Themes from the Psalm of Psalms

(Loving the God of Psalm 119)

Stanza Twenty

RESH: Pleading for redemption from the God of truth…and tender mercies

153 Consider my affliction and deliver me, / For I do not forget Your law.

154 Plead my cause and redeem me; / Revive me according to Your word.

155 Salvation is far from the wicked, / For they do not seek Your statutes.

156 Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord; / Revive me according to Your judgments.

157 Many are my persecutors and my enemies, / Yet I do not turn from Your testimonies.

158 I see the treacherous, and am disgusted, / Because they do not keep Your word.

159 Consider how I love Your precepts; / Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness.

160 The entirety of Your word is truth, / And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.

King David could look back on many episodes of his life when treacherous, wicked persecutors and enemies tried to pursue, oppose, or even destroy him. And surely there were times when he was tempted to take revenge on these evil people.

Take the time when David and his band of outlaws protected the fields and flocks of Nabal the Calebite, then requested that Nabal furnish them with some fresh supplies in return. Nabal, whose very name means “a fool,” ridiculed David and his men and sent them away scornfully. In a rage, David told his men to strap on their swords and they went to take revenge on Nabal’s entire household. God used Nabal’s wise wife Abigail to plead with the future king NOT to take vengeance into his own hands, and David agreed. Later, God punished Nabal, who died from fright, and Abigail became David’s wife.

In this 20th stanza of the Psalm of Psalms, we encounter another situation where King David is beset with enemies. In the 19th stanza, he spoke of those who “draw near who follow after wickedness.” But he also wrote of his God, Yahweh, drawing near: “You near, O LORD, and all Your commandments are truth.” Well, in this stanza, everyone, it seems, has arrived and is standing there with David, both his loving God… and his bitter foes who mean to judge him guilty and afflict him and persecute him.

In the previous 8 verses, he CRIED OUT to the Lord as if He were far off and needed to be awakened. He was awake through the night watches hoping for God to respond. Now, in the 8 verses that each begin with the Hebrew letter RESH, David speaks to the Lord who is nearby, standing next to him like a defense attorney, the only one in the King’s corner, the only hope David has of deliverance!

This stanza is clearly broken into two-verse couplets, both verses following a similar theme. The first couplet, verses 153 & 154, echo one another as the plea of the one being wrongfully accused by the prosecution: “Consider my affliction and deliver me, / For I do not forget Your law. / Plead my cause and redeem me; / Revive me according to Your word.”

The case of the accused believer is to be based on the law…the word…of Yahweh. Some might suggest that an admitted sinner such as David should not plead the righteous law of God as his own defense. But even though the King sees himself as a law-breaker—far from perfect in his obedience, he also sees himself as living by the merciful love and the rock-solid promises of the Lord. King David was a believer in salvation by grace ALONE. “Blessed is the man to whom sin is not imputed,” Psalm 32:2. He knew that the promise of the coming Messiah was his assurance that the guilt of his own sin would be forgiven, for those sins would be imputed to another—One who would obey God perfectly!

“Deliver me…Redeem me…Revive me,” are David’s requests. He realizes that his cries have proved successful. His trust is in a trustworthy Advocate who is never deaf to those cries, One who always is considering our afflictions. Yahweh assured the deliverer Moses: “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows” (Exodus 3:7). One who pleads the cause of those he loves, against the devil and his followers who preach lies and discouragement and seek to rob Christians of their hope in God’s promises.

Trusting in God to balance the scales of justice when evil folks are seeking to harm us: this is not always easy. David was encouraged by his men to take revenge on King Saul when they were hiding in the wilderness and Saul was hunting the future king to kill him. Twice it was that Saul was at David’s mercy, once in the cave relieving himself, and once asleep in his camp. Both times, David left the scales of justice in God’s hands. 1 Samuel 24:12— “Let the LORD judge between you and me, and let the LORD avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you.”

“Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). We are commanded by our Master to pray for those who harm us, and do good to those who sin against us, in the hopes of our enemies one day turning to Christ. At one time, the Apostle Paul was a bitter enemy of the church, seeking to destroy it and approving when Jesus’ followers were executed. But even the murderous Saul of Tarsus was not beyond hope—beyond the saving power of the risen Christ and the Holy Spirit of God.

The second couplet, verses 155 & 156, tell two truths about God’s salvation that are linked together: “Salvation is far from the wicked, / For they do not seek Your statutes. / Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord; / Revive me according to Your judgments.” People who neglect the established rules of God are flirting with eternal destruction. God is “angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11). Divine wrath hangs over their heads like Damocles’ mythical sword. But this is true for even the most “righteous” of sinners, unless they come to trust in the “tender mercies” of the Lord. Salvation is far from all of us, until and unless God judges us graciously and extends His merciful hand.

The Hebrew word for “revive” is simply the word for LIFE. “LIFE me according to Your judgments” David is saying, and again, God’s salvation/new life is only available to you and me because His justice fell upon the person of His only begotten Son who died in our place, bearing the guilt of our sins. We think of “wickedness” as a trait of only the most extreme sinners. But the reason Jesus became a human being was that “salvation is far from” everyone descended from Adam, who wickedly disobeyed the Creator. Yet, now that Christ has come, salvation is close and available to all who “call upon the name of the Lord” (Romans 10:13).

Verses 157 & 158 go together, describing both the number and the character of David’s opponents. Like this ancient king, you and I face “many…persecutors and…enemies.” Paul told the Ephesian believers that our struggle is not against flesh and blood people, at least, not mainly. Yes, there have been people in government, in our jobs and schools, even in our churches and families, who have ridiculed and opposed our faith in Jesus Christ. But the power and influence behind those people is a spiritual force of wickedness: Satan and his host of demons with their evil ideas and their lies.

