can pray with the confidence that the one we are praying to knows and understands what we are going through as writer to the Hebrews speaks about in Hebrews 4: 14 – 16,

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”.

This also is another example of the hope of faith.

(5 – 6) Faith in God’s word inspires hope

I have been putting into practice already the main point of verses 5 and 6 which is that God’s word inspires hope by all the Old and New Testament verses I have quoted already.

David puts this important idea this way in verses 5 and 6,

“I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.⁶I spread out my hands to you;I thirst for you like a parched land”.

I see two aspects of David using God’s word to inspire him here:

He remembers what God has done in the past (vs. 5)
He puts God’s word into practice by praying (vs. 6)

So, let’s have a closer look at David being inspired by God’s word and putting it into practice.

He remembers what God has done in the past (vs. 5)

First of all, then, David remembers what God has done in the past, he writes in verse 6,

“I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done”.

Actually, this verse says more than just remembering what God did in the past it speaks of also meditating on it. This is a great way of speaking of what God’s word actually is, it is what God did and said in the past given to us to think through in our day to day lives.

David knew his bible and he must have read it or recalled it to his memory as he faced what seemed like a hopeless situation just like Jeduthun speaks of in Psalm 77: 11 – 12,

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
¹²I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

Where did David and Jeduthun learn of God’s mighty deeds of the past?

They read of them in God’s word the bible and God’s mighty deeds David would have been able to read of included creation, the exodus or God saving Israel out of Egypt, the conquest of Canaan and even his own previous experience of the mighty deeds of God in his life.

Before writing Psalm 143 David experienced the mighty deeds of God for him like delivering him from enemies like Goliath and depending on when he wrote this Psalm previous deliverances from King Saul’s attempts to kill him.

As I have already indicated David not only remembered God’s mighty deeds in the bible as he knew them he mediated on them which I believe is David’s description of how he pondered them deeply, prayed them through, inwardly digested them and acted out their significance in his life as David speaks of in Psalm 19: 14,

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,

Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer”.

Non-believers cannot understand how the bible is such an inspiration for hope and life as they reject it as a God’s inspired book and simply don’t read it but Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3: 16 – 17,

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

God’s word is a great source for the hope of faith.

He puts God’s word into practice by praying (vs. 6)

As David mediated on the great works of God in the past he prayed it through so he used God’s word as a vehicle and inspiration for his prayers and this is what verse 6 is speaking about when it says,

“I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land”.

The expression of spreading out your hands to God is an Old Testament physical expression of prayer and David has referred to this practice many times before in his Psalms like Psalm 28: 2,

“Hear my cry for mercyas I call to you for help,as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place”.

His reading and mediating on the word of God has lead him to pray and again his prayer is a desperate one as the second half of verse 6 indicates when David says,

“I thirst for you like a parched land”.

This verse fits well into David’s run from his rebellious son Absalom as we know he escaped to a very dry desert area and another Psalm writer, a son of Korah who it seems was with David and those who fled with him used a similar expression in Psalm 42 verses 1 and 2,

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.²My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”

Another Psalm we believe David wrote at the time of the run from his rebellious son Absalom uses a similar expression in Psalm 63: 1,

“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you;I thirst for you,my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched landwhere there is no water”.

The effects of sin on our souls which is being cut off from God because of our many sins causes us all to be spiritually thirsty and only faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can quench this great thirst as Jesus told the spiritually thirsty Samaritan women at the well in John 4: 13 – 14,

“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

So, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his death for sin on the cross and his life- giving words brings about a great soul refreshment a great hope of faith.

3 (7 – 10) THE HOPE OF FAITH

(7 – 8) The faith and hope connection

We come then to what I see as the key two verses of this Psalm that present I believe David starting to recognize the hope of faith in the face of his seemingly hopeless situation. I see these two verses presenting to us what I call the faith and hope connection.

There are two verses here and two main things to learn about how faith and hope are connected and they are:

God’s presence changes everything (vs. 7)
God’s love offers us sure and future hope (vs. 8)

Let’s then have a closer look at each of these two faith and hope connections:

God’s presence changes everything (vs. 7)

Even though David I believe has shown us that he has the hope of faith this does not mean he does not need God’s help in fact the hope of faith is that God is there and not only listens to our prayers but answers them.

So, in verse 7 David again asks for God’s help in prayer, he prays,

“Answer me quickly, Lord; my spirit fails”.

Again, David is totally honest before God and describes his desperate situation with the apt but simple expression,

“My spirit fails”

Note how life’s problems and difficulties have a very deep impact on our lives and for some that spiritual impact that life’s problems cause them are so unbearable that they cannot bare it any longer and they end their lives.

However even though David is deeply troubled by his seemingly imminent destruction by his enemies he has faith in his God and that gives him hope as he says this in verse 7,

“Do not hide your face from me”

The concept of the face of God Tremper Longman 111 says is a,

“metaphor for God’s presence”

David believed that he would be safe no matter what happened to him if God’s face or presence was with him as he clearly states in the negative way in Psalm 30: 7,

“Lord, when you favoured me,you made my royal mountainstand firm;but when you hid your face, I was dismayed”.

