Psalm 119:21

Sometimes God’s commandments are not kept because sinners are ignorant of them. But all too often, God’s commandments are disobeyed because of an attitude problem. The verse we take up today speaks directly to this latter cause of disobedience.

Psalms 119:21 Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.

The word proud in this verse is a noun and refers to a proud person. To know what a proud person is like, we need to define the adjective proud that is describing him.

Proud – Having or cherishing a high or lofty opinion of oneself; valuing oneself highly on account of one’s position, rank, attainments, possessions, etc.; Usually in a bad sense: Disposed to take an attitude of superiority to and contempt for others; arrogant, haughty, overweening, supercilious.

The proud have such a high opinion of themselves that they look down on others. They are too stuck on themselves. But our verse takes this a step further in that it characterizes the proud as they which do err from thy commandments. In this case, the attitude of the proud goes beyond seeing themselves as superior to other men. Their attitude is also taking them to the point of defying Almighty God. They are daring to pit their opinions against those of God. They think they know better than the only wise God what is best for their lives. They are not going to let anything God commands get in their way. Thus they err from His commandments.

What is it to err?

Err – To ramble, roam, stray, wander. To go astray; to stray from (one’s path or line of direction). To go wrong in judgment or opinion; to make mistakes, blunder. To go astray morally; to sin.

The attitude of the proud interferes with the process of making good decisions. This applies to every area of life whether it be work, education, relationships, sex, or religion. Once we think too highly of ourselves and our opinions, we set ourselves up to go astray. When you see someone who has been taught the right path of God’s commandments veering from it, you can charge it to this: they have let pride take over.

We all have a problem with pride. If you do not think you do, then that is proof positive that pride has the upper hand in your thinking. Speaking of pride, Joseph Hall wrote:

“Honourable and beloved, this vice is a close one; it will cleave fast to you; yea, so close that ye can hardly discern it from a piece of yourselves: this is it that aggravates the danger of it.”

One of the best kings that Judah ever had was King Hezekiah. It is written of him that he “wrought that which was good and right and truth before the LORD his God” and that “he did it with all his heart” (2 Chronicles 31:20-21). After Hezekiah had been granted an additional fifteen years of life in answer to his prayer, we read this sad chapter from his life:

2 Chronicles 32:25 But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
26 Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

My point is this: if good King Hezekiah had a problem with being proud, so can you and I. Pride reared its ugly head in Hezekiah’s life when he was experiencing great blessing. And just as today’s verse teaches, God rebuked Hezekiah for it. When we are making advances in spiritual growth and blessedness, we need more than ever to be on our guard against the subtle workings of pride. For it is at such times that we are prone to feel the least vulnerable to a downfall. We must never entertain too high of an opinion of our ability to withstand the temptation to err. Beware of ever thinking too highly of your spiritual growth. You have not yet reached such a degree of perfection as to be beyond the reach of pride. Hence it is written:

1 Corinthians 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

And nothing will bring about a downfall more quickly than pride.

Proverbs 16:18  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

It is pride that keeps us from facing our sins and weaknesses and thus dealing with them. We just do not want to accept that we could be so depraved, so vulnerable, as to have such a problem. We like to think we are made of better stuff, that we have come too far in our spiritual growth to be susceptible to such things. And thus we condemn ourselves to erring from God’s commandments. Why do you think some people get stuck in the wrong church and never get out, even when the truth is clearly presented to them? It is because they are too proud to admit that they could have been that wrong. They see themselves as just too sincere, too good to err.

Now our verse tells us that God has rebuked the proud that are cursed. When something is rebuked, it is forced back or repulsed as when Jesus rebuked the winds and waves (Mark 4:39). The Lord finds proud people repulsive. He pushes them away from Himself. His curse rests upon them as the following verses make plain.

Psalms 138:6 Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

Proverbs 15:25 The LORD will destroy the house of the proud:….

Proverbs 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

Luke 1:51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

If you do not want the Lord to keep His distance from you; if you do not want Him to find you abominable; if you do not want Him to destroy you; if you do not want Him to scatter you and to resist you; then you need to repent of your pride and to be constantly on your guard against it. This monster is ever lurking in the shadows looking for a chance to pounce on you. Be always on the lookout! We would all do well to heed this admonition:

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:….

