(Loving the God of Psalm 119)
Daleth: Revival and Strengthening to Run in the Path of God’s Truth
25. My soul clings to the dust; / Revive me according to Your word.
26. I have declared my ways, and You answered me; / Teach me Your statutes.
27. Make me understand the way of Your precepts; / So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works.
28. My soul melts from heaviness; / Strengthen me according to Your word.
29. Remove from me the way of lying, / And grant me Your law graciously.
30. I have chosen the way of truth; / Your judgments I have laid before me.
31. I cling to your testimonies; / O LORD, do not put me to shame!
32. I will run the course of Your commandments, / For You shall enlarge my heart.
Under the Holy Spirit’s divine inspiration, King David has already taught us much in the first three stanzas of Psalm 119. This Psalm of Psalms reveals David’s longing to be like the blessed ones he saw around him who faithfully walk in the ways God has mapped out for the righteous. He has shown us that he regards himself humbly, as a “young man” who needs to have his ways cleansed so he can truly delight in God’s word. And in stanza three he seeks enlightenment, special wisdom from the Lord when he is under the threat of the great ones of this evil world.
In this fourth stanza, we see some signs that David is in a more contemplative mood. His soul, he confesses, “clings to the dust.” Another translation says he is “laid low in the dust.” Another verse says, “My soul melts from heaviness,” or “drops because of grief” or “melts away for sorrow.” In this stanza he is concerned about “false ways,” “lying ways,” “deceitful ways” threatening to divert him from “the way of truth.” He even expresses fear that God Himself might put him to shame in verse 31.
Whatever situation brought the Psalmist to this low period of contemplation, we are so richly taught in this stanza, each verse starting with the D of the Hebrew alphabet: “Daleth.” It is full of David’s love for God, and the delight he longs to take in all the words God has spoken, both to him personally, and to us, and all His chosen ones. Twice King David uses the repeated phrase: “according to Your word,” which appears about twenty times in Psalm 119. This section of the Psalm shows that David turns to God as a beloved Friend for love and understanding when he is brokenhearted and feels lifeless.
When we ask a friend to act “according to their word,” what are we saying? We’re asking him or her to be GOOD to their word, to KEEP their word, to FOLLOW THROUGH with what they have promised. David was reminding His heavenly Father that He had pledged to be there for David no matter what. So often, when we are down emotionally, it can make us feel alone and friendless. David held on to the words, especially the promises of God, like a security blanket. A treasured possession that assured him he was NEVER alone. What the Lord had promised David was basically two things: LIFE and STRENGTH.
“My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to Your word.” Another translation says, “Preserve my life.” When God gives life to a lifeless body, like He did when He breathed into Adam the breath of life, and man became a living soul–a living being–He doesn’t simply abandon that man or woman to just go on living on their own. He continually enlivens the person. He preserves the person’s life, prolongs it, keeps it going. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus had been dead for four days by the time Christ arrived at his grave, Jesus had the stone rolled away from his tomb and then REVIVED the dead body of his friend. God is the source and the Sustainer of all life.
In the previous stanza, David felt blind and asked God to “Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in Your law!” In this stanza, he feels like a dead thing, in the dust. He’s asking God for revival. New life and liveliness. We sometimes joke about being “down in the dumps.” Or “in a slump.” Apparently, David was very depressed and felt lifeless. Perhaps he had no person he could share his feelings with that really understood. Maybe David’s pain was too deep or too personal to share with anyone else. But He shared it with his God, his best, highest Friend. And you know what? God answered him.
David shared with God how it was with him: “I have declared my ways,” I “told” or “recounted” my ways… “and You answered me.” When we are honest with the Lord as His beloved child, we’re not speaking into a vacuum. The very God of the universe is listening to our every word, hearing what is on our hearts–things we don’t even dare put into words. And how did God give an answer to the sweet singer of Israel? He taught Him. God is the best, most understanding, most insightful Teacher of them all. “Teach me Your statutes,” David begs. “Lord, accept me back into Your classroom again. That’s where I really feel cared for.”
Does it ever occur to us that God wasn’t obligated to teach us ANYTHING? He could have just left us in the dark, to cope with the miseries and mysteries of life as best we could. To flounder around in the void and lose our way like mice in a hopeless maze. But no, our Creator is too loving to do that. When he created us, He took our welfare upon Himself. He chose to give us the instruction book for life in our own language, and send His Spirit to enlighten us to understand it.
When we open up our ways before the Lord, He is pleased to open our understanding to His ways. The ways of His statutes and His precepts. The ground rules and keys to making sense of the world as He’s created it to be. All outlined and enumerated in the pages of His holy word. This is one of the main things the Bible has to tell us: that its words and its wisdom are vitally necessary to make sense of life and all true learning.
This is where many of the most intelligent people on earth and throughout history lose their way. They convince themselves that they can find the meaning of life in this world without God’s word. They become highly educated fools. They reject the way of God’s precepts, and they miss the wonderful works God has performed, including the salvation of sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Lord, I feel lifeless: Revive me!” “Lord, I feel powerless: Strengthen me!” David felt the grief and sorrow and heaviness closing in on him and sapping his sense of well-being. He told God that his very soul was “melting away.” He wasn’t content to go on languishing with a heart that was drowning in sadness. As a redeemed child of the living God, he realized that he was meant to be lively and strong, vital and useful, enthusiastic and joyful. God had work for David to do and David was too thankful for all God’s blessings to let Him down!
Our Creator was and is the Source of all life. He is also the Source of all strength! I imagine that David might have come to his senses at some point during this stanza and thought, “Part of my trouble is that I’ve been on a false path; I’ve been lying to myself. It’s high time to get back on the path of TRUTH. The path of FAITHFULNESS. The path of FREEDOM! I imagine this because the last part of this stanza seems to build up from the “way of lying” to the way of “running” in the course of God’s commandments!
God’s “law,” God’s “judgments,” God’s “commandments” paved the way back to vitality and strength for this shepherd king who led Yahweh’s ancient people into their Golden Age. And they also strengthened David’s greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who told Satan in the wilderness that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus truly did “run in the course of [God’s] commandments” and win for His people the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of God that comes by faith in His sacrifice.
In Isaiah 53, it was prophesied that Christ would be “despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” Our Lord Jesus knew well what it was like to be sapped of strength and to despair of life. And He, even more than David, knew where to turn for revival and for renewed strength. Because you and I needed a Savior, Jesus was forsaken by God the Father when He died on the Cross. Yet, even there on Calvary’s cross, He never forsook the path of truth. He continued to trust in the promise of the Father to raise Him up on the third day… “according to His word.”
Thank you, Gracious Father, for sending Your Son to rescue sinners like us. And thank you for showing us the path of life, and truth, and power. The path mapped out in your holy word.
Amen