In Psalm 30, we believe David had sinned by disobeying God’s command not to count his fighting men in Israel and God sent a terrible plague on his country and Psalm 30 is David’s prayer for God to turn away from his anger and forgive him and stop the plague for at the times of him writing Psalm 30 God’s presence seemed to be no longer with David.

So, David asks in Psalm 143 for God’s presence in his life or, as the last part of verse 7 says,

“Or I will be like those who go down to the pit”.

This is a poetic description of dying and means in this context that the murderous objectives of his enemies will be successful if God’s presence is not with him. So, David is saying what will make the difference in his current terrible situation is “God’s face” or “God’s presence”.

When we face dark difficult times we often feel all alone even thinking that God also has deserted us but we need to exercise faith when we feel like this and take God at his word like Romans 5: 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”.

And even more clearly Romans 8: 37 – 39,

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither 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”.

We need to realise that through God’s Holy Spirit Jesus is with us always as he promises in Matthew 28: 20b,

“And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age”.

Surely this promise alone should give us the hope of faith no matter what we are going through or facing in this life.

God’s love offers us sure and future hope (vs. 8)

Then we have in verse 8 David’s clear poetic statement of his hope of faith in verse 8, he writes,

“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go for to you I entrust my life”.

According to Allan Harman David is saying,

“The darkness of the night is replaced with the light of God’s favour and mercy”.

This mirrors David’s similar statement of the hope of faith in Psalm 30 were David writes in verse 5,

“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime;weeping may stay for the night,but rejoicing comes in the morning”.

Even when David faced the darkness caused by his wilful sin in the time of Psalm 30 his faith in the love and mercy of God gave him hope expressed so beautifully by the image of the darkness of the night being broken by the dawning of the sun in the morning.

I have read of people near their deaths in the night but rallying in the morning to live another day. David had faith in the love and faithfulness of the God of the bible and this love of God gave him hope as it can give us if we but allow ourselves to open up to it in prayer as David had expressed so well in the start of verse 6,

“I spread out my hands to you”

Where did David get this concept of the hope of God’s love from?

Again, I found Allan Harman so helpful in coming to an answer to this question, he writes,

“The covenant servant has his heart firmly fixed on God”

As David so wonderfully expresses in Psalm 9: 10,

“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you”.

David knew the covenant God amazingly expressed his covenant love in Exodus 34: 5 – 7a,

“Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. ⁶And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and

faithfulness,⁷maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin”.

As Christians, we know a far greater expression of the love of God in the New Covenant that Jesus established by his death and resurrection as the writer to the Hebrews describes 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”.

The faith and hope connection then is found in the love of God which John expresses so well in his first letter in 1 John 3: 1 – 3,

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ²Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure”.

This idea of God’s love giving us hope and leading to our lives being purified is what David is speaking about in the last part of verse 8, which says,

“Show me the way I should go for to you I entrust my life”.

David has just expressed his hope of faith believing that God’s deliverance and help would come to him soon like the morning dawning breaking the darkness of the night and this comes totally from the love of God and so now he wants to go God’s way as he entrusts his life to this wonderful God of love.

Many times, in my life when I have come to a time of difficulty or unsureness of what I should do or where I should go I have prayed and sought to act out, mediated on the famous verses in the book of Proverbs 3: 5 – 6,

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

What way God wants us to go is up to him and we must learn to trust him that he knows best and uses even the worst of situations to do his good work of love in our lives as Paul says in Romans 8: 28,

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

Just think of this, if David had not been led by God into all the problems and difficulties he faced in his life we would not have had these wonderful Psalms that David wrote for us to read, learn and mediate on.

Put your life in the hands of the great God of love and he will bring you through the darkness of your life to the bright morning light of the hope of faith.

2. (9 – 10) The results of the hope of faith

David now looks to God for how the morning might come to his darkness in real terms which he expresses in verse 9,

“Rescue me from my enemies, Lord for I hide myself in you”.

Spurgeon opens up this clear call of faith by David for deliverance from his enemies and makes an excellent application of them in these words,

“Many foes beset us, we cannot overcome them, we cannot even escape from them; but Jehovah can and will rescue us if we pray to him. The weapon of all prayer will stand us in better stead than sword and shield”.

Spurgeon’s application thoughts echo the words of Paul in Ephesians 6: 10 – 18 which set down how we all face great spiritual enemies, day after day but by God’s strength and his armour or spiritual weapons and protections he can deliver us from our enemies. So far as the role of prayer in this Paul says this in Ephesians 6: 18,

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people”.

The idea of hiding ourselves in God is similar to the main idea of the previous Psalm about the Lord being our refuge, like Psalm 142: 5,

“I cry to you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living”.

The hope of faith is that our God is greater than any foe or enemy we might face in this life so we must turn to him always especially when we come under attack. We do this through prayer and as David expresses in verse 10 by seeking to go his way, he writes,

“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good spirit lead me on level ground”.