Psalm 119:20

We continue to work our way through the longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119.

Psalms 119:20 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.

Longing is the action of the verb long, which we would do well to define.

Long – To think long; to have a yearning desire; to wish earnestly.

When you have a yearning desire for someone or something, you tend to think long about that person or thing. This explains why the word long can be connected with desire.

Desire can be an overwhelmingly powerful emotion, even to the point of becoming psychologically crushing. Any parent who has longed for the healing of a child who is dangerously ill, or any parent who has longed for the return of a son gone off to war, knows exactly what I am talking about. A yearning desire to achieve a certain goal, to find a mate or a friend, or to have a child can sometimes press a soul to the point of breaking. This kind of yearning desire is what the psalmist was expressing in today’s verse. But in this case, the crushing desire was toward God’s judgments.

God judgments are those decrees that our righteous Judge has laid down in His word for our obedience. They are also the accounts given in His word of His dealings with the sons of men as the Rewarder of good and the Avenger of evil. The whole course of His government is wrapped up in those words thy judgments. And the psalmist yearned to know and understand these things so far as God has revealed them to us. His longing to hear, to know, and to understand God’s judgments was so great, it exerted such a pressure upon him, that it broke his soul.

Some of my readers can perhaps relate to this when you have been away from church. You feel a pressing desire to get back to the assembly and to hear the word of God expounded. Or if the cares of this life have demanded too much from you, you have a heavy longing to get back into your Bible and to get the Bible back into you. It can be downright depressing to read the Bible and yet glean nothing from it. This is an instance of the breaking of your soul for the longing that it hath unto God’s judgments. Perhaps as you read this, you are smitten in your heart because you fear that you do not have such a powerful yearning for God’s word. But the fact that this fear presses itself upon you may itself be evidence that you do indeed long for God’s judgments. Were that desire not there, these words might make little impression upon you.

But observe that this longing was not an occasional, hit and miss thing with the psalmist. The longing was constant and habitual. “My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.” Whether he was in times of prosperity or times of adversity, the powerful longing of the psalmist unto God’s judgments remained the same. Those things you most long for will form the trend and habit of your soul. I close with these words of Charles Bridges taken from his excellent exposition of this verse: “The longing of the soul can never over-reach its object. The cherished desire, therefore, will become the established habit – the element in which the child of God lives and thrives.” Amen!

Psalm 119:19

The verse for today’s meditation describes the attitude of the spiritually minded believer regarding his life in this earth.

Psalms 119:19 I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.

Of course, let’s begin by defining that word stranger.

Stranger – One who belongs to another country, a foreigner; chiefly (now exclusively), one who resides in or comes to a country to which he is a foreigner; an alien.

God’s people are citizens of another country. This world is not their home. They have been chosen out of it.

John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

If God’s children embrace what they are taught in the word of God, then they, like the psalmist, confess that they are strangers in this earth. They seek another country. This was the confession of the fathers of our faith.

Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

Even when the nation of Israel was settled in the land of Canaan that God had given them to inherit in this earth, they recognized that as only a temporary lodging place. They still confessed themselves to be strangers in this earth. They knew their permanent home was somewhere beyond this world. These are David’s words spoken on behalf of the Israel while they were dwelling in Canaan’s land:

1 Chronicles 29:15 For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

And this can be connected with the way Peter addressed believers in the New Testament:

1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;….

It will never do for a Christian to feel to at home in this world. He should hold everything in this world with a loose hand realizing that his permanent possession lies in what the Scriptures call “the world to come.” So if you go through this earth feeling like you haven’t arrived yet, you haven’t! You are a stranger “just a passin through,” as the old song says.

Because the psalmist was a stranger in this earth, He asked God not to hide His commandments from him. Now this is really the same petition that we studied in the previous verse. There the psalmist asked God to open his eyes to behold the wondrous things of God’s law. If our eyes are open to see something, then that something will not be hidden from us.

