Themes from the Psalm of Psalms
Stanza Six
Waw: The Mercies of God’s Salvation Empowering Me to Live Out His Truth
41. Let Your mercies come also to me, O LORD—/ Your salvation according to Your word.
42. So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, / For I trust in Your word.
43. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, / For I have hoped in Your ordinances.
44. So shall I keep your law continually, / Forever and ever.
45. And I will walk at liberty, / For I seek Your precepts.
46. I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, / And will not be ashamed.
47. And I will delight myself in Your commandments, / Which I love.
48. My hands also I will lift up to your commandments, / Which I love,
And I will meditate on Your statutes.
This poem of King David is without a doubt the Psalm of Psalms! Like no other passage in God’s word, Psalm 119 extols the virtues and the awesome value of the law of God. When the ancient Jews and the early church confessed their love and respect for God’s “law,” they weren’t just speaking of the rules and regulations and commands given to the nation of Israel. They were extolling ALL the words of the sacred Scriptures. All the utterances from the holy mouth of their Lord and King Yahweh.
Long ago, English translators brought the sacred name of God into our language using the title “Jehovah.” This is to many people a more familiar translation than the name Yahweh, but Yahweh is a more direct rendering, as it uses the sounds of the four Hebrew consonants that were given as the Lord’s covenant name: YHWH, a four-letter term that means “I am.” Every time a Hebrew addressed his covenant God using that name, “I AM,” he was reminded of how God revealed Himself to Moses from the burning bush, telling him: “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: I AM has sent me unto you.” David uses this eternal, holy name for God when he begins many of the stanzas of 119.
There is a remarkable contrast between the two stanzas HE and WAW. David’s focus throughout the last stanza HE was on his requests of the Lord for understanding and guidance so that he could resist unrighteous ways and run in the path of God’s commandments. The sixth stanza, however, has a different focus. Stanza WAW begins with one additional request. David includes the word “also” in verse 41, indicating that this request follows the ones he made previously. In effect, he is saying, “O Yahweh, in addition to your wisdom and your guidance, let your MERCIES come to me as well!” And he continues by defining what those mercies mean: “Your salvation according to Your word.”
This is the first of six times the word “salvation” appears in Psalm 119. The use of this word, and the fact it is used as a synonym for the word “mercies,” is very instructive, especially to people who have a love and respect for the laws of God, as David did. We already saw that David admitted that he needed to “cleanse his way.” He saw himself as a young man, a child in need of being taught and guided. He was very aware that he was a sinner in need of salvation, not only from sickness, danger, enemies and calamities, but salvation from the judgment of a holy, perfectly just God. This verse makes it plain that, while he longed for God’s salvation, he didn’t fool himself with the idea that God owed it to him. It is only by the MERCIES of God that any person receives salvation from the Lord.
Mercy is a quality that places a limit on the carrying out of JUSTICE. It is an act of mercy when a judge sentences a murderer to life in prison instead of the death penalty. It is mercy when a father withholds a spanking from his child because the child has tears in his eyes. It is mercy when a debt is forgiven because I know the person who owes me is having a hard time. And whenever a sinner receives any kind of blessing from God, that blessing is an act of DIVINE mercy. David asks for God’s merciful salvation, “according to [His] word.” It is a promised salvation. He’s asking God to keep His word by rescuing him, even though he knows he doesn’t deserve it!
Then, based on God’s granting this one final request, David gives a list of his noble intentions: a number of commitments or resolutions he wishes to fulfill in response to his God’s saving mercies. In this stanza we get a picture of the redeemed soul’s desires. When a man or woman is genuinely saved by the grace and mercy of God, through faith in our Savior Jesus Christ, that person’s heart is changed. Made willing and eager to think, speak and act in accord with the word of God. He now has a new trust in the character of God: His truth and faithfulness in keeping His promises. His perfect power and wisdom to give her strength and guidance and understanding.
Verse 42 speaks of the saved person’s confidence in answering those who mock and taunt him for his new God-pleasing path of life. “I am simply trusting in the word of my God,” he will say. It doesn’t bother him that those who reproach him talk and act the way he himself once did. He has an answer for them: the very message of salvation that has been shared with himself. It is up to the God of mercies to do His work in the mocker’s own heart, as the child of God shares the truth he’s been given.