David shares the Lord’s own attitude toward the “treacherous” ones such as Judas Iscariot who perhaps have heard God’s word from the lips of Jesus…even seen the wonders he performs, and yet they “do not keep [His] word.” It is repugnant, disgusting, to the Lord for people to treat Him and His testimonies like they mean nothing! David refused to align himself with this majority. Rather, he determined not to “turn from Your testimonies.” No matter how many lined up in opposition to the truth of Yahweh, they couldn’t turn him from taking his stand for the One who IS the Truth.

“I see the treacherous,” he tells the Lord. God has given him the eyes required to discern the false from the true. How many people around us lack that kind of insight and are led astray by the deceptive ideas of this present world! Liberal churches that deny the deity and miracles of Christ…government and corporate movements that support evolution and trans-genderism…business people and relatives who are relying on their good works to make up for their sins and get them into heaven… All such people have been blinded, Paul writes, “by the god of this age”---Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4).

David ends this powerful stanza, this plea for redemption, by extolling the Source of light that allows him to see clearly and discern rightly.

“Consider how I love Your precepts; / Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness. / The entirety of Your word is truth, / And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.”

Love, truth and righteousness. They all come together perfectly in the written and living Word of God. David’s plea in the courtroom of Yahweh, when faced with a multitude of treacherous accusers, is a request for the Judge to “consider” the psalmist’s LOVE of God’s precepts. David has heard them taught. He has read, memorized, perhaps even written down the instructions and revelations of God. They are his food and drink, they are his waking thoughts and they fill his mind in the watches of the night. They have come to characterize his daily walk. They are his means of defense against Satan.

But even these qualities in David are not what qualify him for LIFE. It is God’s “lovingkindness,” His unfailing love and covenant mercy, the psalmist depends on for renewal, revival, redemption. Salvation is of the Lord, not the result of even our finest and best acts of obedience. Our love for God and His precepts only become realities “because [God] first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Chosen from the foundation of the world, believers were beloved of God before creation even began. 

Both His truth and His righteous judgments are eternal, meaning that they have always been in the Father’s mind even before time began. We little creatures mean so much to this great God…and who can tell WHY that is? Our sins against this God of love are worthy of eternal torments—punishment beyond measure. And His perfect justice will be carried out to the letter of His law. His warnings and His curses are just as binding as His promises…

And yet, also before time began, the eternal Son of God was determined to pay the price for the sins of those the Father set His love upon. Mercy for a multitude of rebellious creatures entered into the plans of God in the form of a Roman cross and an empty tomb, with a triumphant Savior rising again, having paid the total price of our redemption.

Are you and I living by “the entirety of [God’s] word [which] is truth”? Have we been judged NOT GUILTY in the courtroom of heaven, because we have trusted in Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life? If so, that righteous judgment can never be overturned by any higher court. For, “every one of [God’s] righteous judgments endures FOREVER!

Amen

Psalm 119 - QOPH

 

Themes from the Psalm of Psalms

(Loving the God of Psalm 119)

Stanza 19

 

QOPH: Crying out for God’s salvation, waking to dwell on His eternal truth

 

145  I cry out with my whole heart; / Hear me, O Lord! I will keep Your statutes.

146  I cry out to You; / Save me, and I will keep Your testimonies.

147  I rise before the dawning of the morning, / And cry for help; / I hope in Your word.

148  My eyes are awake through the night watches, / That I may meditate on Your word.

149  Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; / O Lord, revive me according to Your justice.

150  They draw near who follow after wickedness; / They are far from Your law.

151  You are near, O Lord, / And all Your commandments are truth.

152  Concerning Your testimonies, / I have known of old that You have founded them forever.

 

The emotional honesty of those God used to compose the Scriptures is always striking to me. If we truly know the Lord, part of that knowledge will be that we cannot hide even our inmost thoughts and desires from Him, nor does He want us to!

David, who most likely is the author of this Psalm of Psalms, expressed his delight and his praise in the perfect righteousness of God, as well as the perfect God of righteousness, in the previous stanza. He testified that, even when trouble and anguish overtook him, he took comfort and found delight in the commandments of Yahweh. Yet, in this next stanza, number 19, he finds himself in a situation where, as he’s done before, he is desperate for the Lord’s intervention–His salvation.

The Hebrew letter QOPH is the consonant “K” that begins each verse of stanza 19. It is the first sound in the Jewish word for “cry” and that is the exact mood of these eight verses. It is a cry from the heart of a righteous person for the salvation of God. The “trouble and anguish” David mentioned in stanza 18 are obviously still plaguing his mind, actually robbing the king of sleep! He asked the Lord, “Give me understanding, and I will live.” But in these lines, he seems desperate for his God to hear his voice. Yahweh, it seems to him, is far away and must be awakened in order to bring the psalmist help.

“I cry out with my whole heart; / Hear me, O Lord! I will keep Your statutes.” Many people come to doubt or deny the existence of God because they have met with anguish and tragedy in their lives. “If there were really a God,” they say, “he would not allow terrible things to happen in His world!” But these people forget that God created mankind for a purpose: to glorify their Creator and enjoy Him forever. Because we have rebelled against the Lord and against his righteous laws, our loving God has allowed pain and tragedy to show mankind what life would be like without God’s blessing!

David’s wholehearted cry is not simply a cry of pain and anguish; it is a call to the LORD his God. It is also coupled with a pledge to “keep Your statutes.” God hears our cry when we are desperate for Him, but is doubly eager to hear us when we are eager to OBEY His word. David isn’t trying to bargain with the Lord here saying, “If you’ll get me out of this mess, I’ll pay you back with my obedience.” Rather, he’s admitting that many of his troubles can be traced back to his own wrong choices. He’s confessing that he is fallible and not always careful to keep the rules God has firmly established.

