Psalm 119:73-80

Psalm 119:73-80 

Jod

In suffering, the poet is in need of comfort. 

The poet wants to be an encouragement to those who fear God.  The poet’s well-being is going to be a point of confusion for those who oppose him.  The poet is confident that God will never forsake His creatures nor withhold from them what will make them truly happy, namely an understanding of His Word. To this purpose the poet prays for understanding and that all who fear God will see him as an example of what happens in the lives of those who trust in God’s Word.

There is no doubt that God’s judgments are pure and righteous, but they are nevertheless an affliction.  It is because God is faithful to His holiness and to our well-being that He, at times, afflicts us.  It is important to note that when we are under the affliction of God, we are still under His care.  That doesn’t mean that it isn’t painful.  That is why the poet, at the same time as being under God’s affliction, asked for the comfort of the Lord’s loving kindness or mercy.

The term "ashamed" comes up a couple of times.  It is a pretty typical term for shame, embarrassment, or disgrace, but it can have a temporal element to it.  Part of the shame is that the hope for a result is delayed.  It is like a sports fan that is always saying, “Wait till next year,” but is always suffering through endless losing seasons.  The shame is not only that it doesn’t happen; there is a sense that it never will.  The poet asked that the one who would lead him astray be ashamed.  The demise of the faithful is the greatest heart’s desire of the wicked.  The poet asked that this desire of the wicked will never be satisfied and they will always be disappointed.

Meanwhile, the poet remains faithful to the Word of God and concludes this with two thoughts.  First, he wants to be an encouragement for others.  He wants his life and faithfulness to be something other faithful people will see. The desire to live as an example is rare.  The second thing he asked is essential to fulfilling the first.  He wants to have a blameless heart. The idea of blameless is more about honesty and consistency than about perfection.  He wants to be the real thing rather than a fake.  In this he hopes that he will not suffer the shame.

“Lord, let my life be an example to those who need a moment of hope. AMEN”

Psalm 119:65-72

Psalm 119:65-72 

Ṭeth  

The poet recognizes the beneficial element of his suffering. 

God’s dealing with us is always good and for our benefit, but it may not always feel that way.  In this section the poet reflects on his own life and how God’s goodness worked for him in difficult times.  In the midst of suffering we rarely say, “This is really good for me.”  But it is not too uncommon that after the suffering is past we can say, “That was good for me.”  The more quickly we are able to learn the lessons of suffering, the wiser we are.

The Lord has been good to the poet according to His own word, and the poet is able to recognize that with the aid of 20/20 hindsight.  The poet asked to be taught good discernment and knowledge, which is to learn both the ethical behaviors and the happy results that such behaviors bring.  He wants to learn not only what the right thing to do is but also see the positive benefit of that behavior.  Note the contrast between vs. 66 and 67.  The poet learned the misery of going astray in his affliction, and now he wants to learn the pleasantness of right living.  We often think of right living as a means to an end, that if we do right, which may include incidental suffering, we will someday be rewarded.  That is an inadequate understanding.  The poet/disciple is here indicating that living the life of righteousness is the greatest good and that this life is itself inherently worth it. 

God’s nature is good, and His actions are always for our benefit.  The order of His universe is that the short-term pleasures of evil never outweigh the benefit of living according to His law. The poet again is asking to learn the Lord’s statutes.  This time he asked in the context of the arrogant having attempted to cover him over with falsehoods.  The word used is “plastered over” or “whitewashed.” They want to make him disappear the way a concrete block wall disappears when covered with stucco. The comment “their heart is covered with fat” is indicative of being insensitive.  Our medical and modern scientific view might shape our understanding of this metaphor.  In ancient times fat was good because it indicated wealth as evidenced by being well fed.  But in this case the fat (wealth and ease) caused their heart, or seat of the will and emotion, to become dull and insensitive to the call of the Law of God.

