Psalm 119:171

We continue making our way through the last octave of Psalm 119.

Psalms 119:171  My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

In this psalm we find seven verses before today’s verse in which the psalmist prayed to the Lord to teach him His statutes (verses 12, 26, 33, 64, 68, 124, 135). As we noted in our introduction to this psalm, God’s statutes are His laws and decrees. Praying to be taught God’s statutes, the psalmist was praying to learn the laws of God given to govern human conduct, and the decrees of God that affect the course of this world and the destinies of men. In verse 66 the psalmist prayed to be taught “good judgment and knowledge,” which come from God’s statutes; and in verse 108 he prayed to be taught God’s “judgments,” which entail His statutes. In short, the psalmist wanted the good Lord to teach him the Scriptures. He wanted to learn his Bible.

When commenting on verse 12 of this psalm, we pointed out that God uses instruments to teach us His statutes, instruments such as the Scriptures themselves, parents, pastors and teachers, fellow believers, tribulation, and chastening. But even though these instruments are used of the Lord, it is the Lord that is teaching us by them and, therefore, He is to be praised for the lesson learned. And that is precisely what the psalmist is doing in today’s verse.

When the Lord answered the psalmist’s prayer to be taught His statutes, the psalmist resolved this in response: “My lips shall utter praise.” The psalmist would verbally and audibly worship God for this answer to his prayer. And well it is that God should be praised for this blessing, for to have God’s words and to learn them is the chief blessing of all.

God bestowed many favours upon the nation of Israel. This following passage lists some of them:

Deuteronomy 6:10  And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, 

11  And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

12  Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

The were miraculously delivered from oppressive slavery in Egypt; they were miraculously sustained in the wilderness for forty years; and then they were led into the land of Canaan, a land of plenty available for the taking. But above all these advantages was the advantage granted to them of the revelation of God in His word, which was written and preserved for their learning. It was this advantage that made Israel a truly great nation.

Romans 3:1  ¶What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?

2  Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles (the revelation) of God.

Psalms 147:19  He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

20  He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.

Deuteronomy 4:8  And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

So if God has committed to you a copy of His pure, preserved word, you have the chief advantage. But in order to profit from that advantage, that word must be learned because it is “the entrance of” God’s words that give light and understanding (Psalm 119:130). You must be taught the statutes of the Lord. What is written on the page must find its way into your understanding if it is to benefit you.

Proverbs 2:10  ¶When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

11  Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee….

Therefore, with Bible in hand we must pray to God to teach it to us, to give us understanding of it. And when He does, we must praise Him for the gift of His instruction. Furthermore, we ought to praise Him chiefly for this since, as we have seen, it is the chief advantage we have from Him. So, do you thank God for what you learn in a sermon as much, or more, than you thank Him for food, health, family, and friends?

In conclusion, it is a sign we have learned God’s statutes when we are about the business of praising Him, since those statutes frequently instruct us in that business. As Matthew Henry wrote: “We have learned nothing to purpose if we have not learned to praise God.”