Verse 146 almost mirrors the same thoughts as the previous verse: “I cry out to You; / Save me, and I will keep Your testimonies.” The heart cry of the king is repeated, and notice that his plea is for the Lord not only to HEAR him, but to SAVE him. And his promised response to God’s salvation is to keep—that is, to hold to, to treasure—His testimonies. We’ve mentioned before that our proper view of Scripture is to see ALL of it, every single word, as the Lord’s revelation of Himself to us. Only through the words of God given in the Bible can men and women be saved, freed from sin and death and hell.

So, what is to be our attitude when we “cry out” to the Lord? First, we must cry out humbly, not in an arrogant, demanding way that assumes we are worthy of His help and He is obligated to come to our aid. We should acknowledge that WE are part of our problem, and are willing to be instructed and changed. Second, we must cry out trustingly, understanding that true salvation is enjoyed only by those who cling faithfully to “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” as Jesus quoted to Satan when tempted in the wilderness. When God saves a person, He goes on to sanctify him through the truth of His word.

“I rise before the dawning of the morning, / And cry for help; / I hope in Your word.” The trouble and anguish the psalmist deals with is such a trial in his heart and mind, that he is unable to remain asleep. It is “help” he requires, not only for God to “hear” him and “save” him, but also to “help” him. Again, David writes a verse that parallels and mirrors the same thought in the following: “My eyes are awake through the night watches, / That I may meditate on Your word.” Let’s see the connection here between hoping in God’s word…and meditating on His word. When someone is in desperate need, we think of him or her as “beyond hope.” But the promises of God in His word are a never-ending source of hope.

One such hope-filled passage is Isaiah 41, a chapter filled with God’s reassurance to Israel that they would be delivered from the idolatrous nations that would take them captive. “Fear not,” the Lord tells them, “for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” “For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’ “‘Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you,’ says the LORD And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” Like a family’s faithful protector, God strengthens and helps His own, those who “hope in” and “meditate on” His word.

“Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; / O Lord, revive me according to Your justice,” David continues. The word translated “lovingkindness” is the Hebrew word “chesed,” which is also rendered “covenant love” or “mercy” or “unfailing love.” This word speaks of the loyalty of Israel’s divine Ruler, the One who called them out of paganism and made them a special nation. 

God referred to Israel as “My firstborn son” to Pharaoh when He demanded him to “Let My people go!” He then brought them out of the misery of their Egyptian slavery, judging their enemies with His perfect justice when He did so. When God called Moses from the burning bush He assured him, “I have HEARD their cries because of their taskmasters.” God overruled the plans of Pharaoh and the Egyptians and delivered the children of Israel from bondage. And David is assured in his heart that the same loyal love of God is still his (and ours!) to trust in when we are facing injustice from the wicked.

“They draw near who follow after wickedness; / They are far from Your law,” reads verse 150. We see in this verse a clever contrast of DISTANCE, both distance from danger and distance from God’s law. The wicked of this world, as well as the wicked in the spiritual world, are never content just to move away from God’s commands themselves; they are always trying to attack the ones who seek to please the Lord. They approach those who follow Christ, not to encourage or learn from them, but to oppose and do battle against them. Christ’s disciples are not just learners; they are also called to be soldiers, prepared to stand up against the forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, in the power of the Lord.

But, we can praise Him that the evil ones aren’t the only ones who are drawing near, who are “on the move” in this spiritual battle. “You are near, O Lord, / And all Your commandments are truth” is the hope of David, and all those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Hebrew doesn’t literally say that the Lord IS near. It actually reads, “You near, O LORD.” God, David testifies, is on the move, He is coming, He is approaching, bringing all the help David needs to put his enemies to flight. When the demons saw Jesus coming close to them, their response was to cry out in terror! With Him on our side, our faith can be a shield to “quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.”

Let’s take a minute to examine the second line of that verse: “And all Your commandments are truth.” Jesus prayed that the Father would “sanctify them by Thy truth; Thy word is truth” in His high-priestly prayer (John 17). Truth is the “belt” in the Christian soldier’s armor, girding our loins so that our limbs are ready for the fight. Jesus, our Master and Commander, has no intention of leaving us vulnerable for the “roaring lion”---Satan—to pick us off like little lost lambs! His truth, His word, truth that lasts forever, include His Ten Commandments, teaching us what pleases Him and receives His favor and blessing. It is also our “sword,” Paul tells us in Ephesians 6, the weapon with which we fight back and conquer the lies and deceptions of the enemy that seeks to drag lost sinners to hell with him!

Verse 152 concludes this 19th stanza: “Concerning Your testimonies, / I have known of old that You have founded them forever.” David was not a perfect man, nor a perfect king. Again and again we read in his psalms that he had to repent and confess his sins, finding grace from the Lord to revive him and cleanse him. He depended on the Lord to “search me and know my heart.” And his trust was based on a knowledge that Yahweh his God was the true, eternal God, who ordained all that came to pass even from the beginning. 

Who else can we fully trust, but the One God who founded the heavens and the earth? “In the beginning,” John wrote in his gospel, “was the Word.” Jesus Himself was, and is, the fullest expression of the Word of God—His testimonies that will never fail us. And this eternal God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, will never fail to hear his children when they cry out to Him!  

Amen.

 

Psalm 119 - MEM

 Themes from the Psalm of Psalms

(Loving the God of Psalm 119)

Stanza 13

MEM: Loving God’s law means growing in wisdom, avoiding evil & hating false ways

97. Oh, how I love Your law! / It is my meditation all the day.

98. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies, / For they are ever with me.

99. I have more understanding than all my teachers, /  For Your testimonies are my meditation.

100. I understand more than the ancients, / Because I keep Your precepts.

101. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, / That I may keep Your word.