Note how David asks God to teach him which comes primarily through careful study of God’s word and through the counsel of gifted mature friends and ministers. I have not stopped attending weekly bible studies all through my Christian life and value the wonderful counsel and teaching I have gained through attending these regular small group bible studies over many years.

Note also how David recognised the role of the Holy Spirit who he calls God’s good spirit in teaching him God’s way and leading him on what he calls “level ground”. This concept of level ground is also called by David, “a straight path” as he speaks of in Psalm 27: 11,

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

Leupold explains this term this way,

“To walk in the course in which He directs men always means to be walking ‘in a level land’. It is not a path that is tortuous and difficult but a clear- cut path of right and truth”.

Which reminds me of the advice Jesus gave on how we should live our lives 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. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it”.

To find such a path and be able to walk it we need what David calls “God’s good spirit” to help us as we read in Galatians 5: 16 – 18,

“So, I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law”.

So, many people find themselves in really dark hopeless situations in life because of the way they have walked in their life but when we find the hope of faith we must walk God’s way and if we do we will find his help and protection that will be like the dawning of a new day after a long dark night.

4 (11 – 12) FAITH LEADS TO A LIFE OF HOPE

(vs.11) Faith leading to hope

David now closes his Psalm 143 on a confident note of prayer not yet delivered from his enemies but showing in how he prays about that, that he has faith in God to help him that is leading him to a very real sense of hope. He prays this in verse 11,

“For your name’s sake, Lord, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble”.

Albert Barnes writes this on the phrase, “For your name’s sake”,

“Thou wilt thus show thy power, thy faithfulness, thy goodness. Thou wilt thus get honour to thyself. This is the highest motive which can influence us – that God may be glorified”.

We know from the two books of Samuel that God did over and over again preserved the life of David against such powerful foes as King Saul and his rebellious son Absalom. David had not yet been preserved by God from his enemies when he wrote Psalm 143 yet when he wrote this Psalm it sounds like to me he had the hope of faith that God can and would soon deliver him.

Long before he wrote this Psalm David had this hope of faith so much he wrote these words in Psalm 23: 1 – 4,

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. ²He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, ³he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths

for his name’s sake. ⁴Even 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”.

God delivers us also from darkness because he is a loving and righteous God and when he does it is him alone who deserves our praise and thanks for giving us this hope of faith.

(11 – 12) Faith in God’s love will give us victory

I see the last verse of this Psalm as still a request for deliverance by David from his enemies however like the previous verse it is spoken of in a note of faith and hope, David writes,

“In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant”.

David prays yet again for the destruction of his enemies which he often has done before yet on at least two occasions David had the opportunity of carrying out this prayer and desire on King Saul one of his greatest enemies but both times he said something like what is recorded in 1 Samuel 26: 9 – 11,

“But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? ¹⁰As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. ¹¹But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”

David was asking for God to judge his enemy as the New Testament clearly teaches like James 4: 12,

“There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbour?”

Jesus actually encourages us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, Matthew 5: 43 -48. So, God’s mercy or as David called it God’s unfailing love should lead us to act radically different than the normal human reactions to persecution but instead show love just as God has shown love or mercy to us, sinners deserving his judgment.

Saul eventually did fall under God’s judgment and in the face of his hopeless situation of defeat by the Philistines he took his own life. Absalom likewise was defeated in battle and was defeated and killed by David’s faithful general Joab much to the dismay of king David who wept for days over the death of his son Absalom.

David calls himself at the end of Psalm 143, “Your servant” or God’s servant and David Guzik makes this interesting comment about this title David gives himself,

“David appealed to God on the basis of His name, His righteousness, and His mercy; yet also on the basis of his relationship with God as His servant. David understood that the servant has obligations to the Master; yet the Master also has obligations to the servant”.

Again, David reveals the hope of faith which looks forward to God’s victory over all his enemies and we too can look forward to the great hope of God’s total victory over all who oppose him and over all evil as we read in Revelation 20: 11 – 15,

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. ¹³The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.¹⁵Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire”.

Our faith in the Lord Jesus however leads to the great hope of heaven when we will pass from this life to be with God forever and not come under the final judgement owing to the payment of our sin by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross as we read in Titus 2: 11 – 14,

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. ¹²It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good”.

This is the great final hope of faith that one day we will be with our Lord forever and this alone should help us face the pain and difficulties of this life which God might lead us into from time to time.

As the article in the “Irish Times’ in 2004 I quoted in my introduction put it,

If we have then the hope of faith we can endure and conquer as Paul speaks of in 2 Timothy 2: 10 – 13,

“Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.¹¹Here is a trustworthy saying:If we died with him, we will also live with him;¹²if we endure,we will also reign with him.If we disown

him,he will also disown us;¹³if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself”.

Real faith in the God of the bible, the God who out of love sent his son, Jesus Christ into the world to save us from our sins offers us great hope a hope I call, hope to cope. So, I encourage you to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and no matter what life might bring your way you will always have the hope of faith.

