Psalm 119:137

We are ready to launch out on our study of the eighteenth octave of Psalm 119 bearing the title of the Hebrew letter Tzaddi.  The tz in this word is pronounced like ts in our word pants or cuts. The a is pronounced like the a at the end of our word dilemma.  The letter i at the end of the word is pronounced the same as the letter i in our word machine.  Now if you put all those pronunciation suggestions together, you will have an idea of how Tzaddi sounds.  As for a humourous remark to make with this letter, my mind comes up empty so I shall pass on this one. If that makes you tzad, I’m tzorri.

Psalms 119:137  ¶TZADDI. Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.

If you look over this entire octave, you will notice that it stresses the righteousness of God’s word.  His word is characterized as upright, righteous, very faithful, pure, and true.  All of this is so because of what God is.  God is righteous and being righteous, everything that proceeds from Him is righteous.  Nothing God ever thinks, decides, says, or does is ever wrong.  God is never mistaken.  He is righteous.  And because He is righteous, His judgments are upright. 

Let us review the definition of the word judgment since we are speaking of God's judgments being upright.

Judgment – Divine sentence or decision; spec. a misfortune or calamity regarded as a divine visitation or punishment, or as a token of divine displeasure.  In various Biblical uses, chiefly as rendering of Heb. mishpit, in its different uses.  A (divine) decree, ordinance, law, statute.

God’s judgments can refer to His punishment of sinners, His afflicting of His people, as well as His laws given to govern our lives.  Or it can refer to God’s decisions to permit evil.  No evil can exist without God deciding to suffer or permit it. 

Acts 14:16  Who in times past suffered (permitted) all nations to walk in their own ways.

1 Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer (permit) you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Recall that Satan could not touch Job or anything Job possessed without first obtaining permission from the Almighty (Job 1-2).  Neither can any evil touch or tempt you unless God suffers it.  Although the evil itself is not upright, God’s decision to permit it is upright because a righteous God can render no decision that is otherwise than upright.  The Scriptures are full of examples of God permitting evil and then making use of that evil to accomplish His good purpose.  Man’s sin does not rob God of His sovereign right to do with sinful man as He pleases.  One of the many examples would be the evil of Joseph’s brethren in selling him into slavery.

Genesis 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

The evil of Joseph’s brethren did not proceed from God because God is righteous.  That evil proceeded from the lust of their own evil heart. 

James 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

But what God decided to do in permitting that evil was righteous. 

That God is righteous is fundamental to all we believe about Him.  The righteous God Whose judgments are upright is the Rock upon which we build our faith, base our hopes, and in Which we find our refuge.

Deuteronomy 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

A God Whose work is perfect, a God of truth Who is without iniquity, and a God Who is just and right never makes a wrong decision.  Anything He decides to do is right.  

Always confess that God is righteous no matter how much your circumstances may seem to cry out to the contrary.  Never allow any adversity or injustice you see or experience in this world overthrow your faith in the righteousness of God.  There are things about God and His doings that we cannot fathom, including things He has told us in His word.  God’s judgments are a depth past our finding out.

Romans 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

But even though we may not fathom God’s judgment, we can know it is right and rest our souls on that.  If you can once clearly lay hold of this fact, then you will be on the way to experiencing God’s peace “that passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).  No matter what happens, always come back to this:  Righteous are thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.

I once heard of a black preacher who said, “I knows the Bible is right.  Some’in else is wrong.”  Those words may have been incorrect grammatically, but they were absolutely correct theologically since they capture the essence of today’s verse:  Righteous are thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments. i