102. I have not departed from Your judgments, / For You Yourself have taught me.

103. How sweet are Your words to my taste, / Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

104. Through Your precepts I get understanding, / Therefore I hate every false way.

It’s been a wonderful journey thus far in our study of David’s Psalm of psalms. His Spirit-inspired poetry is filled with marvelous lessons for the Christian–those who have trusted in King David’s greatest Son, the Lord Jesus. The psalmist’s experiences with God and His word are often a forecasting image of the life and experience of our Lord when He walked the earth. Like David, Jesus was oppressed and afflicted by enemies, slandered and forsaken, even by those closest to Him. 

In our last study of this Psalm, stanza twelve, we saw the writer turning a corner from focusing on his enemies to being mindful of the word, works, and faithfulness of his God Yahweh. He stopped dwelling on his own weakness and helplessness, and remembered who he belonged to: a trustworthy God whose “faithfulness endures to all generations” (v. 90). With this God-ward confidence, the wicked who waited to destroy David could be easily dismissed (v. 95). Like Jesus before his accusers, King David could freely confess his faith in the future judgment of His heavenly Father (1 Timothy 6:13; Matthew 26:64).

This brings us to the thirteenth stanza of Psalm 119, each verse beginning with the M of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter MEM. This letter comes from the symbol for “water,” and it represents to the Jewish tradition the idea of God’s ocean of wisdom and knowledge. Interestingly, there are two forms of this letter: an “open” form and a “closed” form. To the Jewish teachers, God has opened up much of His wisdom for His creatures to hear and understand, but much of His knowledge is still hidden from our finite minds and remains unknown and mysterious (Deuteronomy 29:29).

David’s love for, and praise of, God’s revealed wisdom is obvious in this thirteenth stanza. He loves God’s law–referring not only to the legislative decrees God gave to Israel through Moses, but to all of the utterances from His mouth that are given by the Spirit’s inspiration–loves it with a passionate love that causes him to exclaim, “Oh, how I love Your law!” Like any thing or person that truly inspires our love, David’s heart and mind are drawn to the words of Yahweh continually, like a moth to a flame: “It is my meditation all the day,” he freely admits. His love for God’s word is echoed here as he said it in two previous verses of this same Psalm: verses 47 and 48. But in verse 97 he repeats it more emphatically!

Where has this love come from and where does it lead? How does a true, God-given love for the Scripture manifest itself in a Christian’s life? David goes on in this stanza to tell us what Yahweh’s words have done for him. And here, we can see some royal teaching that prefigures what David’s son King Solomon will teach in the opening lines of Proverbs: 

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding, To receive the instruction of wisdom, Justice, judgment, and equity; To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion—A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

David praises the words of Yahweh as the supreme source of both wisdom and understanding. God’s commandments, he says, “make me wiser than my enemies.” Or, rather, the way God has USED those commandments in his mind and heart have MADE his wisdom superior to that of his adversaries. James the New Testament writer, points us to the same Giver of wisdom: “If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

God gives us wisdom greater than those who would oppose Him and His people, because He loves us, and likewise, as a result of us returning that love for the words He has spoken. It is a two-way street! Those who truly love the Lord, truly will love His word–with all that love implies–and will grow in wisdom and understanding by entering the Lord’s classroom on a continual basis. Hearing, reading, digesting, studying, meditating on God’s revealed truth is what true lovers of the word will gladly do!

Think back to your own school days, especially to those teachers who made learning both challenging and enjoyable. You’ll agree that those teachers were not a dime a dozen–they were very rare! Most school children would rather stay home during a snowstorm and get a day off. But there was that ONE teacher who you always would look forward to learning from. It may have been because they encouraged you to be your best, or because their lessons were always doorways into something that interested you personally. You might lose track of the time in their classroom and be amazed when the bell went off!

Well, when was the last occasion that found you losing track of the time you spent in Bible study or listening to the Scripture read or explained? God is waiting each day for his children to take a seat in His classroom and gain more and more wisdom and understanding. Jesus came to teach us what God is really like. All of His teaching was meant to make us “wise for salvation,” as Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:15). This is the very kind of wisdom that makes one superior to all the brainiacs and egg-heads of this world who look down on the Bible as an old-fashioned, outdated book!

David compares what his love for God and His word have produced in him, with the wisdom and understanding of: his enemies…all his teachers…even “the ancients” or “the aged.” Did you know that just because you grow older, doesn’t necessarily equal getting WISER? So many people all over the world live their entire lives unaware of the riches of knowledge they are missing out on by neglecting the Bible. David credits Yahweh’s commandments as “ever with me”--always on his mind, guiding his thoughts. 

He says that the Lord’s testimonies are his meditation–matters of deep, continual reflection and study. His claim that he keeps God’s precepts means that the lessons he has learned through the word are held close and treasured like “thousands of pieces of gold and silver,” as he wrote in verse 72 of this Psalm. David’s love for the Scriptures considered their worth to be more than any amount of worldly wealth you could name. Is that true for you and me? Do we value the Scriptures that much?

In the remaining four verses of this stanza, King David again mirrors Solomon’s proverbs by giving the results and outworking of the superior wisdom God gives. Proverbs 2 declares:

When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul, Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you, To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things, From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;

Applying the wisdom of the Almighty always leads our steps away from evil, as the psalmist writes in verse 101. Wisdom and what the Bible calls “folly” or foolishness, are both proven by a person’s behavior and the way he directs his steps. There are ways “that seem right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Biblical folly is not necessarily a lack of intelligence, but is rather a failure to act in a way that pleases God and is in accord with righteousness. David writes that “I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word.” Loving God’s word causes us to restrain ourselves, much like wearing a wedding ring may restrain us from offering our love to people other than our spouses. We cannot travel a path of loving God’s word and tread an evil path at the same time!

