Psalm 119:164

So far in this octave of Psalm 119 entitled Schin we have found the psalmist fearing, rejoicing, hating, and loving.  In today’s verse we find him praising.  And all these varied emotions and exercises are centered on the written word of God.

Psalms 119:164  Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.

In verses 147-148 of Psalm 119 we found the psalmist engaged in his devotions before daybreak and at various times of the night.  In today’s verse we find him praising God seven times a day. 

Recall that with the exception of verses 1-3 and verse 115, every verse in Psalm 119 is a prayer.  In the prayer of today’s verse we have the psalmist confessing to God the fact that he praised the Lord repeatedly during the day.  Thank God when we have something about ourselves besides sin to confess to Him.  And it speaks well of the psalmist that he praised God seven times a day rather than once every seven days.  How much better we would all be if we praised God at least as many times as we asked Him for something!  In fact, the continual praise of God should be the very element in which we live.

Psalms 34:1  I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 

Psalms 71:8  Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

14  But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.

15  My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.

Psalms 145:1  I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.

2  Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

Luke 24:52  And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:

53  And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

The psalmist cited this specific reason for his repeated praising of God in a day:  because of thy righteous judgments.  Commenting before on this expression thy righteous judgments I wrote:   “God’s righteous judgments consist of the commandments He has given to mankind in His law and of His dealings with men based on their obedience or disobedience to that law.”  God’s righteous judgments are above all a reason to praise Him repeatedly on a daily basis.  Have you ever experienced a great deliverance that caused you to frequently praise the Lord?  Perhaps it was a deliverance from a potentially fatal sickness.  Perhaps it was a deliverance from financial ruin.  Maybe it was the rescue of a loved one from the brink of destruction.  It is good that you should repeatedly praise God for such things.  But how often do you praise God for your Bible?     

Praise God we have a Bible.  Praise God we have the Bible in our mother tongue.  Praise God He has given us a heart that desires to know His righteous judgments else we would disregard them. Praise God has given us understanding of His righteous judgments else we would not know them.  Praise God that His righteous judgments restrain wickedness in this world, else we had all long since perished from the earth.  Praise God that His righteous judgments for our sin were poured out on our Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Praise God that a Day is coming in which His righteous judgments will be manifested in the everlasting destruction of the wicked and in the everlasting life of the righteous.  Now in this paragraph I have praised God seven times today for His righteous judgments. 

And on and on I could go praising God for His righteous judgments.  For those righteous judgments encompass everything God has said in His word and everything God does, for “all His ways are judgment” and all His ways are right. 

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.

God’s righteous judgments are so all encompassing that it will take us an eternity of endless days to praise Him for them.  In fact, we are specifically told that when we get to the other side, God’s righteous judgments will be the matter of our praise.

Revelation 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

3  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

4  Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.