Psalm 119:69

I would normally wait until the end of this week to submit this blog.  But since I plan to be out of town at the end of the week, Lord willing, I will go ahead and submit it now.  Read it at your leisure.  May God bless it to your souls.

When we considered verse 51 of Psalm 119, we found the psalmist met with opposition from the proud in that they had him greatly in derision.  In the verse we take up today we again find the proud lining up against this man of God.

Psalms 119:69  The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.

God’s children and the devil’s children are called different names to distinguish them.  They are called the righteous and the wicked, the good and the evil, the just and the unjust.  They are also distinguished as the humble, or lowly, and the proud.

Proverbs 16:19  Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Psalms 138:6  Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

In Psalm 119:21 the proud are described as those “which do err from thy commandments.”  When a sinner chooses to do his own will rather than the will of God, he is pitting his finite, puny, limited knowledge against the infinite knowledge of Almighty God.  That sinner thinks he knows better than God what is best for his life and, therefore, he chooses to go his own way rather than submit to the commandments of God.  Now a man that does that is proud.  That is why stubborn, impenitent sinners are called the proud. 

Not only do the proud demonstrate their pride in their defiance of God’s commandments, but they demonstrate their pride in opposing those who do keep God’s commandments.  They want to discredit anyone and anything that exposes their rebellion.  Hence, we read in today’s verse:  the proud have forged a lie against me.

It is interesting to focus on the fact that the proud have forged a lie. 

Forge – To make, fashion, frame, or construct (any material thing).  To fabricate, frame, invent (a false or imaginary story, lie, etc); to devise (evil).

To forge something is to fabricate or invent it.  If the proud cannot get anything on the righteous with which to reproach them, then they will just invent something.  They will forge a lie.  Nowhere was this more the case than with our Lord Jesus Christ.  The following passage taken from Psalm 35 is a prophecy of our Lord, which He cited in John 15:25 when stating that His enemies hated Him “without a cause.”

Psalms 35:19  Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.

20  For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.   

Christ’s enemies devised deceitful matters against Him, that is, they forged a lie.  When Christ was brought before Pontius Pilate, His proud enemies accused Him of “perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar” (Luke 23:1-2).  This was absolutely not true.  It was a fabrication, a forged lie.  And as they did to our Lord, so will they do to His followers.

Matthew 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

But observe that the psalmist was not intimidated by the lie forged against him.  He persevered in keeping God’s precepts with his whole heart.  The lie did not weaken his resolve or cause him to lose heart.  No matter what lies were forged against him, the psalmist would just keep doing what God told Him to do.  He would not return lie for lie or evil for evil.  He would not rail on his opponents in a mad rage.  He would just quietly, with patience, stay the course of obedience submitting the matter to God.  And as long as a God-fearing, righteous man is heartily keeping the Lord’s precepts he is on the winning side, and he will at last prevail as the following verse assures us:

Isaiah 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.