The title character in the Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan was instructed never to leave the straight and narrow path to the Celestial City, no matter how rugged and rough that path became. Even though that road was crossed by other ways, many of which promised that they, too, would lead him to his goal, the Pilgrim had to make a choice NOT to depart from the path he’d been given. The correct “judgment” had already been determined before he set out. “You Yourself have taught me,” David says to Yahweh. His God is the only Person who declares “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10). Therefore, it is sheer folly to think we can judge our correct pathway better than He can!

Doing what seems to make sense…doing what comes naturally…doing what “feels right”…living for the pleasures of the moment…going for the gusto…getting what we “deserve”… “following your heart.” Those are all approaches to happiness that come so quickly to our minds as fallen human beings. Our sinful natures are perfectly satisfied to proceed down a road that ignores God’s words and the path He tells us is the wisest and leads to our highest good. 

King David, however, found a way to happiness that was far “sweeter.” Verse 103 exclaims, not just “Sweet,” but “HOW sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!” In ancient eastern cultures, nothing could compare with honey for sweetness. They knew nothing of sugar cane or maple syrup in those days. Sweetening common foods was practically unheard of, making honey from the bees like the nectar of the gods. The law of God had become such a thing of delight in this king’s mind, he was compelled to compare its “flavor” in his soul with the sweetest confection he could imagine. After all, the One who’d given him the words of life promised David pleasures that would be savored forever!

David then completes this stanza by giving a summary of what has come before: “Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.” To understand something is to learn and hold onto the TRUTH of that thing. To see it as it really is. There are many kinds of teaching or doctrines at large in the world today:

HUMANISM, which teaches that mankind is the measure of what is good and true and normal. This teaching assumes that people are all basically good, and that the problem with the world is that men and women are just ignorant and must get better education and just “try harder to be kind.” This teaching borrows its ideals from the Bible, but sees them as just good suggestions, not really the words of God.

SECULARISM, which claims that we are better off without any religious beliefs being expressed in the public arenas of education, legislation, finances, politics, etc. Better to just rule on the basis of what the most people are comfortable with at the moment, and forget things like the ten commandments or the faith of the founding fathers. This doctrine would prefer that Christians just keep quiet about their beliefs.

SCIENTISM, the idea that practical science will eventually solve all our problems by conquering nature and analyzing the chemistry of human beings, one day re-making people into a brand new species, free from things like fear and hate and jealousy. Belief in the Bible is seen as unscientific and faith in Christ as unnecessary or even dangerous.

Those are just three of the “false ways” that seek to offer their understandings of reality. There are many more out there, and many more will come in the future. But to King David, the precepts, or teachings, of his God Yahweh are superior because they are TRUE. The Apostle Paul encourages his readers to be “speaking the truth in love,” so that they may become mature in the faith (Ephesians 4:15). God Himself is the One who began this pattern by speaking truth in love to his beloved people. The Bible is called by many God’s “love letter” to his church.

Our culture is telling us that there IS no absolute truth to be found, only “truths” that vary from person to person. The Bible, the words of Yahweh, the great I AM, David’s beloved Lord, sees reality in a different way. And He has shared His absolute view of reality in a way that can be understood by you and me, if we will humble ourselves along with the psalmist and say, “Oh, how I love Your law!”

Amen

Psalm 119 - LAMED

 Themes from the Psalm of Psalms

(Loving the God of Psalm 119)

Stanza 12

Lamed: Trusting in God’s word, works, and faithfulness to shield me from the wicked

89. Forever, O LORD, / Your word is settled in heaven.

90. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; / You established the earth and it abides.

91. They continue this day according to Your ordinances; / For all are Your servants.

92. Unless Your law had been my delight, / I would then have perished in my affliction.

93. I will never forget Your precepts, / For by them You have given me life.

94. I am Yours; save me, / For I have sought Your precepts.

95 The wicked wait for me to destroy me, / But I will consider Your testimonies.

96. I have seen the consummation of all perfection, / But Your commandment is exceedingly broad.

Our consideration of David’s Psalm of Psalms, Psalm 119, has brought us now to the twelfth stanza of eight verses. Each verse begins with the Hebrew letter Lamed, which has the sound of the English “L.” In Jewish tradition, the letter Lamed means both “teach” and “learn.” The way the letter is written combines two other Hebrew letters into one, one part reaching up toward heaven, and the other reaching downward to the earth. For, to the Jewish mind, true learning and wisdom must originate with God and then be brought down into the practical life of people here on earth. To TEACH, therefore, a person must first LEARN what God has to say.

In many of the previous stanzas of this psalm, King David has told us of his trust in the word of Yahweh, the covenant Lord of Israel, God’s chosen people. To the precepts and testimonies of God David has turned again and again in his troubles and his afflictions. Last time we looked at the King’s darkest time of struggle, a time of restless waiting in which he felt like “a wineskin in smoke,” hung out to dry and to become parched and cracked and brittle, even as the Lord seemed to have abandoned him for a time. But the tone of this stanza is very different. There is a renewed confidence in the word, and the works, and the FAITHFULNESS of Yahweh his God.

In the eleventh stanza, David cried out, “They persecute me wrongfully; help me!” And in this twelfth stanza he again cries out, but with the assurance that: “I am Yours, save me!” It’s like he has turned a corner and remembered not WHO he is, but WHOSE he is! Let’s walk through these eight verses now, and discover why David is so confident that he is one of God’s favored ones and can trust the Lord’s word, works and faithfulness to shield him from the wicked…

The letter Lamed is the first sound in the Hebrew words “forever,” and “ever,” and “never.” These are such all-encompassing words, and they season the thoughts of this stanza in a remarkable way. In the last stanza, David was wasting away spiritually, in a dismal time that FELT like forever! But here, in verse 89, he writes: “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.” Literally, “Your word STANDS FIRM in heaven.” We tend to think of “forever” in very limited terms. If someone in front of us in the grocery checkout is fumbling for their cash or credit card, we say that “they’re taking forever!” 