Now there are three things that greatly assist a stranger as he makes his way through a strange place. Those three things are a guide to point the way, a guard to keep him safe, and a companion to keep him company. God’s commandments provide all three of these things as the following passage clearly shows:

Proverbs 6:22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee (a guide); when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee (a guard); and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee (a companion).
23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:…

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The psamist asks God not to hide His commandments from him. This word commandments not only refers to those things that God has commanded us to do, which certainly provide direction for us as we travel through this strange country; but that word also refers to God’s government of this universe. Everything in this universe is subject to the command of God. It was created and continues to function by the commandment of God.

Psalms 148:4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.

Isaiah 45:12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

Job 37:11 Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud:
12 And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.
13 He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.

Job 38:12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;….

Psalms 107:25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.

It should comfort us strangers in our pilgrimage through this earth to know that everything in this world is subject to the command of the God Who loves and cares for us. And because He loves us, from time to time He exercises His power of command to deliver us.

Psalms 44:4 Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.

Whatever be the crisis that you are caught in, God has but to utter His word of command and you will be delivered. Well might you commit yourself to the care of such a faithful Creator, Who has all things at His command.

1 Peter 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

And, of course, the sweetest of all is to see His commandment of our everlasting salvation. This assures us of a safe arrival home.

Psalms 133:3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

John 12:50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

Let me close with this precious thought: God has given to our personal Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Shepherd of our souls, the command of this universe. He still has the same power today that He had when he walked on this earth and had all things subject to His command. As the disciples of old, let us wonder and worship Him.

Luke 8:25 ….And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

Fellow stranger in this earth, may God not hide His commandments from you.

Psalm 119:18

In today’s meditation we light upon a prayer I frequently pray when I approach the Scriptures.

Psalms 119:18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

To behold a thing is to see it. If a person has not been born again, if he does not possess the gift of spiritual life; he has no capacity, no spiritual eyes with which to behold, to see, to know, and to understand the things of God’s word. He is blind and in darkness.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Ephesians 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:....

But when a man is born again and given spiritual life, he has the ability to behold the things of God’s law. He has spiritual eyes with which to see spiritual things. But the regenerate man is still saddled with a carnal nature called in the Scripture the flesh. And this carnal nature is opposed to the word of God as Paul clearly states in the following passage:

Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

If this carnal nature is not kept in check, it will blind the child of God so that he does not see and understand the Scriptures. If the desires, thoughts, and emotions of our flesh are allowed to dominate us, they will distract us from the word of God so that we do not see what it is saying. We may read the words, but they will be just words. We will glean nothing, learn nothing, behold nothing. And too much of that will discourage any attempt to read and profit from the Bible. Or, something else may occur if the flesh has the upper hand and that is, when we read the Bible, even though the word is speaking clearly, by the time it enters our minds our carnal nature will pervert its message. We will interpret it according to what we want it to say, rather than seeing what it actually says. And thus we will miss the wonder of it. It was with an awareness of this fact that the psalmist prayed to God to open his eyes to behold the wondrous things out of God’s law.

We need the continued help of the Holy Spirit to keep our carnal nature in subjection, to give us repentance to see our sins and errors, and to strengthen our inward man so it may see what God is teaching in His word.

This prayer of the psalmist quite agrees with Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,….

So when you sit down to read your Bible, do so with an awareness of your natural propensity for blindness. Ask God to open your eyes to behold its wondrous things.

Now the psalmist asks for God to open his eyes to behold wondrous things out of His law. The word wondrous means wonderful and wonderful means full of wonder. So let’s define the word wonder.

Wonder – Something that causes astonishment. A marvellous object; a marvel, prodigy. A deed performed or an event brought about by miraculous or supernatural power; a miracle.

The following quote taken from the writings of John Ker are very insightful.

“The great end of the Word of God in the Psalmist’s time, as now, was practical; but there is a secondary use here referred to, which is worthy of consideration, - its power of meeting man’s faculty of wonder. God knows our frame, for he made it, and he must have adapted the Bible to all its parts. If we can show this, it may be another token that the book comes from Him who made man.”

It is true that man yearns to behold astonishing and wonderful things. This can be seen from early childhood and it continues throughout life. We crave the spectacular. And the Bible is designed by our Maker to satisfy that craving.