The poet again repeats that his affliction was beneficial.  This is a good point to make note of—the word "affliction."  Literally, it means to “make low or put down.” But it is practically much more intense than it might first sound.  The word was used of the abuse Sarah heaped on Hagar that was so intense that Hagar wanted to run away.  It was the word that described the Egyptians forcing the Israelites into slavery.  It was on different occasions used to describe the rape of a woman.  This affliction is not a little inconvenience but rather a life-altering experience of powerful misery.  But God never wastes a hurt.  It doesn’t matter if our affliction is the result of self-induced suffering or we were the innocent victims of the evils of others; God can use that horror to our benefit.  In fact, the poet feels that the Law of the Lord, to which his suffering led him, is better than fantastic riches.

“Lord, do not waste the hurt of my life, rather teach me. AMEN”

Psalm 119:57-64

Psalm 119:57-64  

Heth

Discovery of God’s favor on the way to his forever home

In the preceding psalm the poet describes himself as a pilgrim, stating that earth is not his permanent dwelling. He begins this section with a description of God as his “portion.”  When the Promised Land was divided among the tribes, each family was given a portion as their homeland forever.  So much so that at the year of Jubilee, if the land was sold, it was returned to the one who received that portion.  For the disciple the Lord is the homeland.  There is a direct connection between the disciple going to the homeland and his keeping the Word of God.  

There is in verse 58 a word that is hard to translate into our English Bibles.  The NASB translates it “entreated,” while the NIV translates it “sought.”  The Hebrew word is much more intense than any English translation.  The root word is “sick” or “weak.”  This word carries the idea of groveling and at times carries the implication of flattery.  We don’t translate it that way because the poet is clearly sincere, whereas a flatterer is not.  But that is the intensity of the word.  The disciple is willing to completely humiliate himself in the most extreme forms of begging for the Lord’s graciousness.  This is not coming to God as if we would negotiate the best deal possible.  This is a profound awareness that we have nothing to offer and are fully aware of our absolute dependence on His favor.  

The poet has, to this point, lived a life of immediate obedient response.  When he knows the commands of God, he keeps them immediately.  He does all that he knows to do; he is now asking to know more, to understand at a greater level what God wills.  He has done this even when the wicked have had him in bonds.  Their cords, either literally or figuratively, have not caused him to forget the Lord’s Law, and to know the Lord’s Law is to keep it immediately. This keeping of the Law even in the presence of opposition causes thanks to grow and results in praise.  When awakened from sleep in the middle of the night, it is not fear that comes to mind but thanks, not dread but a profound awareness of gratitude for God’s law.  It is so powerful, in fact, that the poet is compelled to respond with worship, to get up from bed and bow down to God.

Sometimes the life of a disciple can seem lonely; it feels that no one else is on God’s side.  But the poet discovers that he has companions; here he returns to the theme or motif of the traveller.  He is not making this journey alone.  It is noteworthy that in the context of this discovery of travelling companions, the poet looks at the world around him and sees that it is full of God’s mercy.  He begins this section by pleading for God’s favor, ends it by praising God for His loving kindness, and that praise is in the context of discovering fellow pilgrims heading to the same home. 

“Lord, keep me faithful in the journey. AMEN”

Psalm 119:49-56

Psalm 119:49-56 

Zayin

In life’s journey God's Word is all the poets thoughts and pursuit.

We are all on a trip, a long journey to the grave and beyond.  One should never expect this trip to be easy or fast or carefree.  In fact, the ancient nomads understood this much better than we.  In vs. 54 the poet refers to the house of his “pilgrimage.” We live in a culture that places a high value on a permanent place of residence.  To be a homeowner is a major or even the most important part of the “American Dream.” Pilgrims have no such concept.  For a pilgrim the destination is the objective, with lessons to be learned along the way.  It is unavoidable; we are on a pilgrimage, and the poet points out that on this journey God’s Word is a great help and comfort.  

Being a tourist is relatively easy.  If you have enough money, everything is catered for you.  Being a tourist is the ultimate consumer experience in which we are not changed but have our perceptions confirmed.  Being a pilgrim is hard.  It is not about being catered to but is about being challenged and changed.  It is about our own attitudes, convictions, and commitments confronted and reshaped by hardships, either our own or the lives of others.  Life is one long pilgrimage.  