But we believe in a divine Being who is literally ETERNAL, without limits, no beginning and no ending. We worship a God who made eternal decrees in words that can never be revoked or contradicted or overruled. Many rulers throughout history, like Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon or Darius the Mede, would give pronouncements and claim that their laws could never be changed or altered. None of their laws are now in force, few are even remembered. But God’s words? They stand firm. There is no court of appeal beyond his seat of absolute authority. No one needed to advise Him before He spoke his word, and no one could ever challenge it once it left his holy mouth.

What a source of confidence to David and to us! With all the changes taking place in our laws, our governments, our culture and our lives, we have in our hands a book of divine truths that stands like a mighty mountain in the midst of the storm. No wonder that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matt. 7:24). Those who ignore or disobey the words of Christ are building their lives on the sands of mere human wisdom. They might succeed in this life from time to time, trying to drown out the truths of God’s eternal word. But in the end, the houses they have built will be washed away on the Day of Judgment. Those who trust in the testimony of God’s mouth WILL STAND FOREVER.

With His all-powerful word, David’s God brought the entire creation into being. And not for just a day! The miracle of the original creation would certainly have proven God’s power beyond any doubt. But isn’t it the FAITHFULNESS of the Lord that causes Him to MAINTAIN the creation’s existence “to all generations”? You and I take that faithful hand of Providence for granted way too often! We walk out on a beautiful fall day and take in a lung-full of air, enjoying the smell of the fallen leaves, beholding the vibrant color of the changing season, never imagining that if God ceased His exercise of sustaining power, everything would simply cease to be! We think it no great thing when we awake in the morning from sleep and begin a new 24-hour day, not even aware that every day we live on this planet is a gracious gift from the faithful heart of our Maker.

Natural man–that is, unregenerate, unsaved people–assume that things simply exist and go on existing by their own power, according to fixed physical laws. That if there IS a God, He simply wound up the universe like a gigantic clock, and is allowing it to run down after stepping out of the picture, leaving both it and humanity on their own. This is FAR FROM the image the Bible paints for us. The Bible tells us that “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17); “He is the radiance of His glory…and upholds all things by the word of His power” (Heb. 1:3); “You open Your hand,” says the psalmist, “and satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Ps. 145:16); Paul reminded the thinkers of Athens: “For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Verse 90 of Psalm 119 declares: “Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides.” Or, literally, IT STANDS.

Verse 91 continues this thought: “They continue this day according to Your ordinances, For all are Your servants.” “They” refers to both “heaven” and “earth.” In other words, ALL the creation that God spoke into being by the sheer force of His word. Everything in heaven and earth were created, and are continually sustained, to be His servants–to serve His purposes. Job declared, when the Lord was testing and questioning him: “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). Even evil people, such as Joseph’s jealous brothers who sold him into slavery, were serving the good purposes of God (Gen. 50:20), as did Judas who betrayed the Son of God, even though his motive was to get 30 pieces of silver for himself! Every thing, every person, every good plan, every evil plan…Nothing exists or can ever happen outside of the sovereign purpose of our God!

Is this how we are living our lives, fellow believer? Or are we too often like Job, who wavered in his faith and began to ask God, “Lord why is this trial happening to me? I don’t deserve this treatment! I wish the day of my birth had never happened! You should have just let me die in my mother’s womb!” How reassuring it should be to us that God has unchangeably DECREED everything that is, and all that comes to pass in our lives. This is not mere FATALISM, or as Doris Day sang, “Qué Sera, Sera,” whatever will be, will be! Rather we should sing, “Whate’er our God ordains is right!” Isn’t this to be our ultimate shield against the wickedness of sinful UNBELIEF and UNBELIEVERS?

It was for King David. Knowing that God’s word, His works, and His faithfulness all STAND FOREVER, caused him to turn the corner from feeling like a forsaken “wineskin in the smoke,” to the realization that He belonged to a faithful, loving, sovereign Father in heaven. In stanza eleven, David’s soul was FAINTING for the Lord’s salvation. In stanza twelve, now, he is resting in the knowledge that: “I am Yours, save me!” (v. 94). Still, David gives credit where credit is due. Verses 92 and 93 tell us that it wasn’t his own willpower that brought him around that corner. “Unless Your LAW had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Your PRECEPTS, For by them You have given me life!”

Yes, God is our Creator and Savior. Yes, He works all things for His good purposes toward those He loves. But it is in and through His LAW and His PRECEPTS that He reveals His love and His good purposes to us. His word is how we are truly connected to that heavenly wisdom and knowledge we must learn in order to obtain and enjoy not just life on this earth, but life everlasting! The letter Lamed is a visual picture of heaven connecting to earth for the purpose of teaching and learning. And the Lord Jesus Christ became the LIVING Word of God who was sent to bridge that gap after people had sinned and rebelled against their loving Creator. Jesus came to TEACH the saving wisdom of God, and then to provide salvation from the poisonous curse of sin that made us unable to LEARN of His love.

Until we have learned and taken delight in God’s word to us in Christ, we aren’t truly ready to LIVE! This word from the mouth of Almighty God is, at the same time, a source of TERROR to the sinner, and a source of DELIGHT to the saint. The instructions, or precepts, of the Lord not only prescribe to us the path to a life of peace and joy, they warn us of the terrible JUDGMENT that awaits the wicked, and reveal the Savior who came to bear that terrible punishment in the place of every sinner who will repent and believe into Christ. The universal DOOM of rebellious mankind can be turned to DELIGHT in the presence of a Holy God for all eternity!

