Psalm 119:119

Today’s meditation brings us to the verse number that matches the chapter number of this great psalm.

Psalms 119:119  Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.

To clearly grasp what the psalmist is saying, let’s define dross.

Dross - The scum or extraneous matter thrown off from metals in the process of melting.  In general:  Refuse; rubbish; worthless, impure matter.

This is a very sobering verse in that it clearly shows us God’s estimate of all the wicked people of this earth.  They are dross in His sight.  They are just so much scum, refuse, or rubbish to be discarded.  This is true of the wicked individually and collectively.  All the wicked are dross. 

Now many of the wicked of this earth are intelligent, or wealthy, or mighty, or beautiful.

Job 5:13  He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

Job 21:7  Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

8  Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.

9  Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

10  Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

11  They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

12  They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

13  They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.

14  Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

15  What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

Psalms 73:12  Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

2 Samuel 14:25  But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom (the wicked son of David) for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.

But whatever glitz and glitter the wicked display, it is not the lustre of genuine silver or gold.  It is just the dross of those precious metals posing as the real thing. And because the wicked often do well for themselves in this earth, they think highly of themselves and others praise them for their accomplishments.

Psalms 49:16  Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

17  For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.

18  Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.

Nevertheless, because they are wicked and have no regard for God or His laws, they are vile, worthless scum.  And being worthless, they are not worth keeping around.  Therefore, God takes them away, just as a refiner takes away the dross from gold and silver. 

Proverbs 25:4 Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.

Now throughout history God has been discarding the wicked of this earth into the garbage pit of hell, the place of destruction. 

Job 21:17  How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.

18  They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

Psalms 9:17  The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

Psalms 37:35  I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

36  Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

Psalms 73:18  Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

19  How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

Now just as dross is often mixed with precious metals and must be extracted and discarded, so the wicked are mixed with the righteous in this earth.  The wicked even mingle among the righteous in the church.  But God has His ways of ridding the church of them, as this writer can attest.  Yet a Day is coming when all the wicked will be forever rooted out of the earth and cast into the lake of fire.  At that day they will be separated from the righteous never to be mingled among them again.

Proverbs 2:22  But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Psalms 1:4  The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

Matthew 13:47  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

48  Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

49  So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

50  And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Revelation 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Realizing that God puts away all the wicked of the earth like dross had this effect on the psalmist:  therefore I love thy testimonies.  When God puts away the wicked of this earth like dross, He is fulfilling His word of truth.  He is doing precisely what He testified in His word that He would do.  Therefore, since God is always true to His word, we can trust it.  And just as we can trust God to fulfill His decree of judgment upon the wicked, we can trust Him to fulfill His promise of salvation to the righteous.  And that is certainly a reason to love the Lord’s testimonies! 

When we consider that God’s chosen people by nature are wicked and, therefore, equally deserve to be put away like dross, we have great cause to love the words of Scripture that testify that He has saved them from their wickedness and made them righteous through His Son Jesus Christ.  Therefore, instead of being put away like dross, they shall gathered unto the Lord as His jewels.

Malachi 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.