I close as usual with an original poem / song and a final word of prayer:

HOPE FOR TOMOROOW

(Based on Psalm 143)

Refrain:

Hope for tomorrow for today I look above

Hope in the morning for in the dawning I’ll see God’s love.

Hear my prayer a cry for mercy

For I trust in God’s love and faithfulness.

Give me Lord relief and peace

For my enemy’s cause, me pain and stress.

When they attack they make me feel despair

Help me Lord in my darkness

By showing me your loving care.

Refrain:

Do not bring me Lord into judgment

For all men are sinners before you Lord.

Give me mercy and forgiveness

As I trust and meditate upon your word.

I see all the things you’ve done in the past,

Mighty things your hands performed

O yes Lord your love is so vast.

Refrain:

I spread my hands out before you Lord

For I thirst as my spirit seems to fail.

Do not hide your face from me

Or I will descend into death dark jail.

Rescue me from the evil that surrounds me

So, I can hide myself in you Lord

For you alone can set me free.

Refrain:

Teach me to do your will O Lord

May your Spirit lead me to level ground.

Preserve my life O Lord I pray

May all my troubles go and peace be found

Silence enemies and show me your love.

Help me to always serve you Lord

And raise your name high above.

Refrain:

Hope for tomorrow for today I look above

Hope in the morning for in the dawning I’ll see God’s love.

By: Jim Wenman

PRAYER:

I look to you Father up above to help me in my many struggles in this life with faith in your Son, The Lord Jesus Christ who always gives me hope. I pray that I will not turn away from this great hope, the hope of your constant help and protection, hope in your loving will for my life and hope in future glory with you in heaven. May I live out every day with this hope of faith, in the great and powerful name of The Lord Jesus Christ I pray this prayer, Amen.

PSALM 142 TALK: GOD ALONE IS MY REFUGE

Posted on January 10, 2019 by jimwenman

PSALM 142 TALK: GOD ALONE IS MY REFUGE

(This is the fifth Psalm of a collection of eight Psalms attributed to King David in the fifth and final book of Psalms. This Psalm features the idea of trusting in God as our only refuge and help in times of trouble or difficulty and we do this by turning to God in the midst of our difficulty in trust and earnest prayer.)

INTRODUCTION

Where do you turn to or who do you turn to when life throws up problems and difficulties for you?

I have lived for many years now and of course in all the years I have lived I have had my fair share of problems and difficulties. Four years ago, I was studying Psalm 61 and as I came to the end of writing my Psalm talk I wanted to write a poem or song based on this wonderful Psalm. Then in the matter of one week three of my close family members became gravely ill. One of my nieces a week before she was to be a bridesmaid for one of her two sisters got very sick and had to go into hospital. Then my mother in law who was in a nursing home stopped eating and was in the throes of dying. Then as we drove the four hours to see her my eldest son rang me on my mobile phone to say that his wife had come down with a bad case of pneumonia and had to go into hospital.

The words of two verses of Psalm 61 verses 2 and 3 helped me greatly during that week that I felt battered around by what I later called, “The storms of life” and these verses read this way,

“From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe”.

I believe David wrote these words later in his life when he was on the run from his rebellious Son Absalom who over through his reign as king of Israel and then sought to kill him and his close family and friends.

Psalm 142 was written much earlier as its Hebrew heading calls it,

A maskil of David. When he was in the cave”.

This Psalm then was written by David when he escaped death in the Philistine town of Gath and went to hide in a cave in a desert place called Adullam as King Saul had sent a large force of men to capture and kill David who he treated as a national traitor.

Psalm 142 contains the same thought as Psalm 61 of God being our only refuge in the storms of life as we read in verse 5,

“I cry to you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living”.

My wife and I prayed and looked to the Lord for refuge in our great storms of life four years ago and God answered our prayers and gave us comfort and hope in the midst of our troubles and my niece was well enough on the day of her sister’s wedding to attend and my daughter in law recovered well after a few days in hospital.

However, my mother in law passed away a week or so later and again God gave my wife and I comfort as we mourned her passing. My mother in law had attended a Baptist church for a few years with her eldest son and his wife before going into the Nursing home and also attended a service held in her nursing home for the last five years of her long life. We believe she had developed a simple faith in the Lord Jesus in the last years of her life and is now with him in heaven.

The first verses and chorus of my song inspired by the words of Psalm 61 and my experience of finding refuge in the Lord in the storms of life that week four years ago goes like this,

“Hear my prayer I cry Oh Lord

For I feel so far from you

Help me find a refuge Lord

In your Son who helps me through.

Lead me, lead me

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I

Help me, Help me,

Help me stand the storms of life I cry”.

Psalm 142 is also called a “Maskil” which is a Hebrew word that means according to H. C. Leopold,

“A didactic poem – the Psalm would therefore, conveys some helpful instruction on the basis of the experience out of which it grew”.

David seems to be both on the run for his life, alone and in a very dark place both spiritually and physically when he wrote this Psalm. He feels deserted, in desperate need of help and comfort as he hid in a cold dark cave in a place that would have seemed like the back of nowhere. Here he calls out to God with this desperate prayer we now call Psalm 142.