King David, having the assurance of the coming Messiah who would defeat Satan forever, could depend upon the works, and the words, of his faithful God Yahweh to be an impenetrable SHIELD between him and his enemies. “I am Yours, save me!” he cries. But this is no longer a cry of a fainting soul who feels desperate and forlorn. It is the confident cry of one who has received the blessed assurance of life everlasting! Again and again we read in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel that David would inquire of the Lord before he’d take his mighty men into battle with the Philistines. He knew what it was to receive “precepts” or instructions, directly from the mouth of God! He knew that the battle’s outcome wasn’t in merely HUMAN hands, but as he testified when he faced and answered Goliath the Philistine warrior: “the battle is the LORD’s!”

“The wicked wait for me to destroy me, But I will consider [or, give attention to] Your testimonies.” Verse 95 tells us that David’s overall situation hasn’t really changed. He still has proud, wicked adversaries to face who have evil intentions, just waiting for a chance to ruin him. But this declaration actually makes light of them! David’s consideration, his focus of attention, isn’t on his enemies. His mind is focused on what GOD has to say, about them, about him, about the whole “ball of wax.” It sounds as if these enemies of his are just a minor annoyance, in view of God’s shielding power.

This trusting attitude of David can teach us a lot. We have enemies too, mainly spiritual enemies like a world system that hates or ignores its Creator. A crafty, murderous devil who seeks to deceive and devour all who stand in his way. A fleshly, deceitful heart within that resists the authority of God and His commandments. The TRUSTING Christian will be aware of his enemies, enough to resist them in the strength God provides. But for every look at the enemy, including the enemy within, our own flesh, we need to be taking at least TEN LOOKS at our Savior. Focus your attention on Christ and His word! With our eyes fixed on Jesus, our enemies will not alarm us, but will be seen as the defeated foes they truly are. By his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus removed the sting of death, sin and Satan forever.

David finishes this encouraging stanza by telling of another thing he’s seen: “I have seen the consum- mation of all perfection, But Your commandment is exceedingly broad.” The word “consummation” refers to the very END. The furthest extent of all the perfections we SEE in this world. The perfect sunsets, the perfect buildings, the perfect people, the perfect ideals, the perfect writings…but all of them have an END as well as a BEGINNING. Compared to our God and our God’s commandment: His word’s rulership over heaven and earth, even over eternity itself, how meager are the perfections of this world of mere SIGHT! When we reach the limit of earthly perfection, the perfection of God Himself is only just beginning! This is why we can trust Him to shield us from the wicked.

Father in heaven, teach us and help us to learn that “when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father’s full giving has only begun!” Our enemies are as nothing when compared with Your almighty strength. May we always trust your words and your saving promises which stand forever.

Amen.

Psalm 119 - YOD

 Themes from the Psalm of Psalms

(Loving the God of Psalm 119)

Stanza Ten

YOD:

Desiring of God that my testimony before others reflect His faithfulness.

73. Your hands have made me and fashioned me;

Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.

74. Those who fear You will be glad when they see me,

            Because I have hoped in Your word.

75. I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right,

            And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

76. Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort,     

            According to the word to Your servant.

77. Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live;

            For Your law is my delight.

78. Let the proud be ashamed, For they treated me wrongfully with falsehood;

But I will meditate on Your precepts.

79. Let those who fear You turn to me, / Those who know Your testimonies

80. Let my heart be blameless regarding Your statutes,

            That I may not be ashamed.

No man or woman who’s ever lived is unfamiliar with the emotion of SHAME. Even the best of us has thought, or spoken, or acted in ways that make us feel ashamed and fill us with guilt. We all have dark places in our hearts…skeletons in our closets…chinks in our armor…secret sins in our past that we hope and pray no one ever finds out about. 

David, the writer of this Psalm of psalms, certainly had his own share of weak moments. As a soldier, a general, a king and a statesman, David had let his sinful nature get the better of him many times, even committing adultery with Bathsheba and then trying to cover it up by having her husband killed. The shame he felt for his sins is thoroughly expressed in Psalm 51 where King David poured out his guilty heart to the Lord: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin!” (51:2)

The shame that King David felt drove him to his knees in abject humility; we can read that in Psalm 51. And here again, in Psalm 119, we find him submitting humbly to the Lord who has afflicted him, accused him of his sin, and yet has extended to his sinful creature His “merciful kindness” and His “tender mercies.” The shame for his sins made him humble before God, but David knew that it wasn’t God’s will for David to REMAIN in shame. 

You and I needn’t live in shame either, and it is not because our sins don’t matter, or that they’re “no big deal.” Rather, it’s because our God is FAITHFUL. The Apostle John wrote in his first epistle: “When we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Those of us who believe in Jesus Christ have this promise, that the sins that cause us such deep shame can be WASHED AWAY. Made as if they never even existed!

The basis for this promise is the willing sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Every sin we commit is deserving of everlasting punishment in hell. And when Jesus, the God-man, hung on the cross, he was suffering that very punishment on behalf of every sinner who would place their trust in Him and His saving work. God afflicted His only begotten Son, so that you and I would never experience His wrath, and the eternal shame of separation from Him.

In this stanza of Psalm 119, we find David is concerned by another kind of shame: the shame of having a stained testimony before others. Remember that as king, David had a grave responsibility to live and act RIGHTEOUSLY before the people he was ruling. He couldn’t afford to see himself as an individual only answerable to himself. He was called to testify, by word and deed, to the character and the faithfulness of Israel’s God Yahweh.

Two times in this tenth stanza, David uses the term “those who fear You.” We have already seen that David’s great desire is to be among those “blessed ones” who fear Yahweh and walk in His ways. In the previous stanza we were told that “It was good that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes” (v. 71). One of the ways God teaches us to fear, love and respect Him is by bringing adversity into our lives. We must learn that God is holy and faithful, not just for His own sake but for the sake of others!

David’s gross sin with Bathsheba resulted in terrible consequences, not only for the two of them, but for the entire nation. Even though the Lord forgave David and didn’t take his life, the baby who was the product of their adultery became sick and died. David’s family became the source of wickedness and violence. Eventually the Jewish nation was divided and became unfaithful, largely because of David’s unfaithful behavior. His example, his testimony, became tainted and reflected poorly on the character of Israel’s God.