The word wonder is used in Scripture to refer to miracles. The miracles that Moses performed in Egypt were called wonders (Exodus 4:21; 11:10). The miracles performed by Christ and His apostles were called wonders (Acts 2:22; 15:12). Now when God opens your eyes and you really behold what is in God’s law, you find that the Scriptures themselves are miraculous. You see that this is no ordinary book. It is given by the supernatural power of God. Although the Bible consists of 66 books written over a period of about 1500 years by over 40 authors in different places and different circumstances, yet there is an amazing harmony and unity in its message. It tells us of things in our universe long before science ever discovered them. It is historically accurate. It is prophetically accurate. It clearly describes the world we live in, why it is the way it is, and what will become of it. It tells us what man is, how he thinks, how he feels, what he will say, and what he will do. As we study it, it broadens our intellect, fortifies our hearts, and brings us exquisite pleasure. The more you see in the Bible, the more astounded you will be at the relevance, the truth, and the depth of its message. And, of course, it greatest wonder is the Saviour it presents, even our Lord Jesus Christ Whose name is called Wonderful (Isaiah 9:6). The Bible is a collection of miracles you can embrace in your hand at any time of the day, any day of the week. You need look no further than its pages to discover wonder upon wonder. If this is not your experience with the Bible, it is because your eyes are closed. Oh, that God may open our eyes to “behold wondrous things”out of His law.

Psalm 119:17

Now that I am safely returned home from my evangelistic trip to Asia, I am ready to resume this series of meditations on the 119th Psalm. We come today to the first verse of the third octave, which is entitled by the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Gimel.

Psalms 119:17 Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

This verse is a prayer to God. It contains a specific request with a specific objective in mind, should God grant the request. The request is that God would “deal bountifully” with His servant. Although my trip to Asia was in some ways a life-changing experience for me, there is one thing that remains unchanged about me and that is my method of teaching the word of God. We begin by defining terms. In this case, we define the key word bountifully.

Bountifully – In a bountiful manner; with generous liberality, munificently, plentifully, amply.

The psalmist brings a large petition. He begs for liberal, plentiful, abundant supplies from God. He brings a large petition because He is addresses a very large God Who has large amounts to give. “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). It is His to give to as much as He will to whomever He will. All things seen and unseen belong to the Lord.

Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

God is “abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). He has a multitude of tender mercies and lovingkindnesses to bestow (Psalm 51:1; Isaiah 63:7). “With him is plenteous redemption” (Psalm 130:7). He abundantly pardons (Isaiah 55:7). And considering the abundance of my sin, this is an abundance I certainly need. His grace is exceeding abundant (1Timothy 1:14). Our Saviour came that we might have life, and “have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Because of “his riches in glory” we have the promise that our “God shall supply all your need” (Philippians 4:19). Indeed, as Paul wrote, God is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). It is no imposition to ask a God like this to deal bountifully with us.

And the psalmist brings a large petition because he has a large need. Without God’s liberal dealings with us, even at our best we are the extremity of weakness, emptiness, and nothingness.

Psalms 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

We have an abundance of sin. Thank God He has a greater abundance of grace.

Romans 5:20 ....But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

Now the psalmist’s specific objective in asking God to deal bountifully with him is that he might “live, and keep thy word.” Whenever you ask God to live, to spare your life and lengthen your days, what is your reason for asking this? Is it that you might achieve certain professional goals? Is it that you might see your children or your grandchildren grow up? Is it that you might experience more of the delights of this world? Or is it that you might keep God’s word? If you ask God for life with a selfish end in view, do not be surprised if your request is denied.

James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

In this prayer the psalmist speaks of himself as God’s servant. As servants of God, our chief aim and purpose is to do the will of our Master. God’s will is expressed in His word. You serve God by keeping His word. And it to this end the psalmist asks God to deal bountifully with him that he might live.

So if you pray and expect God to deal bountifully with you, make sure that you aim to use the bounty He bestows to serve Him and keep His word. The thought of this verse is well expressed in the following verse taken from the hymn written by Samuel Stennett entitled Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned:

Since from His bounty I receive
Such proof of love divine,
Had I a thousand hearts to give,
Lord, they should all be Thine,
Lord, they should all be Thine.

It is good to be back home doing this work of a pastor and teacher. I pray that this may bless you in reading as it has blessed me in writing.