I aim to open up this Psalm in the context of David’s desperate situation and with other thoughts and ideas of David’s Psalms in the context of the main idea of God being our refuge and indeed our only refuge when we face the storms of life or the problems and difficulties that life often brings upon us.

With this in mind my headings for this Psalms are:

(1 – 3) A CRY FOR REFUGE

(1 – 2) A cry for refuge
(vs. 3) The need for refuge

2 (4 – 5) GOD IS MY REFUGE

(vs. 4) No refuge in man
(vs. 5) God alone is our refuge

3 (6 – 7) BE MY REGUGE LORD

(vs. 6) A further cry for God to be his refuge
(vs. 7) Be my refuge Lord so I can praise you

Let’s have a close look at this Psalm with these headings in mind:

(1 – 3) A CRY FOR REFUGE

(1 – 2) A cry for refuge

David uses four descriptions of what he did in that dark cave of Adullam,

“I cry aloud to the Lord”
“I lift up my voice to the Lord”
“I pour out before him”
“Before him I tell my trouble”

Putting these three descriptions of his desperate prayer we read this in verse 1 and 2 of Psalm 142,

“I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble”.

Leupold points out,

“There seems to be some advantage in putting trouble into words”

I have often wondered in my own prayers and the prayers of others I have heard, why do we need to tell God our situation or the situation of the person we are praying for when we know from the word of God that God sees and knows everything?

Again, Leupold is right there is intrinsic value I believe for us to verbalize our situation or need to God in prayer. After all what is real prayer? Is it not us having a conversation with God or is it not us turning to God for help and refuge in the difficulties of our lives.

I like the first verse of the old hymn, “What a friend we have in Jesus”,

“What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh what peace we often forfeit
Oh what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer”.

Paul exhorts the Philippians to do what this hymn says in Philippians 4: 6

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”.

Note what God gives us when we take our problems and difficulties to him in prayer according to verse 7,

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

David cried out and lifted up his voice asking God for mercy which is the Old Testament word for grace or love we don’t deserve and David constantly recognised his need for the mercy or grace of God all through his life as we see in many other Psalms like the start of Psalm 86: 1 – 2,

“Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.²Guard my life, for I am faithful to

you;save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God have mercy on me Lord, for I call to you all day long”.

When David was probably at the lowest point of his life even lower than when he was in the cave in Adullam, when he had committed adultery and murder he wrote in the first two verses of Psalm 51,

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin”.

And God in his grace or unmerited love for us has washed away and blotted out our many sins by the spilt blood of Christ on the cross as we read in Ephesians 1: 7,

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace”.

Finally, David according to verse 2, pours out to God his complaint and in this we see David’s honesty and faithfulness as he is telling God how he is really feeling and how his situation in the cave of Adullam had put him in what seemed like, humanly speaking a hopeless situation.

David is all alone and on the run from a powerful and vicious enemy and he needs protection and help from something or better still someone far greater and more powerful than he is and this is why years later when he is on the run from his rebellious son Absalom he prays,

“Lead me to the rock that is higher than I”. (Psalm 61: 2)

In Psalm 142 David is calling out to God for refuge and help while on the run from the great enemy of his younger years King Saul. However, he is teaching us in this didactic poem how we should react to the problems and troubles of life. James always full of practical advice tells us to do the same sought of thing with wonderful promises attached in James 4: 7 – 10,

(vs. 3) The need for refuge

In the next verse, verse 3 David speaks of why he needed God to be his refuge as he continues his prayer for it, he writes,

“When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way, In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me”.

This verse reveals both the great confidence he has in God watching over him and guiding him and the great danger he seems to believe God has led him into.

I will like to say to you come to Jesus and follow his way and your life will be free of all trouble and difficulty but I cannot say this as the bible, like this verse in Psalm 142 teaches that God does not promise the Christian life to be as the colloquial saying goes, “a rose garden”.

What God promises us is summed up well in the comforting words of Jesus in Matthew 11: 28 – 30,

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

This promise of Jesus to come and help us carry our burdens is an echo of David’s words,

“When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way”.

God wants us to go through times of problems and difficulties but he does so by helping us go through them being with us through his Holy Spirit and helping us carry the burdens we might bare. All of the main New Testament writers, Paul, James and Peter speak of how God uses the difficulties of life to teach us and make us better and stronger people as Peter writes 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. ⁷These 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 honour when Jesus Christ is revealed”.

Or as Paul teaches in Romans 5: 3 – 5,

“Not only so, but wealso glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And 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”.

When I went through my week of problems and difficulties four years ago when three close family members got very sick it seemed I was not in a good place in my life but looking back I can see the loving hand of God in my life helping my wife and I carry the burden we shared and bringing us through to a new understanding of his love for us.