Verse 43 expresses a redeemed one’s desire to never speak anything that contradicts God’s truth. The best way she can fulfill that desire is to always have that truth “in her mouth.” Her hope has been placed in the “ordinances” of God—that is, in the revealed expressions of his perfect will: His word. I have recently been impressed, even amazed, hearing the testimony of several women who have committed whole chapters…even whole BOOKS of the Bible to memory, so that God’s word will continually be in their minds, their hearts, and their mouths.
That hope in God’s revealed truth carries over into the following verse. “So shall I keep Your law continually…forever and ever.” Again, here we hear the heart cry of David the psalmist, the “man after God’s own heart.” The precious, treasured, savored, memorized word of God is his source of hope. It is in that divine truth that he received God’s promises: promises that Yahweh would grant him victory. That He would never leave him. That He would grant an eternal kingdom to one of His descendents: the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s truth in David’s heart and in his mouth, would assure his obedience.
“And I will walk at liberty, / For I seek Your precepts.” Verse 45 continues David’s list of resolutions. The word “liberty,” of course, is a familiar word to Americans. We cherish our liberty as citizens of a largely free society where we can speak, think, worship and travel as we choose. But David is extolling more than just political or social freedom. He is hailing the blessings of SPIRITUAL liberty, where his heart and mind have been set free to walk in the paths of righteousness, rather than remain in bondage to his own sinful flesh and the slavery to Satan that opposes the gracious words of Yahweh.
Having the written word of God gives us a deep, deep mine of purest gold—His own wisdom and knowledge that He’s seen fit to share with us. Sometimes we must dig into it to find our answers. We must be willing not only to be FED the truth of God, but also to diligently SEEK it, lest our liberty be impeded by the wrong turns we’re liable to take. Careful study of God’s word is never to be seen as a burden or a chore. It is rather a privilege, a journey of joyful discovery, an exercise of our liberty!
How many of us would be prepared to “speak of [God’s] testimonies also before kings” (verse 46)? David was resolved, as one who received Yahweh’s saving mercies, to do just that. Certainly as the ruler of ancient Israel, King David had many opportunities to confer and take counsel with other rulers who surrounded the holy land. His victories in battle had subdued the armies of many nations such as the Philistines, but this also gave him opportunities to testify about the one true and living God who had given him those victories. Naturally he hoped and prayed that Yahweh’s renown would spread and be respected in all the earth, even as the prophet Nathan had predicted (see 2 Samuel 7). When we are knowledgeable about God’s testimonies, we can be confident in the presence of the most imposing leaders. For the wisdom of the Scriptures is far superior to the mere philosophies of human beings.
Verses 47 and 48 conclude David’s resolution list he wants to fulfill, having received the mercies of salvation, according to the promise of the Lord. He writes: “And I will delight myself in Your commandments, Which I love. My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, Which I love, And I will meditate on Your statutes.” When we take delight in something, like the birthday of a loved one, or the victory of a sports team, or the receiving of an award, whatever, that delight often takes over control of our bodies. We might throw up our hands in joyful ecstasy. We might actually jump up and down, even do a little “happy dance!” When is the last time we truly took delight in the commandments of our God? When did we throw up our hands in appreciation for what our Creator has chosen to reveal to us in His word? Without the Bible, we could know nothing of His merciful salvation He provided for mankind through the giving of His only begotten Son, who died on the cross to free us from sin, death, Satan and everlasting suffering in hell.
I want to encourage you, and myself, to take time to meditate on God’s statutes: His uplifted, established word, words that will never be broken, and will never fail. Words that reveal what a great, holy, righteous, mighty, merciful, gracious Creator He is. His justice, His holy hatred of our sin could have caused him to wipe us all out and imprison us in chains of torment forever. But praise Jehovah! Instead He chose to show us the divine smile of His mercy. Have you opened your heart to this God? Has his gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sin become yours? If so, let’s resolve, you and I, to treasure, ponder, study, hope in, speak about, and delight in, the truth of David’s merciful God!
Amen.
MNA
3/6/2023
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