As the writer of Psalm 119, it is clear that in this stanza, the writer is considering the view that others have of his life. He confesses in verse 73 that he is the product of the divine Maker and Designer who alone can “Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.” What is the foremost thing that should concern us in how we are viewed by other people? Well, the first step ought to be toward the One Person whose hand has made us, and whose word alone can guide us. Many people are driving down the highway of life with no guide-rails, veering this way and that, ready to run off the road and crash and burn, because they ignore God’s basics for life and happiness, the Ten Commandments.

If we have learned God’s basic rules, that is no guarantee that we will follow them, but if we habitually break those rules, there is no way that we can testify rightly about a holy and loving God. We must at least “understand” this in order to even make a START toward a Christ-honoring testimony before people. Worshiping only the true God, forsaking our idols, honoring God’s name, honoring His day of rest and worship, honoring our parents and other authorities, honoring our marriage vows, preserving the gift of life, respecting each other’s rights and reputations, being content…all of these basic virtues flow from the commandments of our faithful, righteous Creator. Our obedience to them testifies of our love for Him, and our desire that others should know of His goodness and greatness.

“Those who fear You will be glad when they see me, Because I have hoped in Your word.” David isn’t merely concerned about his own reputation before the people of God. He desires that his faithful, obedient behavior points BEYOND himself to the One whose word has been his source of HOPE. Let us ask ourselves that question: When others see us, does it make them GLAD? If so, for what reason? Are we known as persons who have a settled hope in the word of God? Is it known to others that we love and trust and seek to obey God, not only for OUR sake, but for the sake of those around us? Do we have a reputation for LOVING others? Honoring them, respecting them, showing concern for them, being generous without complaining and griping? Do we make others GLAD?

“I know Lord, that Your judgments are right, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.” If that verse sounds familiar, it should. Stanza nine was about God teaching his servant through affliction. Here it is again. David adds the twin thoughts that God judges rightly and shows faithfulness toward us even when He is sending us trials that discipline us and test our faith. Remember that it is far easier to be faithful and content with the Lord when all is going smoothly in our lives. But the only way we can GROW in our faithfulness is when our spiritual “muscles” are strengthened in the gymnasium of trials. When others consider our example, is our testimony teaching them to be patient under affliction, or do they see us murmur, gripe and complain when things are hard? That kind of reaction is telling others that our God is a harsh taskmaster, rather than a loving Father who only wants the best for us!

Verses 76 and 77 begin a 5-verse segment, each verse beginning with “Let.” These two verses both speak of the tender and kind mercies of our faithful God. David already confessed that his Father in heaven shows His faithfulness when He evaluates us and when He afflicts us with trials. How much MORE then, does our Maker display that faithfulness when He is TENDER, MERCIFUL & KIND? Another of David’s sweetest psalms is Psalm 30 where he exclaims, “His anger is only for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning” (30:5). Do you and I reflect these godly qualities to those around us? Is our example, our testimony in word and deed, revealing to people that the God we believe in is a gentle Shepherd, a Savior who is full of kindness and compassion? This reflection of God’s loving heart can draw others to faith in Christ!

David had to learn humility in order to fully appreciate the Lord’s faithfulness. It was when he acted proudly and vainly that he overstepped the bounds of God’s law and sinned so terribly. Verse 78 tells of people who had told lies about David and “treated [him] wrongfully.” But certainly there were those who knew of the king’s sins in the past, and probably figured that the lies they told about him would “stick” or be believed by others. This verse reminds us that even the best of human reputations will have flaws and mistakes that others will latch onto and exaggerate because of malice or jealousy. Proud folk will often seek to tear us down, even when we do our best to please God and make others glad. David leaves such liars and nay-sayers in God’s hands, determined to turn his own thoughts to precepts of his faithful God, because he’s confident that Yahweh will make the fairest judgment, bringing permanent shame to those who deserve it—those who refuse to repent and trust Christ.

God’s testimonies—His own pronouncements concerning all things in His creation, His are the testimonies that count not only right now, but forever and ever. They determine reality, and are taken to heart and trusted by all who fear Him. Whatever the Bible says is true and righteous and reliable. It can be trusted, as David learned full well. He also trusts that God’s people can turn in his direction and accept him as a fellow believer. He need not fear that the lies of proud people, or even the sins of David’s past, would prevent those who loved Yahweh from embracing a humble, penitent sinner who turned to God for forgiveness and cleansing. God is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins”!

Yes, there will be consequences when we step beyond the boundaries of God’s law. There are times when I have to repent and confess my sins, turn from them, and then do what I can to mend the damage my wrong choices have cost both me and other people. That can be painful and bring shame and disappointment, and even cause me to doubt my own salvation…

But remember, brother and sister, that it is not the Father’s will that ANY of His beloved children remain bound up in a life of guilt and shame. The guilty soul can be washed whiter than snow. David concludes this stanza with the plea: “Let my heart be blameless regarding your statutes, That I may not be ashamed.” 

It is only when we realize that our kind and merciful Creator has provided the perfect, faithful Savior, His only Son, that we find forgiveness and cleansing through His blood that was shed on the Cross. Jesus Christ gave up His human reputation and bore our shame as He hung naked on the cruel Cross, so that believers in Him could have every sin and stain removed from our hearts and stand BLAMELESS, and delighted to keep the statutes of God.

Dear Father, Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, bore our sin and shame in His own body on the tree. He lived a flawless life with no shame before you, yet He was put to shame so that we sinners could stand before you UNASHAMED. Please help us to remember this as we praise you for your faithfulness and testify of your grace and mercy and eternal joy before the watching world. In Jesus name,

Amen.