Verse three of Psalm 142 has three terms describing the life God wants us to live found extensively in the book of Psalms and Proverbs namely the words or ideas of:

Way
Path
Walk

Let me share a verse from Psalms, Proverbs and a verse from the New Testament that will give you the idea of how important these three little words are describing the life God wants us to have and has planned for us to live if we truly trust in him.

Psalm 27: 11,

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

Proverbs 8: 20,

“I walk in the way of righteousness,along the paths of justice”.

John 14: 6,

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

Path

Psalm 119: 105,

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path”

Proverbs 3: 5 – 6,

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

Hebrews 12: 12 – 13,

“Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. ¹³“Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed”.

Walk

Psalm 1: 1,

“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”.

Proverbs 28: 26,

“Those who trust in themselves are fools,but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe”.

Galatians 5: 16,

“So, I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh”.

In the Psalm 142 David is speaking of the “path” which he “walks” as being a dangerous one as he is only in the cave in Adullam because God led him there because King Saul was hot on his path or way to seek to kill him. David sees this dangerous path as like a path full of traps like a hunter sets in the possible paths of animals they are seeking to kill which David speaks more clearly of in Psalm 140: 5,

“The arrogant have hidden a snare for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps for me along my path”.

So, again David wants God to be his refuge owing to the dangerous path he has led David to take and I like these comments by C.H Spurgeon on this,

“This is a great trial, but the Lord is greater still, and makes us to walk safely in the midst of danger, for he knows us and our enemies, our way and the snare which is laid in it. Blessed be his name”.

2 (4 – 5) GOD IS MY REFUGE

(vs. 4) No refuge in man

It seems that David was in this cave in Adullam on his own and the text of 1 Samuel 22: 1 simply says,

“David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there”.

So, initially it seems when David went to this cave of Adullam he was on his own and eventually was joined by members of his family when they heard he was hiding out there on his own and in great danger.

So, when David prayed the prayer of Psalm 142 he was on his own with no human help and assistance as verse 4 seems to be saying,

“Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life”.

This verse represents how David felt when in the cave of Adullam on his own but we know from 1 Samuel 22: 1b that people were concerned for him and help was on the way. However, for a time, we don’t know how long David had no one at his side to help him which he expresses with the words,

“There is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me”.

God might lead us to a point in our own lives when we think we are all alone or that no one can help us. This makes me think of another story of a man of God in a cave, Elijah and after Elijah had a great victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel his life came under great danger from the wicked Queen Jezebel and Elijah fled for his life like David did years before.

We read of how Elijah himself ended up in a cave in 1 Kings 19: 7 – 9,

“The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” ⁸So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he travelled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.⁹There he went into a cave and spent the night”.

There Elijah, like David before him complained to the Lord that he was all alone and in Elijah’s case was the only one left who truly trusted in the Lord as he says to God after God asked Elijah why was he was in the cave alone Elijah replied with these words in 1 Kings 19: 10,

“I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

God’s reply to this outrageous statement of Elijah is very revealing for we read in 1 Kings 19: 18 God told Elijah,

“Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

We might feel sometimes that we are alone or that our world is diminishing fast of true people of faith but God always has a remnant of true believers and we need to trust in him and he will lead us out of our sense of lowliness into fellowship with other followers of Christ.

In the case of David, he is saying that in his present condition, alone in the dark cave of Adullam he had no refuge or protection provided by any human agent as he says in verse 4b,

“I have no refuge; no one cares for my life”.

David Guzik writes,

“David felt alone and forsaken, yet this very cry to God declares that David knew that even if he were forsaken by men, God had not forsaken him. Even if every other refuge failed, David found in God an ear for the voice of his cry”.

This reminds me of Pauls words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4: 16 – 18 where Paul describes how he felt humanly forsaken yet he knew the Lord was with him and helped him,

“At my first defence, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. ¹⁷But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. ¹⁸The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen”.

Paul told the Thessalonians this in 2 Thessalonians 3: 3 and through them us,

“But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one”.

(vs. 5) God alone is our refuge

The confidence in the protecting strength and power of God that Paul has just declared in 2 Thessalonians 3: 3 is now declared by David in the fifth verse of his Psalm 142 and he writes,

“I cry to you Lord: I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living”.

This time David’s cry is full of confidence for he has the faith to believe that even though he cannot find refuge or protection in any human source he can and does find refuge and protection in his God, the same God of the bible we believe in like Paul.

In that dark damp cave, all alone David faced the very real possibility that his enemy King Saul would find him and with a large force of soldiers overwhelm him but now David realises in verse 5 that he has a God he can turn to who will be a refuge or a protection to him against any human or spiritual force.

In Ephesians 6: 12 Paul declares that we all face overwhelming forces of evil,

However, like David Paul declares that even though, humanly speaking, we are no match to these powerful forces of evil by faith in the Lord, the God of the bible we are strong and can withstand the powerful forces of evil’s constant attack, Ephesians 2: 10 – 11,

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”.

Satan’s great weapon against us is sin and what it leads to, death but Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 56 – 57 proclaims that through faith in Christ and what he did for us on the cross we can and in fact do have victory over sin and death,

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”.

