Themes from the Psalm of Psalms

STANZA 1:

Aleph: Longing to be like the blessed ones who walk in God’s ways

When you and I want to emphasize something in our language, we have many ways to do it. If I’m speaking out loud, I might raise my voice to a shout, or lower it to a whisper so people will listen more carefully. I might…slow…my…speech down to make a point or I might use my hands like some cultures are famous for doing.

Or, what if I’m writing something? I can add emphasis by underlining a word or phrase. I might write it in large capital letters, or hit the italics button on my computer. In some instances, you can emphasize what you’re writing or saying by REPETITION. This is a method that the ancient Hebrews were very fond of. Often, they would repeat a term to call attention to its importance. In their poetry, Jewish people would use a device we call PARALLELISM. 

In Hebrew poems such as the Psalms, the writer would often write a line such as “Praise the God of our salvation.” Then in the very next line, write the same thought, but in different words, like: “Give honor to the God of Jacob!” Basically, the Psalmist would be saying the same thing, but giving it emphasis through a repetition of the idea. 

You and I sometimes use a similar technique in our language. “Queen Elizabeth is the queen of all queens!” we might say, or “That building is the skyscraper of skyscrapers!” or “Michael Jordan was the athlete’s athlete!” or “That was the war to end all wars!” We use repetition of an idea to make it stand out and draw more attention to it. What I want to emphasize in this message is part of the Book of Books – which is the Holy Bible. It is both A book of books, being made up of 66 separate books written by many human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; and it’s THE Book of books, meaning it is the ULTIMATE source of divine revelation to man.

THE Book of books is the book beyond compare. It is the ONLY source we have of ABSOLUTE truth – truth about God, about ourselves, about our sin problem, about God’s law, and about our only Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The 66 books making up our Bible are divided into different GROUPINGS of books: Books of Law, books of History, books of Poetry and Wisdom, books of Prophecy, etc. And right in the middle of these 66 books, we find a book of Psalms. This is the SONGBOOK of the ancient Israelites, compiled into its present form by the kings and priests of the Old Testament. 

The book of Psalms is very important because it contains much doctrine about the nature of our God, and much instruction about how we ought to FEEL about Him, and how He is at work in our world and in our LIVES. The Psalms have a combination of BEAUTY and TRUTH that touches both our MINDS and our HEARTS. It also served as the worship manual for the Jewish temple, and for much of the Christian church since its beginning. The early church during Apostolic times made great use of the Psalms in worshiping the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, seeing many, many references in the Psalms that pointed to Jesus as the Messiah – many of which were QUOTED by the Savior Himself.

Well, within this Songbook of songbooks, in the middle of the Book of books, we find a chapter that could be called “The Psalm of Psalms.” It is the LONGEST of the Psalms, and more than that, it is the longest CHAPTER in the entire Book of books! This is Psalm 119. Although the author of this psalm is not specified in the scripture, much reliable Jewish tradition points to the near-certainty that it was composed by the “sweet psalmist of Israel” himself, King David. There are many phrases and terms throughout Psalm 119 that appear in other Davidic psalms, and nowhere else. So, it is fairly safe to look at this Psalm of Psalms as the product of David’s pen.

In the coming months, it is my desire to dig deeply into this longest of the Psalms and address the individual themes of its 22 stanzas. Each stanza of 8 verses uses a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet to begin every one of the 8 verses in that stanza. The first letter in their alphabet is the letter “ALEPH.”

Here is how that stanza reads in an English translation (NIV):

1.“Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, / who walk according to the law of the LORD.

2. Blessed are they who keep His statutes / and seek Him with all their heart.

3. They do nothing wrong; / they walk in His ways.

4. You have laid down precepts / that are to be fully obeyed.

5. Oh, that my ways were steadfast / in obeying Your decrees!

6. Then I would not be put to shame / when I consider all Your commands.

7. I will praise you with an upright heart / as I learn Your righteous laws.

8. I will obey your decrees; / do not utterly forsake me.”

The theme I come up with as I’ve been considering this opening stanza is:

“Longing to be like the blessed ones who walk in God’s ways”

As we consider David’s opening to Psalm 119, we notice that he does not start out by mentioning himself, as he does in many of his psalms. In fact, the opening verses remind one of the very first of the Psalms: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, or stands in the way of sinners, or sits in the seat of the scorners. But his delight is in the law of the Lord…”

Rather than starting out with himself, he writes about those he greatly admires. Those who know and live in the light of God’s law. Those folks, he says, are blameless, or “undefiled” in the way they live. They may not be sinlessly perfect, but they are living exemplary lives, because they are making an honest effort to walk – that is, to conduct themselves day by day, moment by moment – in the law, or, according to the commandments, of the Lord. The expressed will of Yahweh, the one true and living God.