That being said, and with the expectation that life will be hard, how do we cope?  Where do we find the strength to carry on the pilgrimage?  The poet tells us it is in the Word of God.  It gives him comfort when he is afflicted, and it revives him.  He is mocked and scorned by the arrogant—the word carries the connotation of frivolous persons, libertines, and freethinkers.  These people look at the self-imposed, hard life of a pilgrim and make fun, suggesting it is better to settle down and indulge in the good life of pleasure and self-satisfaction.  

The poet continues his life’s journey with the Word of God giving him strength as well as indignation for the life that forsakes the law.  Hatred for evil is both the right response and a preventative from dabbling in the evil.  That hatred is reinforced because the emotional support, the songs of the poet, is the Law of God.  Even in the dark hours of the night when it is easiest to become discouraged, the poet is turning to and being strengthened by God’s precepts.

“Lord, help me to never be a tourist but always a pilgrim. AMEN”

Psalm 119:41-48

Psalm 119:41-48

Vav 

The Word of God enables the psalmist to provide a suitable and joyful confession.

The psalmist begins by asking for more than simply head knowledge of the Word of God.  He is asking for God’s mercy to bring about salvation through the Word. (v. 41) The challenge of the unbeliever can’t be answered with a dry academic knowledge of God alone, nor solely an emotional response, but personal trust in God’s Word (v. 42).  Verse 43 poses an interesting question: “Why would God take His truth out of the mouth or conversation of the psalmist?” This reflects the reality that if a person’s life is in rebellion and willful error, their testimony is rendered invalid.  When we testify about the Lord, we do so not on our own, but in the power of the Spirit.  A godless man can say the words of a witness, but it is only dust in the wind or hot air.  The syllables may be in the mouth of a wicked witness, but it will lack power because God will remove His blessing from it.  The last part of verse 43 says the psalmist will “wait” or “hope” in God’s laws. Hope always has a future element to it, but it is never simply a vague, wishful dream.  The hope given us by God’s Word is future but also certain.  We wait because it is not yet, but this hope is as certain as the passing of time.  

Because of the Lord’s testimony and his love for it, the psalmist is a bold witness.  He keeps the Lord’s commands, loves the Lord’s commands, and gives testimony to the Lord’s commands.  He does so before kings with a sense of  freedom because the one on trial is not the psalmist but the Lord’s ordinances.  If called to account for himself and his own power, a disciple is really not much.  But the disciple’s love for God and His Word sets him up in liberty or freedom.  The word translated “liberty” or “freedom” literally means “wide” or “broad.”  It is often used to refer to land. The idea is that there is plenty of room and no one is going to hem you in or restrict you.  There is so much confidence that the word was even used of arrogance.  The disciple who walks in the power of God’s Word has so much going for him no one and nothing is going to put “the squeeze” on him.  The disciple experiences the power of God’s Word and grows to love it more and more.  

“Lord, thank You for the boldness I have because of Your word. AMEN”

Psalm 119:33-40

 Psalm 119:33-40

He 

In the Word of God we find preservation of life.

Finding our way through this life is like wandering through a massive city, a swamp, dark woods, or a wilderness without any guidance or direction.  Without a trustworthy guide, we are bound to end up in places we do not want to be.  However, in this passage the psalmist tells us that there is just such a trustworthy guide.

There are plenty of distractions along this journey we call life.  Some are subtle; some are blatant.  Depending on our own personality and tendency, we are attracted to different detours.  But whatever the challenge, the Word of God is sufficient to safely lead us through. 