David spoke many times about how God is his great refuge and he needed God’s protection and help – refuge particularly for up to eight years when on the run and outnumbered by King Saul and his army. At the end of this unsuccessful campaign against David when King Saul was defeated by his great enemy The Philistines and committed suicide David wrote a great song of praise we know as Psalm 18. Listen to just the first six verses of this magnificent song of praise,

“I love you, Lord, my strength.²The 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.

³I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies.
⁴The cords of death entangled me;the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.⁵The cords of the grave coiled around me the snares of death confronted me.⁶In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.From his temple, he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears”

So, Psalm 18 is the confident praise of God and his mighty protecting power – refuge, made at the end of those long difficult years he was on the run from King Saul and his army and Psalm 142 is David praying to God for that protection – refuge at the beginning of those long eight years.

After David became king of Israel his need for God’s protection – refuge did not stop and as I have already pointed out in his later years of his life he was on the run for his life again when his rebellious son Absalom sought to overwhelm him with his army and destroy him.

David not only calls God his refuge in verse 5 as he also calls him,

“My portion”

And adds,

“In the land of the living”

What does David mean by calling God his portion?

I believe David here is speaking about his God given inheritance all Israelites had except for the Levitical priests who God gave a portion of the sacrifices given in worship (see Deuteronomy 18: 1 – 8). The inheritance all other Israelites had from God in Old Testament terms was land in the Promised Land of Israel allocated to the twelve tribes of Israel which is set out in some detail in Joshua chapters 13 – 21.

David was from the tribe of Judah and would have been a recipient of land in the Bethlehem area of Israel but now as he prays in Psalm 142 he is in a foreign land far from his inheritance or portion of land and as an exiled traitor in the eyes of the current King of Israel it would seem that had lost his inheritance or portion of the Promised Land of Israel.

This same idea of loss of his land, inheritance or portion is expressed in more detail in Psalm 16: 5 – 6, another Psalm David wrote while on the run from King Saul,

“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;you make my lot secure.⁶The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance”.

David’s unexpected and difficult situation of being forced out of his inheritance or portion, his rightful allocation of land in Israel gave him a unique insight to what God is to him,

“You (God) are my refuge, my portion”.

This is something the New Testament will make much clear in that God gives all of his children, those who truly believe in his Son, Jesus Christ (see John 1: 12 – 13) an eternal inheritance or portion as the writer to the Hebrews puts it in Hebrews 9: 15,

Note how David is given this unique insight through trial and difficulty only really spelt out 700 years later by the coming of Christ through. He realised that his portion even as lived his life,

“In the land of the living”

Was not a piece of land but a great hope of the eternal protection and provision of life found only in God. In this life, as Christians we often seem to invest so much of our time and money in land and property in this world yet our real time and money should be invested in the wonderful heavenly home God has for us in eternity as Jesus put it so simply and with so much of a challenge 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. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

3 (6 – 7) BE MY REGUGE LORD

(vs. 6) A further cry for God to be his refuge

All through this Psalm David has been speaking of a very dangerous and difficult time he is experiencing at the time of its inception and I have been proposing that the Hebrew heading gives us the setting of the cave of Adullam as the second cave David was trapped in in a place called in a place called En Gedi and there David was not alone but was hiding in the back of that cave with some of his loyal men (see 1 Samuel 24).

We saw that David declares in this Psalm in verse 4 that he is all alone in this cave,

“Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life”.

So, it is not surprising that in verse 6 David indicates his desperate need for God to rescue him from this cave and the situation he finds himself in there,

“Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me”.

David seemed to be lost and without hope in the cave at Adullam, he might have seemed to be all alone and very frail and voluble but he has just realised yet again that God is his refuge and portion so again he cries out to God for rescue from his very strong oppressors.

I have been referring to Paul’s words in Ephesians 6: 10 – 12 and how Paul speaks of the overwhelming spiritual forces we face but again he speaks of this in the context of how we have a mighty, powerful and strong God we can both turn to in the face of this battle who can help us stand against the devils many evil schemes,

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”.

Another man of God who faced unbelievable odds against him was Martin Luther who stood up against the might and power of the Catholic Church of his day to proclaim the true word of God and the Gospel message it presents. Martin Luther should have lost his life on many occasions but like David he cried out to the Lord for rescue and God saved him from his enemies over and over again.

Martin Luther was not only a great bible teacher, reformer and pastor of his day but he wrote hymns and I like the first two verses of his famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is our God, which go like this,

“A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

2. Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabbath, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle”.

(vs. 7) Be my refuge Lord so I can praise you

David ends this Psalm with a promise to praise his God when he rescues or saves him from the prison of the cave where he feels trapped by an overwhelming enemy, he writes in verse 7,

“Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me”.

This promise of praising God by David particularly once he has been saved or delivered is common to many of David’s other Psalms like, Psalm 56: 12 – 13, 61: 8, 64: 10, 70: 4, and Psalm 109: 30 – 31, which I will quote here,

“With my mouth, I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him. For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save their lives from those who would condemn them”.

