Psalm 119:144

Today we come to the last verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Tzaddai.  In my Bible this verse stands at the head of the right column of the left page.  From here I can see that I have two more columns to work through to arrive at the end of this psalm.  So here we go!

Psalms 119:144  The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.

Recall that we pointed out in the beginning of this octave that it stresses the righteousness of God’s word, describing it as upright, righteous, very faithful, pure, and true.  In this last verse the emphasis of this octave is summed up in this statement:  the righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting.  Righteousness is the quality of being right.  Since God’s word is everlastingly righteous, that means it is always right and never wrong.  The reason for this can be deduced from this octave in which we are told that God is righteous (verse 137) and that His righteousness is everlasting (verse 142).  Therefore, it follows that the word of the everlastingly righteous God must itself be everlastingly righteous.  God’s word is like Himself in that it never changes with the times.  Whatever testimony God has given in His word is righteous and will remain so.  You can always rely on what God says.  He will not change His story.

And being convinced that the testimonies of his Bible were always right, the psalmist prayed:  give me understanding.  It stands to reason that the greatest understanding anyone can ever have is the understanding of God’s everlastingly righteous word.  Whatever thing you understand that is always right ─ and God’s word is always right ─ that is one thing about which you will never be wrong.

Now should God answer the prayer of the psalmist for understanding, this would be the result:  and I shall live.  To understand God’s righteous testimonies is to live in the fullest sense of the word.  This is so much the case that understanding is referred to as life itself.

Proverbs 3:13  Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding….

16  Length of days is in her right hand….

18  She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

Proverbs 4:13  Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

But understanding God’s testimonies involves more than just comprehending them intellectually.  It also involves obeying them!  You do not truly understand God’s testimonies if you do not believe and obey them.  Note the words that I have italicized in the following passage, which prove this point:

Deuteronomy 4:5  Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

6  Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

To lack this understanding of God’s word is court death and destruction.

Proverbs 21:16  The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.

Isaiah 5:13  Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

Isaiah 27:11  …for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

Hosea 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

As we look about us in our time we see so much ignorance of even the most basic facts of God’s testimonies.  And along with this lack of understanding we see widespread moral decadence, the destruction of the family, the increase of violent crime, the erosion of the economy, and the collapse of our culture.  Here is all the more reason to seek understanding for ourselves that we might live in the midst of the destruction that surrounds us.  This is precisely the message of Psalm 91 which I urge you now to read.  The psalm describes one who has the understanding of God’s testimonies and who lives in spite of the fact that all around him is collapsing thus demonstrating the answer to the prayer:  give me understanding, and I shall live.

So in closing our meditations on this octave of Psalm 119, I urge you to pick up your Bible, beg God for understanding of its pages, read it, study it, submit to its teaching, and you shall live.  There is no more profitable exercise than what I have just recommended.  It is the single best thing you can do for your life and health.

1 Timothy 4:8  For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

9  This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.