There are very few public figures in our day that can be genuinely admired for their blameless lives and undefiled conduct. So often, even as we consider the preachers and churchmen who are famous figures in our society, we become disappointed and even embarrassed by their sinful conduct that comes to light. And the situation is even more serious when we think of the people in the pews! Poll after poll shows that the moral conduct of people claiming to be Christians in our land is very little different from the behavior of people who don’t claim to know Jesus at all.

The false statement has spread far and wide among believers that Christians today are not really bound by the requirements of God’s law: even by the Ten Commandments! It is said that, because Jesus died on the cross to pay for all our sins, and given us His perfect righteousness for our record in Heaven, He must no longer be interested in how we live our lives once we have trusted Him for our salvation. We have his forgiveness and promise of safety from hell-fire, so why worry about becoming more holy in our behavior? This is far from the view of both the Old and New Testaments!

On the contrary, Paul writes in Ephesians 2, “By grace you are saved, through faith, and this is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus FOR GOOD WORKS, which God planned beforehand for us to DO.” Doing good deeds – obeying God’s law, in other words – is never the BASIS of our salvation (which is totally by grace and through faith), but obedience is the inevitable FRUIT of true saving faith. Holy behavior is the GOAL and the REASON God chooses to save us. He chose believers out of this sinful world to reflect His perfection and give Him glory (Eph. 1:12).

David, just like you and I, was saved by grace, through faith in the coming Messiah – Jesus Christ. But the new heart granted to him by Yahweh expresses a deep desire to become like the blessed ones he so deeply admires, for their faithful walk in the ways of the Lord. He makes sure to point out that the blessed ones are not obeying out of mere obligation or drudgery, like the older son in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Rather, the ones he admires are keeping God’s statutes while seeking God “with all their heart.”

As David watches these men and women who seek God wholeheartedly, he makes the observation that “They do nothing wrong; they walk in His ways.” Again, David is no fool, supposing these people are incapable of slipping into sins that they must then confess before their God. But he is suitably impressed by their walk, their conduct, that is unblemished in the eyes of people. Those who are “sold out” to obedience to the God who’s saved them, obey out of gratitude for that salvation, and do so easily, joyfully, habitually. Because they love their Savior, and every word – every command – out of His mouth. Such people have no need to hire a public relations firm to puff up their reputations. No, their upright conduct SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.

Next, King David changes his point of view in that he begins addressing God Himself. He has expressed admiration for the obedience of the blessed of God. Now he expresses admiration for the God who blesses their obedience. Notice in the remainder of this stanza how David uses such absolute terms as “FULLY obeyed” and “STEADFAST in obeying” and “ALL your commands” and at the end “UTTERLY forsake.” Surely the king is implying that this law-giving God is a God who means business! A God who is playing for keeps!

There are many passages in the Psalms where David expresses the feeling and the fear of being forsaken, both by people and by God Himself. To be forsaken by God, in the minds of the ancient Hebrew, is the OPPOSITE of being blessed. It is to have God turn His back on me and not to favor me with His attention and care. Forsakenness means to be under the curse of God. Here in verse 8 we see that David begs NOT to be under the curse of God. He knows that his own heart and mind are fallen, and bent toward disobedience. He knows the sin and unfaithfulness of which he is capable, but he also knows the way NOT to be under God’s curse. 

First, in verse 4, we must know that God’s precepts – His instructions – are to be fully obeyed. He doesn’t give us mere suggestions of how to find happiness and holiness. He makes it plain, absolute and non-negotiable. His yes means “yes” and His no means “no.”

In verse 5 the psalmist expresses his heart desire, which often follows the word “Oh!” His heart desire is to be one of those BLESSED ones that he admires so much! He longs to hear the Lord say on the day of judgment: “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of the Lord!” David continues in verse 6 the result of a steadfast obedience: “Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands.” 

Much of the suffering the Lord Jesus went through on the cross for you and me was the SHAME of the cross. To hang there probably naked for all to see, on a criminal’s torture rack, when He really belonged on a royal throne. Christ bore that shame and that curse so that we would be free to live in joyful obedience to the Lawgiver who gave up His only Son for our redemption! This would be the outworking of God’s amazing grace and love, to give him everlasting GLORY!

The process of learning God’s “righteous laws” (verse 7) ought to be a matter of praise for the upright in heart. David commits himself to such praise, offering it as a motivation for His God to look on him with favor and blessing. This is a large part of what we will be doing as we continue discovering the awesome themes of this Psalm of Psalms. 

Lord, please make it our deep desire to look deeper into the righteous law of God. Enable us to seek your blessing by walking steadfast in the way YOU have prescribed. Let us never take your love and gracious salvation for granted, thinking that you don’t care about how we live.

May we long to be like the blessed ones who walk in Your ways!

Amen.