In the first 7 verses, the poet submits to the Lord to make changes in his life.  “Teach me,” “Give me,” “Make me,” “Incline my heart,” “Turn away my eyes,” “Establish Thy Word,” “Turn away my reproach.”  In each case, the request is related to or is a result of the Word of God.  As the poet asked for the Lord to be at work in his life, he anticipates that he will have changes to accept.  It is unreasonable for a disciple to ask the Lord for guidance or direction without the assumption that the disciple will change or commit their life to the Lord’s leading. Verse 33 serves as a perfect example.  “Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes,” is the disciple’s request.  The response from the disciple follows: “And I will observe it to the end.”  Why would a disciple ask for teaching and then not follow that teaching all the way to the end?  Often we ask the Lord for guidance, but do so with a heart reservation that if we don’t like it, we can somehow opt out.  With each request or life submission, there is presumed obedience.  All these requests build toward a powerful and dynamic climax in the last verse (40).  The poet longs for the Lord’s precepts, but interestingly, the Word is actually a means to the end of renewal or revival of life found in the Lord’s righteousness.  

To return to our opening analogy, the end goal of our journey in life is the Lord, but He is also the one who makes the path or the way for us and then places the road signs along the way directing us. 

“Thank You, Lord, that You want to be found by me. AMEN”

Psalm 119:25-32

Psalm 119:25-32 

Daleth

Praying for the grace of enlightenment in the midst of internal struggles. 

In this passage the Psalmist is addressing troubles, but he doesn’t refer to troubles from others, at least not in this case; but rather, some undisclosed, internal battle.  As disciples we will have resistance and opposition from other people.  That, however, is not the only source of trouble.  The enemy within our own skin is a formidable foe.  Whether the enemy is without or within the Word of God is a great help.  When it is the inward enemy His Word gives us great enlightenment and there-by strength.  This eight-verse section of the Psalm is beautifully and wonderfully arranged.  Verses 25-27 have a parallel in verses 28-30 with verses 31-32 offering a conclusion.  

In verses 25 and its parallel verse 28 we see the desperate situation of the Psalmist.  He is in real trouble.  He describes himself as being flattened out in the dust; he is too exhausted to move, unable to pick himself up.  He also describes his soul as weary or weeping.  The Hebrew carries the idea of his soul melting away, running out in tears.   He will cry till there is nothing left inside.  In both cases, he knows of one prescription for his recovery, the Word of God.  When he is too weak to get up, the Word of God revives or renews him.  When his life or soul is melting away the Word of God gives him strength.  

The couplets of verse 26-27 and 29-30 give us the answer of how the Word of God gives this strength.  In the case of being flattened out in the dust the Psalmist takes time to reflect on his life in light of the Word of God.  This self-reflection is a sincere self-evaluation, a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves in view of God’s Word.   In what the Psalmist sees that God has done and in God’s past faithfulness we can all find confidence for the future.  As the poet has grieved with so many tears, so he pleads for God to take from him any falsehood.  Enlightenment is not just the discovery of new truth to be acquired, it is also the discovery of our own internal falsehood that we have accepted and in which we live.  If the meta-narrative (a way of thinking that explains everything) of our lives is false then ultimately everything in our lives will eventually go off the rails.  Before we can truly engage in the truth about our lives we must reject the false assumptions on which we have built our lives.  Then we can as the poet says in verse 30, “Place Thine ordinances before me.”  

The last two verses of this section are parallels of each other developing results of living with a new enlightenment.  The first lines of both 31 and 32 reveal a solid commitment to the Word of God.  In verse 31, the word used to describe the poet’s attachment to the Lord’s testimony is the same word to describe the sexual union of a husband and wife.  This is no casual-skimming-a-Bible-verse kind of thing.  In verse 32, the theme of life as a “way” comes up again.  The road signs of life for the disciple are the commandments of God.  The result of this commitment is expressed both negatively and positively.  The Psalmist pleads in verse 31, with confidence, that he will not be put to shame.  Being so intimately associated with the Lord’s testimony means that the Lord will not be ashamed of the disciple.  Verse 32 is even more beautiful.  Living the life of a disciple in the Lord’s commands results in having a heart that is enlarged.  What is the point of a bigger heart?  It gives the disciple a greater capacity to love God, His Word, and His way.  Which is, after all, what a disciple most wants.

“Lord, in my struggles enlighten me by Your word. AMEN