Here in Psalm 109 he is promising to praise God in the future once he can safely join with a great throng of worshippers which would be in the Sanctuary in David’s time and later in the Temple after David’s time in Jerusalem.

So, it would seem that Psalm 109 like Psalm 142 was written by David when he was a long way away from Jerusalem on the run from king Saul or his Absalom who both sought to kill him.

So far as the expression in verse 7 of,

“Set me free from my prison”

I agree with most commentators who say that this statement is metaphorical and fits the Hebrew titles claim that David wrote this Psalm when he was in the cave, which I have suggested is the cave of Adullam.

In this cave, it seems David had escaped to from the dangerous situation he ended up in Gath and only got away from Gath in the nick of time as Saul was well on his way to Gath to capture and kill David there.

The cave with no obvious escape opportunity would have felt like a prison to David. So, he asks God to set him free from it.

In the New Testament Paul uses the idea of being locked up in prison metaphorically to describe the bondage of sin for we cannot fully keep the law of God in Galatians 3: 23 – 26, notice in this passage we are set free from the prison of the law and sin by the Lord Jesus Christ,

“Before the coming of this faith,we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

²⁶So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith”.

We are set free by Christ death and resurrection to serve him and not sin as Paul states clearly in Romans 6: 22 – 23,

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

This wonderful release from sin and death should lead us to praise God for his grace seen in his wonderful act of deliverance or salvation for us as Peter speaks of in 1 Peter 1: 3 – 5,

^“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, ⁴and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,⁵who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time”.

This is what David wants to do when he is saved by God out of his prison, the cave of Adullam and the amazing thing is that if this was written in that cave at Adullam soon after writing it we read this in 1 Samuel 22: 1 – 2,

“David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. ²All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him”.

So, these two opening verses in the twenty second chapter of the first book of Samuel seem to indicate for time David was hiding out on his own in a cave in Adullam but then after a period of time, which we have no idea how long David is joined by members of his family along with a number of other faithful followers of David around 400 in all.

From this time, onward David is not alone but has his own small army of fighting men, still vastly outnumbered by King Saul and the large armies of Israel but at least he has some help and fellowship while on his many years of being on the run from King Saul.

So far as praising God once he was set free from his prison we have no direct reference in the book of Samuel but we have many Psalms written by David in this period of his life and of course we have Psalm 18 which was written by David once he was fully free from the prison of being constantly pursued by king Saul and his many men.

I will quote again the first six verses of Psalm 18 which are a wonderful example of David praising God for his deliverance from the grip of Saul which David calls in Psalm 142, “My Prison” and which he calls in Psalm 18 verse 5, “The cords of the grave coiled around me”.

“I love you, Lord, my strength.²The 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.

We to can give the same kind of praise to God for his salvation won for us in Christ and which is not only eternal life with God when we pass from this life to the next but includes God’s help and protection – refuge now as we seek to walk the path God has for us to walk as David spoke of in verse 3 of this Psalm and which Jesus speaks of in Matthew 7: 13 – 14,

Jesus has made this path or way for us to go John 14: 6,

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

And Jesus has gone ahead of us to make this way and goes with us to help us walk its way as indicated by Hebrews 12: 1 – 2,

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.

And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ²fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”.

I close as usual with the words of an original poem / song and a final word of prayer:

GOD IS MY REFUGE

(Based on Psalm 142)

I cry aloud to you O Lord

I Lift up my voice in prayer

I pour out my complaint to you O Lord

For my troubles seem too hard to bear.

CHORUS:

O God I need a refuge

A safe place where I can go

To find you’re love and protection

In a world, full of sorrow and woe.

When my spirit grows faint and weary

O Lord you watch over all my way

But the road that I walk has got danger

So, I need your help each day.

CHORUS:

O God I need a refuge

A safe place where I can go

But no man can give me protection

In a world full of sorrow and woe.

I have no earthly refuge Lord

Against the devil’s attack

So, I cry to you for refuge Lord

And you give me the strength that I lack.

CHORUS:

O God I need a refuge

A safe place where I can go

For only you O Lord can protect me

In a world, full of sorrow and woe.

Listen to my desperate cry O Lord

Rescue me from sins dark curse

You’ve saved me Lord through Jesus Christ

In his death, he broke sins force.

CHORUS:

O God I need a refuge

A safe place where I can go

Where I can find the salvation, I need

In a world, full of sorrow and woe.

Set me free from this prison Lord

Of sin and the judgment to come

Then I will praise you always Lord

And sing with your people a great song.

CHORUS:

O God I need a refuge

A safe place where I can go

A place to sing your praises Lord

In a world, full of sorrow and woe.

By: Jim Wenman

PRAYER:

Dear Father in heaven I ask you to be my constant refuge and protector in this life as I trust in your Son’s death and resurrection for me. Help me to continually come to him in the many trials and difficulties of this life. Help me to know continually your help and support in the great spiritual battles of this life knowing that in you I am strong and can have victory over the devils many evil schemes and attacks. This I pray in the powerful name of Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour, Amen.